The Ways of God are Grace and Fidelity
History and reports of Witnesses from the Czech Province
Sr. Pavla Krivankova, Kromeriz, Czech Province
During the time of communism the State and the communist party were in control of all sectors of society. Every religious act was seen as political and therefore dangerous because it went against the political norms and expectations. How have our sisters experienced and survived this time? We know little. Listen to Sr. Pavla and other sisters
The Communist Regime
Seventy years ago, in March 1939, the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” were declared to be part of the Third Reich. The following six years our people were deprived of freedom and spent their life in hardship and distress. After the Second World War we hoped for a better future. However, soon dark clouds appeared on the horizon. The communist party tried might and main to get to power. In February 1948 they became the leading power in Czechoslovakia.
In the beginning of the totalitarian regime the ecclesial structure was destroyed in accordance with the Marxist ideology. The government demanded a list of all priests and religious, the statement of their assets and other information. The attention of the police was concentrated on the attitude of the religious superiors towards the new regime.
The report on our provincial superior said: “Sr. Kamila Gelingovà manifests blind obedience to the church hierarchy. She probably has connection with the Vatican. We can trust neither her nor the whole convent. It is a place where we have no access; it should be put under tight control. It is obvious that here we have a reactionary group who is engaged in subversive activities. We have to watch them in order to catch them red- handed.”
Life in an Internment Convent.
The Bishops and many spiritual personalities were imprisoned and the religious were taken out of their own convents and detained in common convents. In autumn 266 Holy Cross Sisters and 150 Dominican Sisters were placed together in a former Jesuit monastery in Bohusudov near the border of Bohemia. They lived under the supervision of the secret police and went out to work in different factories and on the fields.
Harvesting flax
The mail was censured, journeys and visits limited. The fate of our sisters was uncertain because the ministry of defence requisitioned the building of the monastery in Bohosudov for the military. During 1951 the State sent the Holy Cross Sisters in different directions. Forced labour in the factories awaited them or a life detained in different internment convents.
Candidates and Novices
The candidates and novices were torn away from their communities and scattered in different places, far from each other. They felt deserted, exposed to different dangers, like sheep without a shepherd.
We can sense the atmosphere of this epoch in a political report about the novices written in the year 1952: “The religious novices, though they are young, are reactionary and against the regime. They are a close knit group and stand fearlessly on the side of the church. This communitarian life and the fanatic religious mindset hold the novices in strict discipline and isolate them from the progressive trends.
In their religious community they are disobedient to the rules of the Government. They do not respect them. For instance, though it is forbidden, they visit the sisters interned in the factory of Varnsdorf. The communist party and the council of the labour unions watch over them. The public regards the sisters with love.
Sr.Gonzaga Kornfeilová, Sr. Maneta Odehnalová,Sr. Pacis Rozkopalová, Ruzena Šolcová, a group of the youngest who had been torn away from the sisters’ community in Bohosudov
The elderly and sick sisters
The parting from the old and sick sisters was very painful. They were transported from Bohosudov to Vinava in Silesia, 400 km away. The poor sisters had again to change place after three months, from Vidnava to Bilá at the Polish border. In Vidnava they had to leave behind the fresh graves of five fellow sisters.
Unpredictability & harassment
A group of 35 sisters was sent to the old and cold Benedictine monastery in Broumov. Also here, like in Bilá Voda and in the factory boarding, we lived together with sisters of different congregations.
The sisters who were capable of work were brought to different factories near the border of Bohemia. Strict rules of the State deprived us of personal freedom. We were not spared the unpredictability and harassment of the women supervisors. They had their own methods to show their power, to humiliate us and make our life difficult. They wanted to re-educate us politically and win us over us to go back to secular life. A high prize was promised to anyone who would manage to persuade a religious sister to leave the convent. In a secret report on one of our sisters we can read: “She is a lovely woman and should be transferred to a hospital to get a chance to marry.”
We were mocked at as class enemies, as agents of the Vatican, as followers of the Pope.
