The Redemptorist parish in Copenhagen is celebrating two anniversaries in 2023: 130 years since the first group of Poles arrived in Denmark, and the second is the 70th anniversary of the Redemptorists’ work in Copenhagen. The uniqueness of this event was translated into the celebration of a holy mission – the first in the history of the parish – from the third to the fourth Sunday of Lent for three language groups: Polish (Masses at St Anne’s, St Nicholas’ and St Anthony’s churches), Danish and English (mainly Filipino group).
The mission was preached for each national group: in Polish by Fr Piotr Koźlak and Fr Wojciech Pawlicki, for the Filipino group in English by Fr Łukasz Drożak, and for the Danish community by Fr Sigurd Sverre Stangeland, a Norwegian who ordinarily serves in a parish in Odense.
The missionaries preached in St Anne’s church and the lower chapel in the language of the respective nation, but the Stations of the Cross were prepared for all, the meditations being read in three languages.
At the end of the mission, Msgr. Czeslaw Kozon, bishop of Copenhagen and a son of a Polish emigrants that arrived in Denmark many years ago, came to celebrate Mass in Polish. Bishop Czeslaw is also the president of the Scandinavian Catholic Bishop’s Conference, covering five countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland.
Next year, during Lent, the parish mission will be renewed.
Fr. Piotr Koźlak CSsR, Cracow
