SlovenčinaAn interview with Father Vano by TV LUX
Personal Story
I come from eastern Slovakia, from Sabinov, which is close to Presov in the diocese of Kosice. I serve in the diocese of Roznava, my home diocese, where I was ordained. The late Bishop Eduard Kojnok ordained me in 1991. From that time I served in the parishes of that diocese. My first assigment was as an associate pastor in Breznicka pri Poltari, and we had over 30 villages in our care, quite a few, and now they have created five parishes in that same community. Afterwards, I served in Jesenske, near the Hungarian border, for three years, and after that in Margecany, in the east, for two years. It was from there that I left to come to Canada to work among the Slovaks.
Current Situation
We are now in Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Mississauga, near the city of Toronto. This is a new church, built in 1996. Its location was moved from downtown, or the centre of ,Toronto because there were few parking spaces and it was far from where th epeople leaved. More and more parishioners were moving away from the city centre to the outskirts of Toronto, to Mississauga, and then to the neighbouring city of Oakville. This was the reason this parish, which was in downtown Toronto, was sold, and a new location for the parish was searched for. This new church is located right in the middle, between Etobicoke, or the beginning of Toronto, and Oakville and Burlington, where most of our parishioners live and come to church from. The idea, at least as I have heard and understand it, was that the church truly be built in the centre of everything, that people, and especially families with young children, who were moving further away, could be closer to the church. There are only a few Slovak families living near the new church. This is not an area where Slovaks are concentrated, but, in fact, people travel up to 60 km to come to Sunday Mass every week. It’s wonderful, it makes me feel good inside, that these people want to come, and want to be part of this community, and for that, they deserve our thanks. I admire these people who have a church only five minutes away, but still they come to form a community, to support this parish, and form a society of Slovaks living here, around Toronto.
Our vision is not, of course, just a cultural, Slovak one, but a spiritual vision, meaning that we concentrate, we offer a spiritual life. It doesn’t mean to just offer the sacraments because one is a Slovak, one comes here just to be baptized, but rather to truly feel inside that this community and the people we meet with want to forge a path that will lead us closer to God.
This year is the year of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, an the Year of Faith, and it is through this Year of Faith that we want to more closely resemble, show, and highlight the lives of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. But, of course, we also want to modify and show the life that people are living now, the practical, christian life. That means living not according to some formula, but by what is inside us, what we experience, and what we feel when connected with God. And this, for me, is a challange to give during sermons, that we feel the inner presence of God. An important question that we often might ask ourselves is, "where is God?" We look for him everywhere, but do not seek him in ourselves.
And this certainly is a challenge, not only for me, but for the faithful, for all the people we meet with, that we find God in our hearts. That this Year of Faith we are experiencing is not just a year marked as one dedicated to faith, but that we find the faith within our hearts, that we not just ‚believe‘ in God, but that we truly trust God, the Word he left us, that he gives us, that strengthens us and leads us onwards in our Christian lives.
Životné motto:
For me, definitely, an idea that is very close to my heart, is the one that I had on my ordination card: neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. This appealed to me during such decisions as, let’s say to come to Canada, to live here among the Slovaks. I’ve always had the desire to go abroad, it was one of my inner desires, but in the beginning there were no opportunities. Afterwards I was given the chance to serve abroad, so I signed up and left. And that was a way, I saw, by which a person can offer something, but it is only God who gives that growth. It is the planting and watering which truly offers, or moves me forward, which gives me a developmental vision of what is important in the life of a priest. Of course, being a priest, is, just as people say, not easy. It’s difficult, perhaps not from the view of looking for something, but from the position of giving, and that position of giving is what comes out of us. Once I was in a difficulty, or rather experienced a difficult situation, I said to myself, “OK, I’m going to leave this place and go back to Slovakia.” But one of the faithful told me that it’s easy to be a priest when everything works, but once problems arise, we simply leave. And that spoke to me and encouraged me to consider the idea of the quote.
It is only God who makes things grow, that means we are the ones who are to bring his Word and this offers or moves me further, offers even today to our parishioners the Word we hear, the Word that we read, which is vibrant and we truly await that growth. That God gave this growth to mankind, to allow a person to feel his presence, his knocking on our hearts.
I read something that pope Francis once said, that Christ knocks on our hearts not only from the outside, but also in us. He wants to come out of us, meaning, that we should open ourselves to Him, so we may show through our faith, which we experience together with Him, that Christ is risen, who we hold in our hearts, and by whom we want to live.