Our strength was debilitated by embarrassing house-searches, separation from our Superiors, lack of spiritual direction, the constant change in places of work and living. Strengthened by the Eucharist we carried our lot quietly without losing our joy in God and our courage to be faithful. We changed from place to place and tried to witness to our faith in different factories (making textile articles, screws, crockery), when harvesting vegetables and fruit, when spinning flax and cotton. We asked ourselves anxiously: “When will we be able to go back to our convent?” Purified by all the difficulties from outside, our communities grew together into a wonderful unity. We were gratefully aware that the sisters of the other provinces supported us with their prayers.
Interned in Hejnice
In June 1952, 72 religious superiors and influential sisters of different congregations were interned in Hejnice. Each one got an arrest warrant under the suspicion that they were involved in espionage. By this action the police hoped to paralyze cohesion among the sisters, loosen the discipline and get some information to start a court case.
Internment convent at Hejnice
Watched over by the ever present supervisor and eight policemen the sisters lived in strict seclusion without knowing anything about their fellow sisters outside. Visits were forbidden, the rare letters were censured, in the rooms, in the chapel and in the confessional mini microphones were hidden. It was like spending three years in a prison.
Plans that failed
In the year 1953 the government planned to dissolve all congregations of women. The men of the security police carried
out their assignments. Civilian dress for the sisters had been stitched, the date of dissolution fixed, write-ups for publications in the mass media were ready which would justify this step and new laws were drawn up for publication. Shortly before the date fixed for implementation, some inter-national events happened, which prompted the Government to postpone the planned action; and at the end it failed all together. It was expected that the congregations would die out gradually because it was strictly forbidden to admit any new members. For us sisters the way to ongoing education was barred, contact with anyone abroad forbidden and all literature strictly censored.
Supervision of the State
Ten Holy Cross Sisters of our province were put to trial in court for different reasons. Sister Cyrila Jecmenová was sentenced to
eight years imprisonment. She had asked the children before the religion class to pray for the unjustly imprisoned bishops and priests. She made her final profession in prison. Two of the sisters were serving the bishops who were interned in an undisclosed location.
The sisters provide needy persons security through the merciful love of God.
The sisters working in the hospitals were a thorn in the side of the government since these sisters were able to have religious influence on the patients. During the years 1954-1960 they were transferred to different social welfare institutions. Also the sisters working in the factories were slowly transferred to social
welfare institutions.
It was forbidden to have any religious influence on the patience, but the spirit of God could not be chained. We found ways to assist the people spiritually and to enable them to receive the sacrament.
The supervision of the State was a permanent affair. Our higher superior also experienced this during visitation. In May 1964 Mother Elena Giorgetti came to visit us. She and her companion had to report their arrival in the ministry of culture in Prague. The head of the section for church affaires, Mr. Hruza received them with a menacing attitude. In spite of this their stay in the provinces of Moravia and Slovakia passed in mutual great joy.
Like lightening from heaven we received a very painful blow after the departure of the high guests. On the way back to Broumov from the airport, our provincial superior Sr.Kamila Gelingová met with a fatal car accident. In her we lost a highly appreciated personality who could give good counsel in difficult situations and fearlessly defended the rights of the church.
Photo from the last days of Sr. Kamila Gelingová, before she expired in a tragic car accident
Sisters of different congregations shared our grief
Short Breathing Space
There was a short breathing space during the forty years of communist rule, the so called “Spring of Prague”. There was a relaxation, but only for a short time. We were allowed to work in the parishes and to admit candidates, but soon there was a strict prohibition again. Our hope for freedom was shattered. Again everything was checked and censured. Without the permission of the Government no sister could be transferred nor be appointed as superior. Priests, confessors, retreat directors needed the permission from the state to carry out their mission. People who visited us as well as all our journeys were registered. Not long ago a news paper published the following passage from the Secret State Archive, under the title: “Dangerous women” Details were mentioned such as: “Day: 21.8.1988. Time: 12.00 o’clock, place: city square. Prescription: The women are leaving the church of our Lady of Angels.”
Working in the Underground
Despite the harsh limitations and discrimination from the side of the government we continued to work in the underground. Several times we sent protest signatures against the genocide of the religious orders to the higher offices. In the almost hopeless situation we tried to find a ways to give religion classes to small groups, and, despite the strict prohibition, to print or distribute religious literature. We took the great risk of providing for some young women a religious formation, under high secrecy.
