Accompanied by Father Giuseppe Carulli, Superior of the General Curia House, and Father Nicola Albanesi, Visitor of Italy, Father Tomaž Mavrič visited the Vincentian mission of Kosovo and Albania from 30 January to 3 February.
The visit’s first stop was the city of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, where, welcomed by the Daughters of Charity, he celebrated Mass in the Cathedral with the bishop of the city and a church full of young university students, as well as many young people from the Kosovo JMV and Daughters of Charity. Late in the evening, the Superioress General of the Daughters of Charity, Sister Kathleen Appler, also reached Kosovo, accompanied by the General Councillor, Sister Hanna Cybula.
On Wednesday, 31 January, Father Tomaž and Sister Kathleen met all the Daughters of Charity present in the six communities of Kosovo for a moment of formation in Peje (Peć), a city dear to us Vincentians for the events of the Vincentian missionary and Servant of God, Janez Gnidovec (for more information read http://www.gnidovec.si/l_italy.htm).
The following day, they all reached Rrëshen in Albania, the first place touched by the Vincentian missionaries’ presence in 1993, after the fall of the Communist regime (1991) and where the Daughters of Charity currently work. After a brief visit to the Vincentian works and greeting the bishop, they continued to Scutari (Shkodër or Shkodra) where they visited the Martyrs’ Museum. This the place where many Christians were imprisoned and tortured, including the 38 martyrs beatified by Pope Francis in 2016. The diocesan bishop greeted them there. In the afternoon, there was a formation meeting with the Daughters of Charity who work in their five houses of Albania.
Friday, 2 February, Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, as every year, the Superioress General met with Father Tomaž for the presentation of the request for the Renovation of Vows of the Daughters of Charity. In the afternoon, there was a big party with the whole Vincentian Family of Albania in the parish of the Vincentian missionaries in Gruda e Re (Scutari). It began with the Eucharistic celebration and ended with a festive moment in which the many young people of JMV presented traditional songs and dances, videos, and testimonies of their action in the Albanian territory.
Saturday morning, after briefly greeting the Apostolic Nuncio in Tirana, the Superioress General returned to Paris, while Father Tomaž, before leaving for Rome, visited the community of the Daughters of Charity in Durrës, a community that has chosen to live in an apartment, among the people, in one of the many new buildings built near the port.
The young age of the Daughters of Charity and Vincentian Missionaries working in Albania and Kosovo, the widespread presence of the JMV in these two nations, the only group of SSVdP formed uniquely of young people, and the great enthusiasm and fervor that accompanies the Vincentian mission in these lands fill the heart with gratitude to God and with hope for our charism. God bless this wonderful mission!
By Father Giuseppe Carulli, CM
