The Redemptorists have been carrying out their ministry and spreading the Gospel for 100 years in the Głogów area and in the current Diocese of Zielona Góra and Gorzów, and previously in the Archdiocese of Wrocław. On 13 October 2024, Mgr. Tadeusz Lityński presided over the Thanksgiving Mass in the Church of St. Klemens Hofbauer in Głogów and Fr. Dariusz Paszyński CSsR, Superior of the Warsaw Province gave the homily.
The jubilee celebrations were marked by three significant events. The first was the parish missions, which took place from September 28 to October 6 this year. The second was an academic conference in the town hall on the history and missionary activity of the Redemptorists in Głogów, held on October 10. The culmination of the jubilee celebrations was the Sunday Mass presided over by Mgr. Tadeusz Lityński, bishop of the diocese of Zielona Góra and Gorzów, with the participation of Redemptorists who worked in the parish as pastors and missionaries in the past years. Also present were students from the Redemptorist Major Seminary in Kraków, juniorate brothers and Redemptorists originally from the parish in Głogów.
The Redemptorist presence in Głogów started by the Redemptorists of Cologne Province then in December 1924. In the southwestern quarter of the city the German confreres soon built a monastery, and a church dedicated to St. Clement Hofbauer, where they worked until the end of the Second World War (1945). After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the drawing of new state borders in Europe, Głogów found itself in western Poland. Consequently, in 1945 the German provincial asked the superior of the Polish Redemptorist Province to send a confrere to minister in Głogów, to continue the ministry together with the German confrere who remained in the monastery. This event was very significant, considering that a year earlier, during the pacification of the Warsaw Uprising, 33 Polish Redemptorists had been killed by German SS troops (6.08.1944).
In the period after the Second World War, the Polish confreres, in addition to their work in the parish church in Głogów, were involved in 11 churches in the area. Today, the parish of St. Clemens Hofbauer is vibrant, thanks to the many groups that work with the support of the Redemptorists.
Fr. Andrzej Kukła, CSsR.
