The Warsaw ‘Mercy Centre’ at the parish of St Klemens Hofbauer on Karolkowa Street was visited by the Greek Catholic Eparch of Toronto and Eastern Canada, Bishop Bryan Bayda. Bishop Bryan is a Redemptorist from the province of Canada and also a Knight of Columbus.
As a representative of the Canadian Knights, who co-finance the operation of the Centre, on 28-29 May 2024, he visited the Centre, run by the Warsaw Knights of Columbus (Council 17050) and our parish, which is the only one in Poland to run a day centre for Ukrainian refugee children almost since the beginning of the war in Ukraine (2 April 2022). Under the care of qualified staff and volunteers, Ukrainian and Polish children spend their afternoons together after school, learning, praying, and playing.
Bishop Bryan was welcomed by the Knights of Columbus and then by a group of Ukrainian parents and children, who prepared an hour-long performance in Polish on the history of the apparitions at Fatima. The Eparch became acquainted with the work of the Mercy Centre and, as a souvenir, presented the children with paintings of Our Lady of Perpetual Help prepared by children from Greek-Catholic schools in Canada. He then visited Warsaw, met the local Redemptorist community and went to visit the works carried out by the Knights of Columbus in Ukraine.
Bishop Bryan Bayda was ordained a priest on 30 May 1987 in the Redemptorist Congregation. He then began working at St Vladimir’s College in Roblin and, in time, became its principal. In 1994, he was appointed superior of the religious house in Toronto, and from 1997 to 2008, he worked in Redemptorist parishes in Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Yorkton. On 2 May 2008, he was appointed head of the eparchy [diocese] of Saskatoon. He was consecrated bishop on 27 June 2008. On 28 April 2022, he was appointed Eparch of Toronto.
Fr Marek Kotyński CSsR, Warsaw
(www.redemptor.pl)
