On April 29-30, 2019, the spring meeting of the Franciscan Missionary Council was held at the House of Reconciliation and Meetings in the Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in Poland (Gdańsk).
Friars in charge of missionary animation for their respective Polish Provinces in the Order met together to work on some joint initiatives to be implemented this year. First, there was the Extraordinary Missionary Month project, which has been declared by the Holy Father, Pope Francis [October, 2019]. It will mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Apostolic Letter Maximum illud by Pope Benedict XV. The Pontiff intended his document to reawaken an awareness of missionary duty throughout the Church.
The Missionary Month slogan is, “Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on a Mission in the World”. The Pope stressed that this Missionary Month should help awaken awareness of the mission ad gentes, and take up the missionary transformation of life and pastoral ministry with fresh energy. It is important that all the faithful be truly attentive in proclaiming the Gospel and transforming their communities into missionary and evangelizing realities, because the love of mission is love for Jesus and for his people.
The mission animators then scheduled a meeting to integrate the Franciscan missionaries in Zakopane, Poland. They planned an annual missionary workshop for Franciscan seminarians to be held this year at the end of the summer holidays in Katowice-Panewniki, Poland. They scheduled a scientific symposium on “Missionary Activity of the Polish Franciscan Provinces at the Service of the Gospel” to be held on November 29, 2019, in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland.
They celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Provincial Curia, presided over by Minister Provincial, Friar Jan MACIEJOWSKI. He urged the friars to engage in missionary work and sacrifice following the example of St. Wojciech (Adalbert), the Patron Saint of Poland, whose feast day was recently celebrated. As President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s Institutes in Poland, Friar Jan also met with the members of the Council and thanked them for their commitment to the mission—an important factor in our ministry which gives spirit and new impetus to religious life.
The friars also got to visit the monastic complex and church of the Holy Trinity in Gdansk, which this year celebrates its 600th anniversary.
The Franciscan Missionary Council has been working for over twenty years on behalf of Major Superiors of Men’s Institutes in Poland to promote missionary animation and missionary activity, especially among young friars. It covers ten Provinces of the three branches of the First Order of Saint Francis: OFM, OFM Conv., and OFM Cap.
The current President is Friar Robert KOZIELSKI, OFM Conv., from the Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in Poland (Gdańsk).
Friar Robert KOZIELSKI, Provincial Secretary for Missions
