Krakow, Poland. April 2023

 

Pictures taken during this trip can be seen at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/esR97sEsLLEV2anv7

In late 2022, I was asked by a member of the Boeselager Foundation of Germany to join meetings to be held in Krakow Poland with members of the Albertine Brothers.  The foundation has supported the work of these brothers in Ukraine for over 10 years.  The purpose of the meetings was to allow the brothers to report on their work in Ukraine and to discuss further work in the years ahead. I readily agreed to join these meetings as the work of the brothers was clearly important and heroic given the ongoing war in Ukraine.  The original idea had been to visit the houses the brothers maintain in Lviv and Zaporizcha but obviously, that was no longer possible.   I	7:21 PM (4 hours ago)
I flew from Miami to Munich and then on to Krakow on April 1. I flew Lufthansa and was lucky as I managed to avoid the current ongoing strikes at German airports.
As I arrived a couple of days before others arrived for the meetings with the brothers, I was able to do a bit of tourism on my own. At a meeting on April 5, 2023, in Krakow,  Alexander Keyserlingk met with the current head of the Albertinian order and his predecessor in the context of their work with the Csilla von Boeselager Stiftung, Osteuropahilfe e.V.   The brothers commented that the number of members of the order had decreased drastically over the last years because they were having difficulty in recruiting new vocations to the order.   Alexander Keyserlingk made some remarks on this matter and his suggestions have been summarized here at the request of the brothers.   Alexander expressed a strong opinion that the brothers were not doing enough to make the order known and respected in the youth community.  He stressed that young people make their decisions on their future life choices based on information they have and on opinions they form about the possible life decisions they make.  He quoted a study made several years ago on the reasons for a lack of vocations in the Canadian Anglican church. That study concluded that young people were not opting to join the Anglican clergy at the same level as in the past because the work of the Anglican pastor no longer appeared to gather the same respect in society.  In the past, the pastor was considered, and was, the most educated person in most communities.  With the higher level of education in the population, pastors no longer commanded the same high level of respect and the work of a pastor no longer afforded the leadership role it had gained in the past.   Thus, the Albertinian order seems to be suffering a decreasing interest of the youth resulting in a gradual decrease in the number of brothers in the community. The reasons for this decrease in interest must be analyzed and understood. Means must be taken to counter this gradual disappearance of the order.   Alexander emphasized that it is the duty of the current leadership of the order to take drastic action to avoid the gradual disappearance of the order altogether. It is the duty of the current leadership of the order to recognize that times are changing and the youth of today take their life decisions based on different criteria than those of previous generations.     It is therefore vital for the current leadership of the order to become proactive in projecting the work of the Order to today's youth to convince them that opting for a life in the Albertinian order is fulfilling and satisfying given the work being done by the brothers. It is the duty of the current brothers to project to the youth of today how the order is fulfilling its goals.   In order to make known the work of the order, Alexander suggested that the brothers bring together a small group of lay marketing experts. This group should be asked to brainstorm with the brothers on how best to develop a plan for informing young people of the very important and respected work of the order. This group of experts should not necessarily look at the recruiting of new members as a religious activity but rather to look at solutions that address the societal aspect of career-making decisions by young people. The group should develop a real plan of projecting to the public the work of the order so that young people understand the importance of the work of the order and feel that joining the order will meet their aspirations for life in the years ahead.    Once the group has developed a marketing plan, the order should dedicate human and financial resources to implement the plan based on the advice and counsel of the experts who have joined the think tank group. The advisory group should continue to work with the brothers to implement the plan developed so that adjustments can be made in implementing the marketing plan.  Financial resources should be secured to ensure the plan can be implemented over months and years.   This matter must be approached with the same professionalism as is applied by any modern company or group when launching a new product into the market. The Albertinian order's future will depend on how effectively the plan is developed and put into action. The brothers should rely on the group of marketing experts to formulate a plan to make known its work and to attract the interest of young people to join in carrying on the important work of the order.    This work is so important to the order that the current leadership should dedicate the time and financial resources needed to save the order from gradual disappearance. The need for the services of the order is greater than ever before. It is the responsibility of the current leadership and members of the order to take the necessary steps to rebuild the ranks of the order to ensure that its work will continue into the next decades. There is no alternative but to act now as such a campaign will require time to provide positive results. I returned to Miami via Berlin where I spent one day. It was an impressive trip to be able to meet and get to know these valiant brothers who carry on their work despite the war.