As I had hoped earlier, Bishop Frans Wiertz’ opening address of the symposium on new evangelisation, which took place at Rolduc seminary on Monday and Tuesday, has been made available on the website of the Diocese of Roermond. As may be expected, I have created an English translation.
Speaking about the need for a road map for the new evangelisation, the bishop took the Acts of the Apostles and Blessed John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte as the prime elements to draw this map. Both these sources and the actual address are worth a read. The latter was quite well received at the symposium and on Twitter, as it was reported on live by two attending seminarians. It is both thoughtful, a bit playful and practically applicable.
Photo credit: Diocese of Roermond
Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1929, Hrynchyshyn joined the Redemptorists in 1945. In Canada, he worked for the order as seminary rector, professor and church administrator. In the 1960s he was the rector of the church of St. John the Baptist in Newark, New Jersey. After 1972 he was the provincial superior for the Ukrainian Redemptorists in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. In 1982, he was sent to France to be come the second Apostolic Exarch of the aforementioned countries. From 1987 to 1989, Bishop Hrynchyshyn was also Apostolic Administrator for the Apostolic Exarchate of Great Britain. He held the titular diocese of Zygris, located in modern Egypt.