Confessions and debates with Bishop Jozef Haľko
Pohoda 2019 will have, in addition to the ecumenical mass, also a new form of spiritual service. It will be offered to festival visitors by Jozef Haľko, Bratislavaʼs Roman Catholic bishop and the professor of church history at the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology at Comenius University. For those interested in a debate or confession, he will be available in a wooden hut in the centre of the festival grounds (opposite the NGO passage) on Friday from 10.00 AM to noon and from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and on Saturday afternoon from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
07. July 2019
Jozef Haľko is the Vicar General and First Auxiliary Bishop of the Bratislava Archdiocese and professor of church history at the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology at Comenius University. He has written screenplays for Slovak Television and commented on the transmissions of the masses from the Vatican. Within the Episcopal Conference of Slovakia, he is the Chairman of the Council for Slovaks Abroad and the Council for Migrants and Refugees. In an interview for Postoj.sk, he talks about various activities he already does and about plans in connection with these functions: “We are still looking for a way to offer truckers a spiritual service in the car parks and how to reach those who travel with circuses, how to include them. Another area is offering confession service on trains before Christmas. It is quite likely that we will have one compartment on a train before Christmas this year, and we will offer confession service if people are interested.”
The bishop is also active on social networks. Every week he publishes videos called Minútka (a minute), which is a brief reflection on the passage of the Gospel for the following Sunday. He also shares his pastoral activities at home and abroad, events from the Church, as well as interesting facts from the history of the Catholic Church. He regularly performs masses with other priests at university pastoral centres and participates in Godzone, a cultural and evangelistic project for young people. In an interview for Postoj.sk about this project and the motivations for reaching out to young people and not only serving them in churches or universities, he said: “We canʼt see our spreading the gospel as a promenade where only pious, educated, and oriented people stand on every side. We canʼt live in a separated space or a lab. It is about touching the everyday and real humanity. The key is to say the message and call to seek the meaning of life in Christ.” He also regularly publishes on Facebook the updates on where people can meet him. As he says, “This activity was based on the situation where once I sit on the train, I want to be available to those who would like to talk.” You can also talk to Bishop Haľko also at Pohoda 2019.