On April 15-19, 2024, the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow) celebrated the first part of its Ordinary Provincial Chapter. The event took place in Kalwaria Pacławska, near Przemyśl, Poland.
Those attending included the Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI; the Assistant General for the Foederatio Europae Mediae et Orientalis (FEMO), Friar Tomáš LESŇÁK; the Minister Provincial, Friar Mariusz KOZIOŁ, the Provincial Custodes, Provincial Definitors, Delegates elected by universal suffrage inside Poland and abroad, and various Delegates and Coordinators of the Minister Provincial. The friars then reviewed and evaluated the life, activities and problems of the Province, particularly its administrative and financial status. Later, they approved the assessment document they made, which evaluated the Province during its last four-year term.
The Capitulars then witnessed the Minister Provincial, Friar Mariusz, swear his oath of office. He had been elected in January of 2024, by mail ballot.
Afterwards, the Provincial Definitors were elected. They are Friars Andrzej PRUGAR, Paweł GOGOLA, Paweł SROKA, Bartosz PAWŁOWSKI, Marcin DRĄG, Marian MICHASIÓW and Arkadiusz BĄK. Friar Marcin DRĄG was elected Vicar Provincial; Friar Marian MICHASIÓW, Provincial Secretary; Friar Paweł SROKA, Provincial Econom; and Friar Jacek MICHNO, Provincial Exactor. After their election, the members of the Definitory swore their oath of office and the Vicar Provincial made his profession of faith.
The Capitulars also elected five Delegates to the General Chapter. They are Friars Marian GOŁĄB, Adam MĄCZKA, Jarosław ZACHARIASZ, Piotr BIELENIN and Paweł DYBA. In addition, the Minister Provincial and the Custodes of Bolivia, Slovakia and Ukraine will participate in the General Chapter ex officio.
The first part of the Ordinary Provincial Chapter concluded with Mass presided over by the Minister Provincial and his Definitory. The second part of the Chapter will be held May 13-18, 2024, at the St. Maximilian Center in Harmęże, near Auschwitz, Poland. At that time, the Capitulars will elect the Guardians, the heads of formation in the Province, and the presidents of the commissions. They will also vote to approve the Provincial Four-Year Plan.
Currently, the Province of Cracow has three Provincial Custodies: the Custody of St. Francis in Bolivia, the Custody of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. in Slovakia, and the Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross in Ukraine. The Province also has five Delegations in Germany, Paraguay, Peru, Uganda and Uzbekistan. The Province has 403 friars living and working in seventeen countries around the world: Austria, Bolivia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uzbekistan, and the Vatican. The Province has eighty-one friaries around the world. Fifty-eight of them are in the Province of Cracow.
The Province is a multicultural and multigenerational community. Its members come from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, Uganda, Slovakia, Hungary and Guatemala. The youngest professed friar in the Province is twenty-two. The oldest is eighty-eight. The median age is fifty.
Friar Jan M. SZEWEK
