An Irish order will make history this weekend by setting up their Congregation’s first ever mission on mainland Europe.The Presentation Brothers, Ireland's oldest order of Brothers, are starting an educational project in Slovakia.
The Order are sending three Brothers, Brother Seán Bonner, Brother Vincent Costin and Brother Michael McKeown to the town of Spisske Podhradie in eastern Slovakia, where they will work with the Roma community there.
Brother Vincent, originally from Cappoquin in Waterford, said the brothers were looking forward to the task ahead.
“Certainly, there are obvious challenges; a new language to learn, a different culture to engage with and a different climate- in the winter the temperature drops to -20°C and in the summer it can reach 40°C,” he added.
The Brothers had heard that the Roma people lived in difficult conditions, but nothing prepared them for what they saw when they visited the area for the first time last year, he continued.
"No words can describe the de-humanising conditions in which these people are living," Brother Vincent said.
Just under two per cent of people in Slovakia are classified as Roma. Roma people disproportionately suffer from poverty, unemployment and disease.
“Blessed Edmund Rice, our founder, addressed the poverty of his day with Christian education. What he did in Waterford 200 years ago, we will be hoping to achieve in Slovakia in 2007."
The Provincial Leader of the Presentation Brothers in Ireland , Brother Walter Hurley, praised the three men for their decision to go on mission to Slovakia . “This is a very courageous and ambitious move. I wish them well and assure him of our prayers during the weeks and months ahead.”
The Presentation Brothers were founded in 1802 in Waterford by a Kilkenny businessman, Edmund Rice. In 1996, Pope John Paul II placed Edmund Rice on the path to sainthood by declaring that he was “Blessed” in St. Peter’s Square, Rome .
There are approximately 100 Presentation Brothers around the world, with missions in Ghana , West Indies, Canada and the USA.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce