Among the friaries of the Province of St. Elizabeth in Germany is the Friary of Our Lady Help of Christians in Schwarzenberg, where the community has operated a formation and spirituality center since 1969. The center records approximately 10,000 overnight stays there each year. From the very beginning of this ministry, the friars have worked closely with lay people, both in the many courses offered to the faithful and in the administration and management of the facility.
Over the decades, a solid and reliable partnership has emerged: some of our lay collaborators have spent their entire professional careers at our friary. For this very reason, every two or three years we friars invite our collaborators on a “company outing.”
On May 17-19, 2026, the outing was held at our Friary of the Holy Savior Crucified in Lage, in the Diocese of Osnabrück, Germany. From there, about fifteen friars and lay co-workers visited the Benedictine abbey in Dinklage. Our guide was a nun who had spent several weeks on vacation with us a few months earlier. We then went into the city of Osnabrück, where, after a guided tour, the participants still had time to do some shopping or relax in a café. The day ended with a pleasant dinner at a Spanish restaurant.
The following day was even more exciting, as we had planned a rafting excursion. Divided between two inflatable boats, we traveled down the small and peaceful Hase River. Everything would have gone perfectly if one of our staff members hadn’t ended up in the water. Fortunately, this incident didn’t dampen the group’s good spirits in the slightest.
Grateful for the hospitality of our friars at the friary in Lage, we returned home together with our collaborators. Thankful for this fraternal outing, we look to the future with confidence, trusting that our collaboration will continue to be as fruitful and rewarding as ever.
Friar Mateusz KOTYŁO, Guardian
