1171 Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz CSMA - a gift for Australia and PNG
austra L asia 1171
Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz CSMA - a gift for Australia
and PNG
WARSAW: 18th June 2005 -- The beatification Sunday 19th
June in Warsaw, of Fr Bronislaw Markiewicz, is a gift, let it first be
acknowledged, to the Polish Congregation known as the Michaelites,
named after the full title he gave to it: The Congregation of St
Michael the Archangel. But the nature of the Spirit's great
charisms is to be a gift to the universal Church in some way or
another. The Michaelites have a foundation in Sydney and several
in Papua New Guinea. The gift has been mutual. The
Michaelite charism of work and temperance directed to the good of the
young and the poor is good for Sydney and Mt Hagen PNG and everywhere
else they are called to, and the fact that four novices have already
come from PNG means the gift flows in the other direction too.
What a pity that English does not have a word that
quite defines a three-way gift - for this is true, too, of the
Michaelite presence in a region that also has a Salesian
presence. The Michaelites are members of the Salesian
Family. Fr Markiewicz began his religious life as a Salesian (he
was already a priest), but in due course and on a path that humanly
speaking was difficult both for the Salesians and Fr Markiewicz through
human misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit made sense of yet another human
mess. It was never really a face-off between
two saints, Mchael Rua and Bronislaw Markiewicz. The Saint of saints,
the Holy Spirit, was the third factor and referee in the game!
Everyone has benefitted from the outcome, from the flourishing of
holiness.
The Michaelites now have a major Sydney parish, that
of North Sydney, and several communities in PNG. In Sydney the
Cardinal has signed a contract which officially accepts their pastoral
contribution for the next 25 years. In PNG they are in Mt Hagen
and in two parishes in the diocese of Wabag. Fr Ziggy Kruczek of
Mt Hagen was recently appointed the Rector of the Seminary there.
On Sunday the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chavez, will
be in Warsaw for the beatification. Initially the event was
scheduled to be in Rome with Pope JohnPaul II, but the Spirit
intervened once again. Sunday's beatification will be the second in the
current pontificate of Benedict XVI and the first outside the
Vatican. Cardinal Glemp will be the beatifying prelate, if that
is the correct way to put it!
VOCABULARY
face-off: actually an ice-hockey term when
the opposing sides face each other at the beginning of the game.
The referee breaks this by dropping the puck!