Our communities were oases for those seeking, shelter for the persecuted, places of assistance in manifold needs. It was important for us to remain with the people and walk with them.
Picture from the archive of the secret police: Sister Bernadetta Ruz?cková and Sr. Katerina Bastiová visited Cardinal Tomášek. Afterwards they went to the Church of the Capuchins.
Political Change
Difficulties were transformed into blessings. “We have escaped like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have es-caped.”(Ps 154)
The change in politics happened in November 1989 after the canonisation of blessed Agnes of Prague, the daughter of the king the Czech dynasty Premysliden. The whole population believed in her intercession.
“I do not know what a miracle is, but I know that I experience a miracle.” These words were expressed by Václav Havel when he welcomed Pope John Paul II in our country in April 1990. The new situation filled the society with a euphoria which blinded them to the future problems. The consequence of the spiritually damaged society showed itself in future years in the economic insecurity and the political instability. Religious indifference, secularisation, greed and egoism spread. There were requests for religious sisters from many places. Through the persecution our numbers had diminished. In some places the sisters took over
their work again like in the hospital in Prague, in the schools of Odry and Kromer?z, in the seminary in Olomouc, in parishes (Fulnek, Hroznová Lhota, Vysoké Myto). In the year 1993 we could return to our Provincial House that had been expropriated 43 years earlier.
Back in the Provincial House
It is difficult to describe the joy of the sisters who were allowed to come home to the Provincial House from exile in Bilá Voda near the border of Silesia and from other places. The house can offer accommodation for retreats for young women as well as for recollection days for different groups.
There are possibilities for ongoing education for sisters, for the study of theology, Franciscan spirituality and other subjects, helpful for our
mission in the parishes or in social activities.
The renovated Provincial House Kromer[?z
The sisters who had lived the greater part of their religious life under difficult political circum-stances are very happy to be able to spend the remaining years in their beloved convent. Through their prayer they now support the mission of the younger sisters who work with the youth, with the sick, in pastoral ministry, in ecclesial institutions, with the homeless in the shelter of Olomouc, in the Mission in Perm, Russia. Two sisters worked for six years in Romania, bringing new hope to the people there by letting them know that they are not forgotten.
Sr. Ester and Sr. Evangelista. Sr.Evangelista died in autumn 2008, half a year before her 100th birthday!
Letting go once again
We are not spared of letting go once again. Because of our diminishing number of sisters, we were not able to keep our oldest convent in Choryné. A social programme is continued and developed there.
During 2007 we accepted four sisters of the Visitation Order in our provincial house since they are no more able to look after themselves.
According to statistics only 15 percent of the population goes for Mass on Sunday. Therefore the number of vocations has dropped and we do not get sufficient candidates. We regard each new vocation as a sign of God’s fidelity. We firmly believe that He is also present in our current situation and that He will not abandon us.
Memories of some sisters
On Passion Sunday 1951 we eight novices, interned in the convent of Bohosudov, made our First Profession. Sixteen postulants were accepted into the noviciate. All happened very quietly, without guests, without bells ringing. After three days the Government ordered us to leave the community the following day as we would be distributed in different places, far from each other. If one or the other would prefer to choose civil life, she would be free to do so. Early in the morning we all stood in the court yard of the convent, ready for travel. The government officer gave order to the different groups to leave, escorted by an officer of the secret police: to Liberec ten heads, Rakovnik five heads, Kladno 5 heads, etc. It was difficult for us to live without superiors. The officers tried to win us over. When they realized after a few months, that all their efforts to make us leave the convent were in vain, they put us in a bus one day, with all our belongings.
Dinning room for the factory workers
Nobody told us where the journey would lead. We landed in the compound of the textile factory of Varnsdorf. There, together with three fellow sisters, we were assigned to the kitchen, where meals for 2100 workers were prepared. We had to peel potatoes all day long.
After half a year we were transferred again, this time to a spinning mill in the Sudeten mountain range. From there I was sent to Bilá Voda where, for thirty years, I served our elderly sisters who had been deported to this ploace and had to live in miserable circumstances. I am looking back with gratitude.
