The Roma are Slovakia’s largest ethnic minority. ACN Slovakia’s Ján Tkáč spoke with Fr. Martin Mekel of the Greek Catholic Mission to the Roma about the Church’s outreach to the Roma and the upcoming visit by Pope Francis to Slovakia.

By ACN Staff

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the Slovakian city of Košice between 12-15 September. While there he will meet with members of the Roma community, Slovakia’s largest ethnic minority. Slovakia has a population of around 5 million people, with 350,000 Roma. Previously the Roma had lived nomadic lives but were forced to settle by the communist authorities after the Second World War. The settlement of the Roma people was badly implemented. Today many Roma live in slums.

Fr. Martin Mekel is a Greek Catholic priest based close to the Domaša reservoir in Slovakia. Fr. Martin is married and has three children. Fr. Martin is the head of the Greek Catholic Mission to the Roma and one of Aid to the Church in Need’s (ACN) project partners. Asked about how he started ministering to the Roma people Fr. Martin said the following:

“It was the Holy Spirit who took me there…I have never thought about working with the Roma. Not even after I entered the seminary in Prešov.”

When he was studying in the seminary, Fr. Martin was approached by a Roma boy who was staying in a forester home in Fr. Martin’s home village. The boy asked Fr. Martin if he would hold a prayer meeting. Fr. Martin gives more details:

“So we began to meet during the summer holidays with some Roma boys in the village I come from. Then, my friend, a Salesian, asked me to help them with Roma children. And as time went by, I found myself in a village with 75% of Roma people.”

Fr. Martin explains that some of the local Slovaks were a little put off by the increased engagement with the Roma:

“Simply, they were not used to this. A new priest comes to the village and, suddenly, Romas are in the church, at the parish house, everywhere… It was not easy.”

Fr. Martin has continued his ministry to the Roma people and today he and his family are at the heart of the Greek Catholic Roma Mission. Fr. Martin explains that the mission has had to make some accommodations for the Roma:

“Romas are much more drawn to Protestant churches than to Catholic rites… I even had to make some necessary and lawful changes to our liturgy because it was too complex for them… It´s… you know… when you are a missionary, you simply can´t expect those people to accept everything you want or say at once. It´s a process.”

In the Sigord area the mission runs a retreat house that was obtained from the government a few years ago. The building was old and rundown, but with the support of ACN it has been developed into a spiritual retreat centre.

The mission has set up ‘small communities’ with the Roma. This is similar to how the Church in Slovakia operated during the communist period. Small groups of local people form a community and meet regularly to pray and be instructed in the Faith by a priest or a catechist. Fr. Martin explains more:

“Nothing exceptional, really… we pray and teach, but we do all sorts of activities to give them a chance to use their talents and potential: music, theatre, sports… It is important that they do everything themselves. If I want to build a new station, or a place to meet, I ask them to build it with my help.”

Having spent a lot of time with the Roma people in Slovakia, Fr. Martin is critical of some of the efforts that are being made to ‘help’ the Roma. He feels that building up a relationship is what is needed first, and not viewing the Roma people as ‘clients’ as some NGOs do. He explains further:

“But they are not our clients, they are our brothers and sisters. There was a survey carried out by some organisation asking what Roma people want. It wasn’t higher education, more money or jobs in banks… They wanted good relationships in their families and communities. And they wanted to be accepted as well, to belong somewhere, because quite a lot of people just don’t want to see them anywhere.

For many years, we’ve been trying to change them, educate them, mould them to our image. They themselves say that they want something different. So perhaps, it’s time for us – Slovaks – to get sane and expect something different from them. After all those years, we should help less and understand more. We should stop being ‘assistants’, ‘coordinators’, ‘aid workers’ and start being their friends.”

On the upcoming visit by Pope Francis, Fr. Martin said:

"They like the fact that the Pope is going to visit us, but many of them are afraid of vaccination."

Attending Papal events in Slovakia is conditional on being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Fr. Martin is hopeful that the visit by the pope can help open people’s hearts and bring greater acceptance of the Roma in Slovakia. ACN offers support to missionaries all over the world. If you would like to help us continue to offer this help please consider making a donation.