Letter from Coordinator 11 2013

Dear Confreres
Dear Lay Missionaries of the Most Holy Redeemer
Dear Partners in Mission

Let me dedicate this letter to looking into the future of our Conference. The first of the seven guiding principles of the process of re‐structuring in our Congregation is: “Restructuring is for Mission”.
It makes no sense to change or to restructure the Congregation, if we do not desire to give our lives in a better and more complete way to our Redeemer, through the explicit proclamation of the Word of God. “Fidelity to our mission is the reason for and the goal of authentic restructuring.” (Decisions of the XXIV GCh 1.1)
In this spirit, our Conference is considering opening new interprovincial communities among the most abandoned and the poorest people in mission territories in Europe. Perhaps it sounds a little bit strange, “in mission territories in Europe”. We tend to think of missions as far away, on other continents; but of course it is not distance that determines missionary challenges.
Does God want to have us in Albania?
During the last Assembly of CRE, which took place in Krakow, in November 2012, there was a suggestion that we should think seriously: does God call us to the Balkan Regions, and especially to Albania. 

In fact, Albania is one of the poorest and the most abandoned areas in Europe where we, as Redemptorists, do not yet work. The task of discernment and the preparation of the preliminary proposals for the new projects in Albania, was delegated to the Council of CRE.
In the months following the Assembly, the Council of CRE gathered information, looked for contacts and talked to missionaries who work in Albania. Many letters were exchanged during this time. Then from 16th to 24th May, Fr. Zdzislaw Stanula (the Secretary CRE) and I went to Albania, to evaluate the situation, to make various visits and to talk about possible details of our missionary work.
We met with the President of the Conference of the Bishops of Albania: Archbishop Angelo Massafra, OFM, with Archbishop Rrok Mirdita from the Diocese of Tirana-Durres (who was President of the Conference of the Bishops of Albania for the last two terms), and with Bishop Hil Kabashi OFM from the Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania. We spoke also with priests and Religious men and women from several Congregations who are working there.
As a result of these discussions, we were invited to at least five mission parishes in Albania. Two of them are in the Archdiocese of Shkodra-Pult in the north of Albania: Shkrel /Bzhetë (2.5 thousand Catholics) and Hoti (three thousand Catholics). One proposal is in the Archdiocese of Tirana-Durres (central Albania) in a district of Tirana, “Kamëz” (15-20 thousand Catholics), and at least two parishes in the Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania: Vlore, Sarandë – Gjirokastër. The smallest number of Catholics is in the southern part of Albania – but also each parish there (with the chapels) has about 1,000 Catholics. It may be that in Albania there are more Catholics, but many people have not yet the opportunity to meet a Catholic priest. This may seem strange for us because this is a European country, and Albania is only 72 km from Italy at the narrowest point of the Adriatic Sea.
In those days in Rome (9-10.09.2013) we held a meeting of the Council of CRE. The Consultors: Fr. Pedro Lopez (Provincial of Madrid Province), Fr. Johannes Römelt (Provincial of Saint Clemens Province), the Secretary of CRE Fr. Zdzislaw Stanula and I discussed and considered once more these proposals and all the details connected to them. We have prepared some proposals for the Assembly of CRE, which will be held in Madrid (28-30.10.2013).
In this letter I would like to ask all of you for special prayers in your communities and parishes for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit for all the members of the Assembly, so that we can listen to the voice of God and properly recognize God’s plans for our Conference.
My personal impression is this: Albania is a typically missionary country in Europe. The Catholics and even some communities of women Religious in some regions of Albania are left without priests and the Sacraments for weeks. Unfortunately, in recent years, some Congregations of women Religious have left Albania because they could not live Religious life without the Eucharist.
Some information about Albania
Currently, Albania is a country where about 70-75% of the population are Muslims, about 15% are Orthodox and
about 10-15% are Roman Catholics (there are about 350 – 400 thousand Catholics – although you get very different data on this subject).
The location of Catholics in Albania is uneven. Most of them live in the north, that is, in mountainous area, while a lesser number of them are in the south near the border with Greece. However there is the great movement of Catholics from north to south in recent years.

Catholics suffered much over the past centuries in Albania. Although Christianity was already present in the third century and was very much alive, and represented in all the major Councils in the first millennium, the situation changed radically.
At first, the Turks conquered the country and began a cruel persecutions of Catholics (from the 15th century to the beginning of 20th century), and then the communists programmatically introduced atheism in the second half of the 20th century. The largest religious persecution in Albania took place after 1967, when Albania became the first totally atheistic country in the world. Mosques, Orthodox and Catholic churches were destroyed. Any prayer or religious symbols risked imprisonment or death. Only eight Catholic priests survived in prison this communist captivity which ended in 1990. Now the process of beatification of the first large group of Albanian martyrs from this period of persecution is in hand. Albania is a very picturesque, beautiful country, located off the coast of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, mostly mountainous – the mountains covers about 75% of its territory. It is a country very rich in natural resources, but the people are very poor.

Is Albania a place for Redemptorists?
The question arises in my heart: should we work in Albania? I believe that the answer for this question will be found in Madrid, during the Assembly of CRE. Decisions will be made there.
Looking at the decisions taken by our Congregation during the last General Chapter, there are some reasons to think about Albania as a country for our future mission.
In favour of this proposal are:
1) Our charism: the explicit proclamation of the Word of God among the most abandoned people, especially the poor. Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, and in all rankings it is always in one of the last places in our European continent. In some ways, Albania is also a spiritually abandoned country, because as I wrote above, many Religious communities and priests left Albania during the persecution and also now, 23 years after the end of communistic persecution, still the Church is not able to guarantee Catholics regular participation in the Sacraments. We can certainly include those people in this group about which our Apostolic Priorities
speak of as ,“those left behind”.
2) Currently in Albania, no Religious Congregation is leading parish missions and
retreats. All the bishops, priests and nuns with whom we talked, confirmed that there is a great need for parish missions and retreats in all the dioceses. For a more complete picture of this situation, many people told us that this is the time for a “first (new) evangelization” of Albania and for a deepening of the faith. Albania is still at the beginning of this road.
3) The great hope of the local Church is that many children and young people participate in religious services in the churches. The Apostolic Priorities of CRE recommends us to work especially with them.
4) One of our apostolic priorities says that we have to deal with “all those affected by increased Secularization and of Contemporary Human Life Issues”. The Catholic faith has survived in the hearts of Albanians despite the enormous persecution, but secularism and a disposition for evil exists in society
and permeates their lives, because they are not offered other possibilities. Family life also, after so many centuries of Muslim influence, and because of the separation of the members of the families due to emigration, is experiencing huge problems.
5) In some way Albania reminds me of the choice of St. Alphonsus. He made the choice between Naples, where during his time there were plenty of priests, and Scala, where there were no priests at all. We have now a very similar dilemma: between Albania and other countries in Europe where there are many priests, who are working very close to Albania.
6) Our Lady of Good Counsel is the Patroness of Albania. It is the same Mary, who accompanied our Founder, because this picture was always on his desk.

I wanted to share with you those thoughts because I think that we should take seriously this time of discernment and prayer to see if God wants us in Albania. I ask you for special prayers for discernment and for the gift of courage; and above all for the gift of fidelity to the charism.
This Year for the Promotion of the Redemptorist Missionary Vocation which we have just started is also a good opportunity to intensify our prayers in this regard.
So my wish for all of you is: may this special year result in the strengthening of our faith and our vocation and through this, may our relationship with the Holy Redeemer be more beautiful and fruitful.
Fr. Jacek