The online meeting of Fr. Rogério Gomes CSsR, Superior General of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, with all the members of the Province of Bratislava – Prague and the Vice-Province of Michalovce, on November 22, 2024, concluded the general visit of the Redemptorists who work in the communities in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Transcarpathia. On Friday, November 21, 2024, at the Redemptorist Monastery of Stropkov, Father General met with the enlarged Consultas of the Province and Vice-Province.
The General Direction in the current six-year period, which began after the XXVI General Chapter held in October 2022, was the first to address this issue. The purpose was to visit the units in the process of reconfiguring. This “fraternal visit,” as the Generalate calls it, is first and foremost a visit to the Province as a community. The visitors are the Vicar General, Fr. Zdzisław François Stanula CSsR, and the Consultor General, Br. Laurence John Lujan Angel CSsR.
The general visit began on November 11, 2024, at Svatá Hora in Příbram, where the Redemptorists administer the Marian pilgrimage site, with a meeting with the communities of Svatá Hora, Tasovice and Frýdek. The Visitors then moved on to Slovakia, where they met with the communities of Bratislava – Puškinova, Kaunas (Lithuania), Bratislava – Kramáre and Banská Bystrica – Radvaň, with students, communities of mission partners from Bratislava and Banská Bystrica. At the end of the week, the program continued with a visit to the Redemptoristine Sisters of Kežmarok, a meeting with the communities of Podolínec and Gaboltov and with the community of Rieka Života. In the week of November 17, 2024, the visitors met with the communities of the Eastern Rite Redemptorists in Stara Ľubovňa, Michalovce and Stropkov; they also visited the community of the Greek Catholic Redemptoristine Sisters in Vranov nad Topľou – Lomnica. In Prešov, at the Archbishopric, a meeting of the general government took place with the Archbishop and Metropolitan, Vladyka Jonáš Maxim.
On Friday, November 21, 2024, a meeting of the enlarged Consulates of the Province of Bratislava – Prague and the Vice-Province of Michalovce took place with the participation of the Superior General, Fr. Rogério Gomes. On Saturday, Fr. General met online with all the members of the Province and Vice-Province and on Saturday, November 23, together with the Visitors, he participated in the diaconal ordination of Br. Jan Kniez CSsR in the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier in Banská Bystrica.
Eva Forraiová, Miroslav Bujdoš