Sr. Livie Brázdová, professed 1951
*
On 15 August 1950 eight novices were professed in the chapel of the provincial house in Kromer?z and six postulants were admitted to the novitiate. I was among the new novices. There were already dark clouds gathering over the Church. We heard rumours that all the religious would be deported to Siberia. In September there was an order from the Government for all the religious sisters in provincial houses and other convents, to go to Bohosudov, about 600 km to the west. We novices were left free, but we requested to join the sisters who went into exile. After a few months we novices had to leave the sisters in Bohosudov and to travel to places assigned by the Government. It was a strange spectacle for the inhabitants of Rakovnik to see five defenceless sisters being escorted by armed policemen from the railway station to the hospital. For us this was the beginning of a new phase of being tested. We were given strength by the daily Eucharist. I made my first profession in secret in Bilá Voda in the presence of my novice mistress. I was not allowed to speak about it to anyone. My eight fellow sisters, who were making profession in a similar way in the same year, have already died.
S. Regina Podolská, professed 1958
June 1952. On the day when some sisters from our community were imprisoned in Hejnice, we had unpleasant visitors at midnight. A supervisor and several policemen wanted to enter our room. We did not open and the supervisor got very annoyed and threatened us. Out of fear of what could happen, we blocked the entrance with our suitcases. The tension grew. In our distress we shouted from the terrace for help into the dark night, but nobody came from the village. It would have been too dangerous. The leader of the group decided suddenly: “comrades let us go.” We did not sleep the whole night, but burned many papers in the stove, such as the notes prepared for the chronicles, letters from superiors. We guessed that the nightly visitors wanted to search our things in order to find some material which would give them a reason to sentence the sisters in Hejnice.
Somebody from the village asked the supervisor what had happened on the factory premises the previous night. She answered:” We wanted to check whether the sisters could sleep peacefully after we had deported some of their sisters.”
Sr.Andela Šticovprofessed 1951
In the district town of Trutnov, in March 1953, there was a memorial service for the soviet leader Stalin. All the workers were obliged to take part. We did not want to go and made the plan to hide in the cloakroom till the others came back from the ceremony. But soon we were caught. The police man commanded: “Get out from here, you could be setting fire to the building!”
Surrounded by police-men we were marched out of the factory premises, hearing remarks like: ”Now we see how many enemies we have”- “These followers of the Pope must be liquidated.” Where to go now? It was cold and wet. The church nearby was closed. We found shelter in the waiting room of the railway station. The unjust humiliation we experienced burned deep in our heart. It was clear for us that all this belongs to our companionship with Christ. “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly; we have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.”(1 Cor. 4.12ff)
Sr.Emiliana Báborská, professed 1948
I had two years of profession when the Second World War broke out. I was working in the hospital of Ostrava-Zábreh, where we experienced the horrors of frequent bombardment. Despite all the dangers we always remained with the patients, also when it looked as though the last days had arrived. As punishment for not having taken part in the parliamentary elections, we were transferred to the oncology department. We were shaken when seeing the conditions there. We felt like having arrived at the island of Molokai, the exile of
leprosy patients. We saw sadness, despair and hopeless-ness in the eyes of the cancer patients. Suddenly it dawned on us that this was exactly the place where Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross were needed. We tried our best to serve the suffering with devotion, to pray with them and to arrange for the reception of the sacraments, though this was forbidden. We
Congregations who lived together in Bilá Voda during the years 1950 – 1989
considered it our duty, to let the patients experience God’s love through us. Many patients, after years, got back the gift of faith in the Father of mercy.
Sr. Malvina Vyvialová., professed 1937
Nearly 90 of our sick and old sisters were shifted around by the State to different places: from Moravia to Bohosudov (autumn 1950), from Bohosudov toVidnava
(May 1951) von Vidnava to Bilá
Voda(August 1951) During those days I was a student of the nursing school. For political
reasons I was not allowed to finish the forth year. Together with other sisters I was transported to Bohosudov, after nine months to the factory in Varnsdorf and then to the spinning mill in Trutnov.
Our superios pleaded that I should be freed for the nursing of our sick sisters. I was happy to be sent to Bilá Nova in August 1953, a very remote place at the border of Poland. 360 sisters of different congregations lived together here, among them 90 Holy Cross sisters. For forty years, together with other sisters, I remained there, to care for the old and sick sisters. I admired their fidelity, courage, patience and zealous prayer life. Other congregations, too, requested our professional help. Often we were called to the sick in village for first aid. We were happy if we could help. The sisters dared to give religion classes for the children in secret.
