Letter from Coordinator 04 2011

Dear Confreres,
Best greetings to all of you and to the members of your Units. I hope that time of vacation was for you the good possibility to recuperate the strengths and that God’s blessings are in abundance with you.
Our next Assembly in Dublin is coming. I hope that everyone of you have received the letter from Fr. Michael Kelleher (from 17th of August) about the details of our meeting and we will meet together from 24th to 27th of October in Ireland.
About our Agenda for Dublin:
We ought to decide about many important issues in our Conference. During the first working day we would like to discuss about two important documents – which are for us in some way the basic documents and the documents which should lead us in our future work: “Statutes of CRE” and “Apostolic Priorities in CRE”. I would like to encourage you to study these documents before our Assembly because the most of our work will be connected with the contents of these documents. We should make some small changes in the last versions of this documents but the most important job is almost done. So I am sending you these documents in our official languages (English and Italian) connected with this letter. I ask you to pass on these documents to the members in your Units – and if is it necessary, please to do translations for your national languages.
One of the weaknesses of our present situation is the lack of knowledge about our present work in the Conference among Redemptorists. So it is my request to all of you to propagate these documents in your Unit.
According to the special letter from Fr. General Michael Brehl to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of St. John Nepomucen Neumann (from March 28, 2011), every Conference and Unit should: “consider at least one concrete pastoral project to respond to the needs of those affected by mass movement of people. Such a pastoral project could well be an ideal situation for an international community. Information about any such decisions and plans in the Conferences and in the Units should be sent to the General Government.(…)”
So among many topics we will discuss about interprovincial communities in our Conference (based on our experiences from the past and our dreams about the future). We want to establish interprovincial communities which will aim at finding new styles of missionary work. These communities should respond to needs of the most abandoned people in so quickly changing Europe. To facilitate this process we will think about some common parts of the initial and ongoing formation for the confreres called to these new initiatives. This may help us and prepare the setting of interprovincial communities.
We are discussing about different possibilities in common initial formation in our Conference for more than a year, so we must make some decisions. During our discussion we need up-to-date information about our present situation in our houses of formation. We are at the beginning of the new academic year so I also attached to this letter some survey about our students and houses of formation (in English and Italian). Could you please to fill out this form and send it to me before our Assembly in Dublin?
Of course in Dublin we should be attentive to the needs of fragile units and to facilitate the necessary decisions.
The process of a greater missionary discernment in the Conference will require our prayer, discussion and the help of different secretariats, commissions, colloquiums etc. So for the establishing of these groups will be given some time in Dublin.
According to our schedule, two Consultors and the Secretary for our Council will be elected as well as the place for permanent seat of Coordinator and Secretary. We ought to talk also for some financial help for those in need, for some our common projects, for our budget.
Please invite the members of your Unit to pray for our work, especially for God’s wisdom for us to discern the sign of times and to find the best solutions in our European Redemptorist reality.
I personally think that the mission of the Conference is the chance given us by God to look with hope to the future. Maybe we have not so much time for taking some very brave decisions but I hope that still we have. Of course we ought to be prepared for some problems and obstacles but the difficulties may be also the chances for all of us.
Just for some clarity: ‘Subjects for Discussion at the Assembly’ 1. Statutes for the Conference
2. Apostolic Priorities:
a. Interprovincial Communities 3. Formation:
a. Statistics
b. Interprovincial Possibilities 4. Fragile Units
5. Conference Structures:
a. Election of Council
b. Secretary
c. Secretariats and Commissions d. Finances
e. Office for the Coordinator
I would like to remind you also about some important meetings in future:
– Formation-Orientation Meeting for Major and Regional Superiors will be in Materdomini: for English language (12-19.11.2011) and for Romance languages (1-9.12.2011).
– Midsexennium Meeting and Assembly of CRE (29.10-9.11.2012) – the first idea is that these meetings will be joined.
– Redemptorist Youth Congress in Sardinia in 2013 – we will receive all necessary information about the preparation to this Congress during our Assembly.
I would like to thank all of you with whom I had chance to talk and work during last weeks (Fr. General Michael Brehl, Consultor General Alberto Eseverri, and Pedro Lopez (Provincial from Madrid) during World Youth Day in Madrid; Fr. Ihor Kolisnyk (Provincial from Lviv) in Kraków; Fr. Dariusz Paszyński (Region of St. Gerard – Syberia) in Lubaszowa; Br. Michael Duxbury (from London Province) in Warsaw; Fr. Jaroslav Stelbasky (Vice-Provincial of Michalowce Vice- Province) in Slovakia; Fr. Janusz Sok (Provincial from Warsaw). I would like to thank to all members of Extraordinary Councils from Prague Province, Bratyslava Vice-Province and Michalovce Vice-Province for meeting in Kraliky in Czech Republic and for all discussions about restructuring and future of Prague Province. Special thanks to Fr. Jaroslav Stelbasky for invitation for preaching spiritual retreats for the members of his Unit in Stopkov (Slovakia) and for the possibility to say some talks for all the Vice-Province about our work and future plans in CRE.
Thank you for all letters, information which you sent to me from different Units. Special thanks for Fr. Andrew Wodka for preparing the songbook for our meetings and for all who help him in this task especially for Fr. Michael Kelleher for all the work of printing of this songbook.
I wish you good time of preparation for our Assembly and God’s graces for you and all Redemptorists in your Units for our daily preaching the word of God to the most abandoned, especially the poor.
In the Redeemer
Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek CSsR