Greetings dear brothers and sisters and welcome to this new edition of our SMA News.
Titles:
1- Poland: Priestly ordination of Fr. Waldemar Dziedzina;
2- Uk: News from the provincial;
3- Rome: Award ceremony of the prize received by Fr. Andrea Mandonico.
POLAND
It is in a cheerful atmosphere that took place the priestly ordination of Fr. Waldemar Dziedzina, on the 25th September in Piwniczna-Zdroj. An ordination which saw the participation of many priests, SMA confreres, religious and members of the family of Fr. Waldemar.
It was a great moment not only for Fr. Fr. Waldemar Dziedzina who was being ordained but also for the SMA province in Poland and for the SMA at large.
Fr. Wacław DOMINIK - Formation Secretary:
The Polish Province gives thanks to God, to our Lady and to our venerable founder De marion bresillac for the ordination of Fr waldemar Dziedzina.
The ordination took place on the 25th of September this year in Piwniczna-Zdroj, the native parish of Fr. Waldemar. he was the only being ordained during that celebration and he was ordained by the ordinary of the diocese, Bishop Andrzej Jeż.
It was a very important celebration for the polish province; he was the only priest ordained this year. The ordination and the first mass were done in his native parish; which means that his family, his friends and all the SMA members working in Poland alongside with those who came for holidays and lay missionaries came for the celebration. It was a nice local celebration; in the sense of various traditions being used during the celebration; especially on Sunday, during his first Mass with the family blessing at home; then going to the church in a special cart drawn by horses and with a special orchestra from the mountain area playing various religious songs. We pray for Fr. Waldemar that he will be a missionary from the bottom of his heart and will be growing every day in his missionary and priestly vocation.
Fr. Waldemar, due to his particular journey of formation, is currently studying dogmatic theology and Canon Law. He will remain in Poland for a while to finish his studies and to assist in missionary animation and promotion. We wish him an abundance of God’s blessing during this new stage of SMA life.
UNITED KINGDOM
Fr. Thomas Ryan - Provincial Superior - Great Britain:
I am Thomas Ryan, I am the provincial and I just want to introduce you to one or two aspects of our province. We have one of our properties given over to the Medaille Trust: it's a charity that looks after the freed slaves. The slaves of modern-day slavery who have been liberated by police raids or whatever; and one of our houses is now a sanctuary for those people. We have also taken on ministry in two parishes adjacent to the house here: saint Edwards’ rush home and saint Joseph's long site. In Nigeria, we have Fr. Donald Fennessy who recently celebrated his 80th birthday and he continues at 80 to be vicar general of the diocese of Lafayette. John Keane continues at his mission in Gambe in the diocese of Bauchi; and we also have the presence in Liberia of Gareth Jenkins who recently retired but still very active and resident in the archdiocese of Monrovia.
Rev. Fr. Robert MORLAND - Parish Priest of Ss. Joseph & Edwards' Parish:
You are very welcome to the parish of Saint Joseph and Saint Edwards. This is St Joseph’s church I am standing in at the moment. We're invited to take on St Joseph's parish a couple years ago and we accepted it because it is a multi-ethnic parish. And just after we took it on, we were suddenly asked would we take on St Edwards the neighboring parish as well. So, it's now the parish of St Joseph and St. Edwards. We also have a lot of chaplaincies based in the parish. We have the Sarah Malabar community based here at St Joseph’s. We also have the Brazilian and Portuguese chaplaincy base in our community; we have the Zimbabwean chapels been based with us; and the Ghanaian catholic community uses St Joseph's as a base church and we are delighted with this. There was a great deal of work done before we came in the parish on spirituality. We met a community steeped in prayer and adoration. We've worked with that; we've increased adoration in the parish to five days a week. Ten hours a day the blessed sacrament is exposed. The church is open for all comers and is well used; and alongside that we've built up our links with our local charitable organizations especially the caritas charity cornerstone which works with the homeless in Manchester. This is a major issue in our city and the community was able to raise 1300 pounds to help the homeless in the future; and that was done exactly the same time as this community responded to a major appeal for Afghan refugees coming into Manchester. And we were able to collect a mountain of much-needed items: children’s clothes, toys, nappies, feminine hygiene products, all the useful things of somebody arriving in the country with nothing would need. And I’m very proud of our people for the way they have responded to the call.
We are happy to have two schools in the parish both primary schools. One a single form entry and one at double form entry. They are both excellent schools and they contribute greatly to the life of the parish. That’s a very quick tracy of our parish. You'll always be very welcome to St. Joseph and St. Edwards anytime you'd like to visit us.
Thank you!
ROME
The award ceremony was held at Palace Borromeo, seat of the Italian Embassy to the Holy See. Father Andrea received his award from Alexandra Valkenburg-Roelofs, Ambassador of the European Union to the Holy See, in the presence of Pietro Sebastiani, Ambassador of Italy, several other Ambassadors, Fr Antonio Porcellato Superior General of the SMA and several SMA confreres and Honorary Members.
The ceremony took place in a very uplifting atmosphere in front of the participants who were very enthusiastic.
H. E. Mrs. Marija EFREMOVA - Ambassador of North Macedonia to the Holy See:
I am ambassador of North Macedonia. it was a pleasure to be present for the award ceremony of the Ambassadors' Prize to Father Andrea for his book, which is truly a marvelous thing. We were very pleased to hear the introduction of the book and especially his speech which touched us very deeply. Thank you very much!
H. E. Mr. Youssef ZOGHAIB - Consul General of San Marino in Lebanon:
It was very interesting, especially as we are going through a very difficult time for all humanity and it helps a lot to rediscover again the faith and the way towards the honesty of the human person. It is a ceremony that was very well organized and it is something to be repeated not only in Rome but all over the world.
Fr. Andrea expressed all his joy and gratitude.
Fr. Andrea MANDONICO - Archivist and Legal Representative in Rome:
I thank all of you for your calls and messages following the news of my winning of the Literary Prize of Ambassadors to the Holy See. A price that I did not expect, but which made me very happy; because indeed I have been doing research and studies on Charles de Foucault for a long time. I am called to conferences on him all over the place.
My book was chosen from among 60 books as the best religious book of 2020 and it made me very happy and helped me to continue studying and to respond positively to all those who call me, who write to me for conferences or a homily all over Italy now. It is a book that has been the culmination of a lot of study, of a lot of research. And above all I can say in all humility that there are not many re-researchers on this new saint who is Charles de Foucault.
What also pleases me is that the book has been translated in Spanish, which opens up the market of Spain, and especially of Latin America where Brother Charles is very well known and very followed. And it will soon also be translated into French and English.
The Literary Prize, born in 2019 at the initiative of a large group of ambassadors to the Holy See to pay homage to the language of Dante and the city that hosts their embassies, is intended for authors who publish books in Italian for the general public on questions relating to Christian culture and values, relations between churches and Christian states, the history of Christian churches and interfaith dialogue.
GENERAL INFO
The Superior General went for a fraternal visit to the province of Strasbourg from September 27th to October 1st; and seized the opportunity to participate in a day workshop with all the confreres present in the province.