Our great consolation was the daily Eucharist. At certain times we were allowed to pray together with the school sisters in their chapel. The rooms were cold, we had no central heating system, and the water supply was insufficient. Wood for some heating we had ourselves to prepare in the forest, three hours walk away.
Preparation for heating in Bilá Nova. The Redemptorist Father P. Lavicka lends a helping hand.
For the washing we had only one small machine at our disposal, for the rinsing of the laundry was done in the stream in front of our house. From there we carried the wet laundry in baskets up to the third floor, to the loft of a neighbouring house. There was no lift, of course. The people of the village were good to us. We helped them on the fields at harvest. The supervisors of the house were watching all our visits; they had all to be registered.
In later years the conditions in the house were improving slightly. During the well prepared liturgies in the church of Our Lady we experienced that we were safe in the hands of God. For 140 of our sisters Bilá Boda was the last station before heaven. The cemetery of Bilá Boda was declared a national cultural heritage in the year 2000.
Sr. Jonilla Vanková, professed 1948
*
Our parents taught us to profess our faith without fear. We were six siblings. My father defended the rights of the Christians imperturbably. On Sunday he gave us religious instruction. After visiting the Holy Cross Sisters, I increasingly felt the call to a total following of Christ. The superiors dared to admit candidates “secretly, as “flowers under the snow” and give them formation programmes, though this was not allowed. In March 1977 I was allowed to pronounce my First Vows in secret, together with another sister. We lived in an old flat in Olomouc. From time to time we sneaked undetected into the Bishop’s House to visit our sisters there. I found a job in the military hospital. When on visitation, in Choryne, Mother M. Edelfrieda asked me, if it was very difficult to live a religious life in secret. My spontaneous answer was:”I have to make a decision every day anew.”It was really like that. The boss and my colleagues searched a boy friend for me; there were tempting offers from the party, persuasions. Since all this was unsuccessful, I became the black sheep at my work place.
How happy I was to return to the religious community as soon as it was possible after the political change. With my fellow sisters I worked in the hospital in Prague, in the schools in Odry and Kroer?z and studied theology through a correspondence course. It was a good preparation for my present mission as pastoral assistant in Pilsen. With the help of
God I am co-responsible for the evangelisation in the newly founded city parish of St. John Nepomuk. My father works as permanent deacon, two brothers are priests and three siblings are married. Our good mother supports all of us with her prayers.
Sr. M.Goretti Dr?malová, professed 1977
Twenty Years of Freedom
In the year 2008 our country remembered the fortieth anniversary of the military invasion from the soviet bloc. At that time, in August 1968, the flame of hope which promised freedom of speech, freedom of the press and religious freedom was snuffed out. The candidates, who entered during the short period of freedom, remained for twenty years the youngest sisters in the community. Those who entered later were living secretly at home or in small groups in towns.
Those who entered the convent after 1989 received first baptism. I myself grew up in a family who did not practice Christianity. But from childhood onwards a hidden flame of faith burned in my heart. My grandmother, a deeply religious protestant, told me once that God exists. I believed it firmly, though I did not know anything about him. As I grew older, my longing for him kept growing. I experienced the need to thank Him, the great Unknown,
for the beauty of creation. My faith grew when I got an invitation to play the flute in an orchestra that came every year to our town to perform the Christmas mass by the composer Rybe. The following Christmas I got a deeper inkling of what happened at the mass. In January 1986 I accepted Christ as the Lord of my life.
In summer the girls of the parish proposed my name me as leader of the secret summer camp for children. On the house where we lived, flew a banner: “Protectors of Creation” with the symbol of the Brontosaurus.
My friend, who was a secret novice of the Holy Cross Sisters, took me along for visits in the convent in Choryne. There I found peace and stillness, an atmosphere of prayer. I went there several times, but nobody was allowed to know that I visited religious sisters. My parents happily allowed me to spend the weekend with the “Protectors of Nature”. I named the visits to the sisters “Action Brontosaurus.”
