Accompaniment: South Germany – Austria
Sunday August 18, 2024
The joy of meeting the confreres where they work. With just a few lines, I’m sending you some images of my visit to the confreres of the Province of South Germany-Austria from 6 to 16 July 2024.
When I arrived at Munich airport, three confreres from the Birkeneck community came to greet me. One of them had travelled with me by train to Salzburg, as arranged with the Provincial, Father Michael Huber.
You’ll find pictures of all the places I visited. However, I failed to get a photo of our confreres in Salzburg, for which I apologise.
Maishofer. A colleague from the Province of Nederland is here. It is Piet Comandeur. He is alone in a flat and is already retired. Piet was a missionary in the Philippines for a year. Because he did not want to return to his own Province, he is in Austria (2).
The Freilassing Community. Two confreres are here: Hubert Kuun, the bursar of the Province, and LEMMÄR. As you can see, the pictures are separate because the two were not together. Hubert came with me to the Salzburg community (3).
Community in Slovakia. Brother Tomech is alone in this community. There is a spiritual centre and the house occupied by our sisters, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who have come from Kiribati. The Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit, look after the spiritual centre. You’ll find them dressed in white and grey robes. Here, you will also find the first house occupied by the MSCs in Slovakia (4).
Birkeneck community. Five confreres live in the community. Father Karl Unger, the superior, is 92 years old. However, all are in fairly good health (5).
Steinerskirchen Community. This community is home to the old chapel on the square. It is also a place of pilgrimage. Some of our confreres did their novitiate here. There are always visitors almost every day. There is also a cemetery where some confreres who worked in the DRC are buried.I met at least 23 confreres. Three or four were unavailable—for example, the one in Vienna. I also did not meet the confrere from Croatia. One from the Steinerskirchen community was away (6)
Simon Lumpini, MSC
