Letter from the Coordinator, No 19 (7.02.2015)
Dear Confreres,
Dear Lay Missionaries of the Most Holy Redeemer,
Dear Partners in Mission.
Our Mission in Albania
Greetings from the community in Albania!
I am writing this letter during my first visit to the new Redemptorist mission in Tirana.
During my time here I have been greatly impressed by the life and work of the community.
Our mission takes care of 3 parishes, and two filial churches, covering an area of approximately by 30km by 10km, where around 30,000 Catholics live.
From the first days they have been celebrating mass and preaching in Albanian – and it is getting better each day!
The community wish to express their grateful thanks for your prayers, and generous financial support, during the early months of their mission here. By your generosity they have been able to buy one car, and have been given another one.
The community are living in a very poor area of Tirana, and the community house has no insulation and a leaking roof. Several of the churches they work in have no electricity or water. So they will continue to need the generous support of the units within the conference.
The mission has started with the regular celebration of the sacraments, but importantly also by beginning to visit the houses of the Catholics, and sharing something of their life and experience. There is a great need to develop some social projects, in an area with at least 50% unemployment, and the community are starting to investigate possibilities for projects.
I believe that there is a need to expand the community here, in order to develop the mission. In conversation with the community, we see several possibilities for a larger community.
1 – There is a need for One full time new member of the community. This could be a Priest or a Brother, and ideally would be able to join the community from summer 2015.
2 – A temporary member of the community for a pastoral year. We would be interested in a student spending their pastoral year in Albania.
3 – Short term summer placement. This summer several students from various units will be spending time in a mission experience.
4 – There is also the possibility of lay people connected with the Redemptorists to have a summer mission experience.
The common languages of the community are English and Albanian.
If you are interested in any of these possibilities, please contact me (jacekwsd@wp.pl) (or if you are in formation, please speak to your formator.)
Please continue to remember the community in prayer.
In the Redeemer.
Jacek Zdrzałek CSsR
Coordinator of the CRE
our parish in Bathore