Through these regular visits with the sisters the desire arose in me to live a religious life. Ever since my conversion Jesus Christ had become the centre of my life. In July 1989 I asked to be admitted to the congregation. Four years of university study lay ahead of me. Nobody was supposed to know that I was a candidate of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross. I lived in a small apartment together with Sister Terezie, a secret Holy Cross Sister who was already finally professed. Through meetings with other “hidden sisters” who worked in the same town, and through the Eucharist secretly celebrated in our flat, I experienced for a short time the tensions of the church in the underground. The danger ended with the “soft revolution”, in November 1989. I was an active member of the students’ strike who occupied the information centre of the university. After this we had no longer to hide our faith. I started to live in an apartment in the Bishop’s House, which – after 40 years – was renovated and our sisters who could start working there again. After completing my studies I entered the Noviciate. Ours was the first batch in the Provincial house at Kromer?z, after it had been returned to us by the State.
Many people in our country believe that they were better off during the communist regime. These are mostly persons who did not have to suffer for their faith because they knew how to swim with the stream. But Christians may not forget the many martyrs and confessors of those years.
Sr. Klára Maria Strániková, professed 1995
How has our life changed after the iron curtain fell? In any case it has become more hectic. People are more stressed, better informed, busier. Great opportunities are available now which nobody even dared to dream about during the communist regime: travel, freedom to speak one’s mind, freedom to act, and much more. The negative sides are: stress, insecurity, dissipated opinions in which make it difficult to orient oneself.
After the initial euphoria there were – as it often happens – disillusionment, disappointment and remembering the “good old days, when all had a job and social security”. Very soon the life in fear, lack of freedom and lack of commodities is forgotten, things we take for granted today. In the meantime a new generation has come up who had not experienced the totalitarian regime. These young people find it hard to understand their parents who are more cautious and conservative. On the one hand this new generation has great possibilities, on the other hand it s influenced by the materialistic ideas spread by the mass media, and the loss of those values which could guaranty a healthy family life. For many life seems to have no meaning and conse-quently they flee into alcohol, drugs and free sex.
The attitude of the
State towards the Church has again become more negative, and there is an anti-church spirit in the society which has its roots not only in the 40 years of totalitarian regime, but in our earlier history.
And we Holy Cross Sisters are sent into this complicated milieu.
Our community in Kolin lives in the former Franciscan monastery that is now used as retreat centre, which is managed by the Jesuits. Most of the participants are students who come from the capital Prague, about 50 km away. We try to create a favourable environment on the material as well as the spiritual level. I realize that our most important contribution is listening, having time for those who come, who want to talk. Sr. Dobroslava, our cook, is often the “wailing wall” where all like to go.
In my work as pastoral assistant I meet many people: in the religion classes of the girls’ school, in the Kindergarten, when catechizing, preparing adults for the sacraments, when going for visits to the sick or when I have work in different government offices. When walking on the road, I am often approached by people. Our religious habit attracts some and irritates others. I become aware that the people are seeking God and long for him, even if they do not express it. Once a couple approached me with their two years old son; they asked for baptism for him. They both were not baptized, neither married. When I enquired why they would want their child to be baptized, they answered that their friend advised them to do so because it would be good for the child. It also happens that I meet people who ask for the blessing. Till now I hear the young man who was calling out to his girl friend: ”Come here to get the sign of the cross.” They are Non–Christians but probably sense the closeness of the Lord. At present there are six young catechumens who are preparing for baptism. Twice a year there are courses for catechumens offered in Prague. At the last solemn opening of one of the courses, there were 120 interested persons. I see in these happenings the hand of God at work and we are allowed to participate.
Sr. Bernarda Lacivoná, professed 1990
In the beginning of our province
there were as many as 1913 sisters from Moravia, working in schools also in Slovakia, in Hungary and Rumania. In Moravia our sisters were known as good teachers and educationists until the communist party came to power in 1948. Then the Teaching Sisters were transferred to factories by the State, and later to homes for handicapped children. A sister relates about the significance of the schools that are run by the Church today.
