|
East Meets West Michelle Moran, who’s the chairman of the European committee of International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS) and part of the English National Service Committee, shares about a recent trip to Slovakia and what the Church in the Eastern Europe has to teach the West
|
|
Secret meetings in the woods to prepare for First Holy Communion Bohus had first met Fr Michael when he was a young boy but at that time nobody knew that he was a priest. He was working as an engineer in a local factory with some of Bohus’ relatives. Apparently manual workers didn’t attract too much attention from the Communist authorities, as they were more concerned with the intelligentsia whom they perceived to be the main threat. Occasionally Fr Michael and some of the men from the factory would arrange weekends away for young people camping in the woods. Bohus told me these were a bit like Scout camps but everything was kept secret. ‘You were just told to meet in a certain place and off you would go… you weren’t even allowed to tell your parents all the details’. He told me that it was on one of these weekends that he made his first Holy Communion and was confirmed. I find the story of Fr Michael impacting the lives of so many people and evangelising effectively whilst working ‘under cover’ profoundly moving and challenging. I am constantly being asked about how to evangelise in the work place. The two things that I usually highlight as being important are the qualities of integrity and relationship building. Through this silent witness we will often then be given opportunities to share our faith and witness to the Gospel. I admit that this can be challenging and at times a little embarrassing but what have we to lose? Some of our fellow Christians have put themselves in mortal danger for the sake of the Gospel. Maybe we need to wake up to or remind ourselves of the urgency to spread the Gospel. Perhaps we see our Christianity merely as something nice like the icing on the cake of a good life rather than the power to set people free and bring them into an experience of life in the Kingdom which lasts for all eternity. If we truly believe that the Good News is the ‘power of God saving all who have faith’ (Rom1: (Rom1: 16) then maybe we would not be so reticent about taking a risk and sharing it with others. After all the stakes are not so high compared with the price that some of our forebears or brothers and sisters in other countries have willingly paid. The influence of Light-Life Movement in Poland begun in Communist times During this recent trip I also did some teaching for a large community in Presov, Slovakia’s third largest city. I worked with about a hundred leaders of small Christian communities. Again they shared many stories of how faith not only survived under communism but how it spread and grew stronger. The leaders were part of the Light- Life movement that was started by a Polish priest during communist times. The movement encouraged Catholics to meet together where and when possible in small groups for prayer, teaching and general encouragement. Many of the new renewal initiatives in Eastern Europe can trace their roots back to Light-Life. Perhaps the biggest legacy of the movement is its promotion of the small group as a place for faith to be nurtured and to grow. During the summer many of these small Christian Communities run Oasis programmes which are evangelistic. Once people have encountered the Lord they are then able to belong to a small community where they can grow in faith in the company of others. Importance of small groups Interestingly, we here in Western Europe are also beginning to see the importance of small groups for evangelism and nurturing faith. I wish we could also capture some of the enthusiasm from the East. As one lady told me, “meeting in a group each week is so powerful and life changing especially now that we have the freedom to meet openly and worship without fear or restraint. It is also good to be able to welcome strangers into the group and help those with alcohol or drugs related difficulties”. Perhaps the danger for us is that groups can become a hobby or a Christian leisure activity for a season rather than a place where faith can be fostered, strangers welcomed and the needs of the poor met. I am deeply indebted to my many friends in Eastern Europe who have showed me through their powerful witness of life the importance of maintaining Gospel values in the face of adversity and persecution.
|
Over
the last few years I have had the great privilege of travelling extensively
in Eastern Europe. I am constantly amazed and challenged by the stories
that I hear of how faith not only survived under communism but against
all the odds it fl ourished. On a recent trip to Slovakia I visited
a community in the foothills of the mountains on the eastern side
of the country. The community has its humble origins in the initial
post communist times when religious freedom was made easier. There
is a Redemptorist monastery at Podolinec that when re-opened became
the focus for Redemptorist missions throughout Slovakia. It is also
the hub of the ‘River of Life Community’ which is comprised
mainly of lay people under the spiritual guidance of Fr Michael the
vice provincial of the Redemptorists. I asked Bohus one of the founders
of the community how things began. He told me an amazing story of
how faith not only endures under persecution but how it actually spreads
because of peoples’ conviction and courage. 
