“I would like to share a personal matter with you today. I would like to tell you that I have a family. That means wife and child. I perceive and fully live my responsibility for them,” Engelmann announced to the surprised parishioners. And he apologized to everyone he offended, shocked, disappointed, saddened, angered or made uncertain.
“I did not want that. I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeated, saying that throughout his priestly service he tried to perceive responsibility for the church and that everything he did for the parishes in which he worked, he did according to his best conscience and conscience.
According to the leadership of the Ostrava-Opava diocese Engelmann informed former bishop František Václav Lobkowicz, who died two years ago, about his personal situation. And then he discussed everything with his successor, the current bishop Martin David, who took office last September.
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“Following his inquiry at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Priests and the answers sent, I have decided to submit a request to be released from the obligations arising from priestly ordination and to retire from priestly ministry,” Engelmann told parishioners.
“We Were Sad”
The information surprised everyone at the mass. “We were surprised and saddened by this, but above all by the fact that he will no longer be here,” one of the believers, whose name the editors know, but who does not want to be named, told Novinka.
She rejected the fact that there would be reproaches, curses, or someone resenting the outgoing parish priest among the parishioners. “Maybe a few individuals did, you can never prevent it, but I think most accepted it with sadness and regret that he won’t be here anymore. We definitely wish him all the best because I think he deserves it for the work he’s done here,” she pointed out.
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Engelmann worked in Frýdlant nad Ostravicí for about a year and a half, before that he was a parish priest in Ostrava-Třebovice for a long time.
There, Bishop David read his confession directly to the parishioners, who told the Třebovice and Frýdlan believers: “I know that you loved and still love Father Lukáš, and the pain that this announcement causes you is all the greater. That pain and other negative emotions should not overshadow all the good he did not only in the parish, but also for other communities and individuals. I am grateful to him for that,” said the bishop.
According to Ondřej Elbl, spokesman for the Ostrava-Opava Diocese, a priest submits a request to leave priestly service for family reasons only once every few years. The bishopric has not yet appointed a new parish priest for Frýdlant, Elbel estimated his appointment in the order of months. “At the moment, priests from the surrounding area are helping Frýdlant parish, and filling the parish with a new priest is a priority of the bishopric,” added the spokesman.
