GENERAL COUNCILLOR - MISSIONS: 'HABEMUS PAPAM'!
The new general councillor for the Missions is Fr. Francis Alencherry, provincial Kolkotta (Calcutta - for the information of those not familiar with India in recent times, many of the place names we have known since earlier -i.e British - times have altered: Bombay-Mumbai, Madras-Chennai, for instance).
The new delegate for the Missions was born in 1950. He made his first profession on May 24, 1969 in Shillong, and he was ordained to the priesthood in 1978. He has not attended any previous chapters. Francis is a Scripture scholar. He holds a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Biblicum in Rome and a Doctorate in Biblical Theology from the Gregoriana in Rome. As such Francis speaks English, Italian, German, French and Spanish along with his native Malayalam.
A CHARMING STORY
The Czech Republic has a new Bishop - Karel Herbst SDB, until recently Parish priest of Frystak. Amongst other tasks, he will have the joyous one in June of htis year of ordaining two young Salesian missionaries (members of the 2000 Expedition) who will be ordained in Brno, Czech Republic. Bishop Herbst is appointed as auxiliary of Prague. But now for the story:
Karel Herbst had been ordained secretly for fear of the then Communist government in Czechoslovakia. To make a living he began washing windows. He and
another man on the crew became good friends. When the Communist government was overthrown and freedom of religion was again the order of the day, it
turned out that the other window washer was a bishop who later became the Archbishop of Prague. Well, to make a long story short, the window-washing
priest was now being ordained a bishop. Is there a moral here-maybe it's good to know with whom you're washing windows.
another man on the crew became good friends. When the Communist government was overthrown and freedom of religion was again the order of the day, it
turned out that the other window washer was a bishop who later became the Archbishop of Prague. Well, to make a long story short, the window-washing
priest was now being ordained a bishop. Is there a moral here-maybe it's good to know with whom you're washing windows.
The story comes from Nick Reina via Luc Latagne (Canada). Thanks fellas.
