The new Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross in the Ukraine has been inaugurated. The Custody belongs to the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow).
On September 14, 2020, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a solemn Mass was celebrated at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Lviv, the Ukraine. The Most Reverend Edward KAWA, OFM Conv., Auxiliary Bishop of Lviv, presided. During the Mass, the attending Conventual Franciscans and invited guests heard the Provincial Delegate, Friar Stanisław KAWA, read out the Decree of the Minister Provincial of the Province of St. Anthony and of Bl. James of the Strepar in Poland (Cracow), which proclaimed the erection of the Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross in the Ukraine. Friar Marian GOŁĄB, the Minister Provincial of the Province of Cracow delivered the homily.
After Communion, the participants listened to Friar Stanisław PĘKALA present a reflection on “The History of the Franciscans in Modern-Day Ukraine”.
Afterwards, a Province award was presented to Wiktor MARENYCZOW, a benefactor from Kremenchuk, the Ukraine.
Next, Friar Marian GOŁĄB took the floor and read the greeting from the Minister General of the Order, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI. Then, the invited guests spoke, offering their congratulations. They included the Minister Provincial of the Order of Friars Minor in the Ukraine, Friar Daniel BOTWINA; the representative of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Friar Kazimierz GUZIK; and the President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Women in the Catholic Church in Ukraine, Sister Olena BYŚ.
In turn, the local Pastor, Friar Paweł ODÓJ, read a congratulatory letter from the President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in the Ukraine, the Most Reverend Mieczysław MOKRZYCKI, Archbishop of Lviv.
After Mass in the church, the guests went over to the parish rectory for refreshments.
The Order of Friars Minor Conventual was reborn in Ukraine after 1990 thanks to the commitment and willpower of Bishop Rafał KIERNICKI, OFM Conv., who remained in Lviv after the end of the Second World War and continued to served there for the rest of his life († 1995).
The friars of the Custody
