Mission – Radiating the Love of the Heart of Christ is the theme of this year’s conference of missionaries of the Redemptorist Province of Warsaw. Fifty-three of them met in Tuchów from 3 to 5 February 2025 to prepare themselves well for the proclamation of the Gospel in the Holy Year 2025, inspired by the encyclical of Pope Francis and deepening the aspects of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The conference also serves to reflect on the methodology of preaching parish missions and retreats in the Church in Poland.
The conference began, as usual, with evening prayer, while Tuesday morning was dedicated to a deeper study of the contents of the encyclical and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, under the guidance of Father Wiesław Krupiński SJ from Nowy Sącz. The afternoon was dedicated to work on the new edition of the Redemptorist Missionary Ceremonial.
The third day of the conference began with the morning Eucharist in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Tuchów, while the morning was dedicated to training on the protection of children and young people, the meeting of the missionaries with the Provincial Superior and the current situation of the community of confreres involved in popular missions and retreats.
During the conference, in the same Redemptorist religious house in Tuchów, the long-time Redemptorist missionary of the faithful people, Fr. Waldemar Michalski CSsR, died. The Most Holy Redeemer made sure that his passage to the house of the Father took place among those with whom he had shared the same mission throughout his life.
Currently, about 60 Redemptorists are directly involved in missionary activities and retreats in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. In 2024, they conducted about 100 parish missions, dozens of mission renewal series and, last Lent alone, 492 retreat series. Added to this are about 200 Advent retreat series and a similar number of retreats for particular groups (priests, religious, and various lay groups). In a month, starting on Ash Wednesday, hundreds of parish Lenten retreats will again be held, preached also for confreres who are normally engaged in other activities.
Fr. Mariusz Mazurkiewicz, CSsR.
photo: Fr. Janusz Sok, CSsR.
