Letter from Coordinator 13 Christmas 2013

Ecclesiastes says: “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven: A time for giving birth,(…)” (3,1-2). During this time of the birth of Jesus – our Conference is also close to giving birth to our first Interprovincial Community (IC). In a few months we shall start a mission in Albania. The last Assembly of CRE (in Madrid, 28-30 October 2013) decided to open two Interprovincial Communities: in Tirana (Albania) in summer 2014, and in Luxemburg (Luxemburg) in summer 2015. Furthermore in 2014 the Council of CRE will explore a new future for our missionary presence in Denmark.

The invitation for volunteers for Albania

The Council of CRE decided that the best place to start our mission in Albania will be a parish on the outskirts of Tirana, called Kamëz. The parish has about 15-20 thousand Catholics. It is a noisy neighborhood, rather large church with a house next door where we can live. Pastoral issues are (mainly): the explicit proclamation of the Word of God, catechism after-confirmation (including adults) and strengthening of the pastoral structures. Social issues: poverty, the situation of women (still very inferior status), unemployment, formation of youth.

The church has been renovated and enlarged. There are two daughter churches. The Bishop hopes that when we start our work in Kamëz, we will be able to lend a hand in setting up a spiritual centre for priests, to contribute in the media and perhaps also to lecture in moral theology at the inter-diocesan seminary. After a few years when we are familiar with the Albanian language this place will be for us a mission centre from which we can give parish missions and retreats all over Albania. Being in the capital is an advantage, for education, transport, learning the language, resources, and getting to know the local church and culture (for more information about Albania: The letter from Coordinator no 11).

We plan that this new community will consist of 3 to 5 Confreres (from various Units), but in future perhaps also the Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer and our Lay Redemptorists will join this project.

The members of this community will start all the necessary preparations from 1 August 2014. They will get to know each other, to learn a common language for them; to decide about the community plan, and the vision for their future pastoral work – somewhere outside the Albania for the few first weeks – then they will go to Tirana.

The invitation for volunteers to community in Luxembourg

The Assembly of CRE decided also that the city of Luxembourg matches up to the requirements to set up an Interprovincial Community, since 64% of the people living in the city are immigrants, and it has a young population. Luxembourg is a multicultural city, well linked with other countries, strategically located in the European Union, and with big opportunities of working with migrants. The church of Saint Alphonsus is in the city center, and it is well known and frequented.

The new community will be governed by a community project of apostolic life, drawn up by the members of the new Community and the Conference’s Council. It should take into account the prayer and community life, the organization of the group, ongoing formation and the ability to welcome other people.

Priorities of this project: ministry with migrants (linguistic communities); ministry of listening (confession, spiritual direction); evangelization through liturgy; ministry of shared missions (Religious and lay); encouragement of devotions in the Church of Saint Alphonsus; street ministry, etc.

The church of Saint Alphonsus will be also the meeting place for groups from the different linguistic communities, whom we work with: English, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. It will be important for the Confreres of this community to speak at least two of these languages, in order to be able to help each other and to replace one with another. We hope that this new community will consist of 4-6 Confreres.

Although the celebrations will be celebrated in linguistic groups, we will deal with the collaborative ministry in cooperation with the different communities with whom we already work. The Province of Strasbourg will prepare the house and adapt it to the needs of the community members. The official start of the Interprovincial Community will be September 2015.

Dear Confreres, these are challenging projects but do not be afraid. I am sure that there are Confreres in our Conference who can start these missions. Please pray for discernment. I am waiting for your availability (if you have questions or are ready to be a member of one of these communities, please contact me: jacekwsd@wp.pl). Of course your Major Superior will be involved in this process.

The Social Ministry Commission of CRE invites people also for the colloquium “Ministry for Migrants as chance and challenge”; 5-9 May 2014 in Bochum (Germany) (more at our website). The website is now online (after some problems with hackers) – http://www.cssr- europe.com/

May the new-born Jesus give us courage, wisdom and His blessings for these new challenges.