By Bridget Spinks
FATHER Irek Czech, Salvatorian parish priest of St Lawrence and Mary Immaculate Parish in Balcatta, is now using social networking sites such as facebook.com, myspace and twitter to evangelise.
He said he joined these sites when he was on holiday in August last year in Poland in response to a call from the Salvatorian founder, (now Venerable) Fr Francis Jordan.
“Our founder, Fr Francis Jordan, asked us to use all the means available for spreading the Good News so that’s why I do it through music, through media. That’s what we’re called to do,” he said.
The facebook profile for St Lawrence has a host of upcoming events listed, as well as Mass times and a link to the main parish website: www.stlawrence.org.au.
Fr Irek said that while he was Chaplain at Chisolm College from 2005 to the end of 2009, he found that most of the students were on the Internet.
This reason, plus a realisation that people in the 18-25 age group are using the Internet, is what prompted him to go online to evangelise.
“If you go to the US, most of the vocations come from the Internet – people see Religious Orders on the Internet and become interested,” he said.
Fr Irek’s myspace (www.myspace.com/irekczech) is a tool to host clips of his Christian music such as Praise to the Lord, Let the Holy Spirit Come and I Offer You.
Five of the six songs he has shared on MySpace have been listened to over 1,000 times.
Fr Irek started playing guitar when he was 12, he said, after being inspired by his older brother who was part of his youth group in Poland.
Fr Irek played with the youth group at a weekly time of Adoration at the parish as well as at youth Masses, which were at 8.15am and packed out.
When he was about 15, he started a few bands and was even on TV, even though this was not exciting for him as he wanted to enter the seminary, he said.
As a young Polish seminarian, Fr Irek was part of a band called Vox Nostra (Our Voice) between 1990 and 1995 and performed at about 75 concerts in different parts of Europe.
“It was cool because you see the young boys in habits praying and playing modern stuff. It was a good way to evangelise young people, especially in Europe when you have up to 5,000 people at these concerts,” he said.
Fr Irek said that he doesn’t do concerts any more because he is busy running the big parish of Balcatta, but he does play regularly at healing hours, which include praise and worship music with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after 6pm Mass every second Sunday of the month.
He also plays music in the style of Taize spirituality; those interested in Fr Irek’s music and ministry can find updates on his website. While he continues to write lyrics and poetry, mainly in Polish, he said he doesn’t currently have much time to write music.
“I have material for 20 CDs,” he said, adding that he is waiting for retirement to record it all.