With joy I started teaching in the Parish primary school in Kromer?z in 1999. It was ten years after the
Sr. Zusana Macecková teaching
fall of the communist regime. During this time the Church re-opened the schools or founded new ones. These offer an alternative to the government schools. This work was started with great enthusiasm, with the help of parents and benefactors. The schools have a good standard, but their main aim is to offer an education according to Christian principles. In our schools religion is an obligatory subject. Once a week we have a common mass for all the students. Our school is open for all. It is up to the parents if they want make use of this offer. There are contrasts:”Some Christian parents send their children to government schools when they are situated nearer to their homes. On the other hand, religiously indifferent parents send their children to us because they are convinced that here they get a good foundation for life. We teach these children tolerance and respect for the Christian way of life.
The schools run by the Church are very few in comparison to the government schools, like oases in the midst of a vast spiritual desert. Yet there are new schools opened by the Church in the present, with the aim of fulfilling their Christian mission. Together with lay people I am happy to give my energy, for the young generation, helping them, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to open themselves to the love that will give meaning to their lives.
Sr.Zuzana Macešková, professed 1999
One of the first places where we could work after the fall of communism, was the hospital
“ Beim Franziskus”, which had originally been founded by St. Agnes of Bohemia. Cardinal. Tomášek expressed the wish that at least a small group of religious who live according to Franciscan spirituality would work here. Our sisters came in May 1990. It was not easy for them. It took time till they had won the trust of the staff and patients. Sr. Karla Klosová who built up a good relationship, died at the age of thirty.
At present there are four Holy Cross sisters working in this hospital. We try to look at everyone with the eyes of God and to bring them God’s mercy. The patients feel secure; the co-workers share with us their problems and worries. Though many of them are not baptized, they do believe in the power of prayer. Often we help those who have no shelter and are brought
to us in a miserable condition. We
help those who appear daily at
our doorstep. We are happy to
Sr. Klára Padaliková in the hospital in Prague
have got the permission to erect a small chapel on the hospital ground. The Eucharistic Lord dwells day and night among us. He gives to the sick the experience of his love and to us the strength to persevere, also when we have to become “signs of contradiction.”
Sr. Theodosie Kr?zová
Sr. Leona Martinková, directress of the shelter for homeless in Olomouc, relates of her present work: We shelter in our centre the jobless, those released from jail, psychologically sick persons and drug addicts, in crisis. We serve them believing that the crucified Lord is hidden in them and we can show Him our love through the services we render. Their needs are manifold: some need a hot meal, clothes, a bed for the night, a place to wash and take a bath. They need help for filling forms, for applications to get financial help, a job, a flat. Our employees search for these poor people under bridges, on railway stations, in garden sheds and supermarkets. They offer help and intervene with the administration. Unfortunately it is not easy to find religious minded, dedicated co-workers as well as the means to continue this work.
An important improvement of this Help-Centre is the Ambulance for people in need. It is managed by a doctor and our Sr. Damiana. Sometimes our efforts show little fruit because the people do not keep to the advice of the doctor. Patiently we continue to make small steps forward and do not let disappointments discourage us. Our founders show us the way.
Three novices of the Czech Province look with hope to the future. They write in October 2008: Soon we shall celebrate our First Profession. We were asked to tell about our vision for the future for the article in the Theodosia.
Sr. Camiana Cápová with the doctor in the ambulance for people in distress. Olmou. Administrative tasks take much time.
We do not imagine to be able to do nice things, because Mother M. Theresa told us: “There are enough people ready to do nice things, for that we do not need Holy Cross Sisters.” Our country experiences constant changes. This fact and also the diminishing number of sisters in our province will ask for adjustment in the
apostolate of the future. But we
are encouraged by our founder
Fr. Theodosius and by our
constitutions who tell us to be ever ready to answer to the changing needs of the time and find God’s will in them. Our life in the present and in the future consists in trusting God’s guidance and living the charism faithfully wherever He may lead us. We want to be bearers of the Love of Christ among people, and keep our eyes fixed on the cross in steadfast prayer.
The witness of our personal and communitarian life with God and for God will be our first mission. God had called us, he knows us in all our weakness, but he has assured us that in Him and with his strength, we can do all things. We often experience how the world is thirsting for love. Therefore we ask the Lord to give us now and in future the grace to let people experience the reality of His love through our small services.
Sr. M.Beata Zenamová, Sr. M. Zdenka Dominiková, Sr. Oldr?ška Zálešáoová?