A thank you letter
from the Provincial Custody of the Holy Cross in Ukraine
to the Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI

March 5, 2022
Most Reverend Minister General!
Dear friars of the Order of St. Francis!

We sincerely thank you for your assistance to Ukraine and for what you have offered to the Custody and individual friars. We express our gratitude for the various forms of humanitarian aid you provided and for the collection of material goods and offerings organized by the friaries. We are very grateful to the friaries and parishes for taking in refugees from Ukraine.
In recent days, we received support from the General Curia (from the Solidarity Fund, 2500 Euro) and subsequently from the Curia of the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow) (6000 dollars) to be distributed to the friaries in Ukraine and to Bishop Edward KAWA, OFM Conv., in order to help the people suffering from the war.
In addition, Friar Roman WADACH of the Apostolic Penitentiary in the Vatican sent a substantial offering to the Custody’s account. Father Wojciech SZCZEPAŃSKI from Switzerland (our former confrere and classmate) sent a large sum of money for the friary in Lviv. We then received promises of financial support from the Province of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the Czech Republic, from the Province of Our Lady of Monserrat in Spain and from the Provincial Delegation in Germany of the Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in Poland (Gdańsk).
We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We apologize to anyone we may have omitted: due to problems with phone and internet connections, we do not have updated data.
In these times, when it seems that chaos increases and evil grows stronger by the day, let us not lose hope that the war will end soon. Your prayers, your words of comfort and your material assistance are a support for us. Despite serious difficulties, we can continue to help those in need.
We are trying to carry out normal pastoral ministry: celebrating Masses, hearing confessions, conducting Lenten celebrations, preaching Lenten retreats and praying personally, although we are not indifferent to what is happening. We are involved in transporting people and humanitarian aid between the friaries and parishes in Ukraine.
Bishop Edward KAWA also expresses his thanks. We are in constant contact with him because he is in charge of humanitarian aid in the Archdiocese of Lviv.
May the good Lord give us peace and reward you with a generous blessing!

Friar Stanisław PĘKALA, Custodial Vicar