To all Provincial Superiors

To all the Members of the Hospitaller Family of St John of God

Dear Brothers and Co-workers,

I am writing to you all once again in connection with the emergency situation that has arisen as a result of the war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the moment, the situation of our brothers in Drohobich (Ukraine) is stable and they are well, and for the moment there is no fighting taking place there, although many refugees are fleeing from the war. They are also arriving in Poland and in many other countries all over Europe.

I urge all the Provinces of the Order to show solidarity with the plight of the Ukrainian people and in particular with our own Brothers who are continuing to bear living testimony of faith and hospitality to us and to the world.

Nearly every Province is launching campaigns to raise funds and collect materials to help in this situation (mainly food, clothing, and medicines). Many Provinces have also made themselves available to receive refugees and people arriving from Ukraine and have also made their hospitals available to provide health care for them. I thank you all and I urge all the Provinces of the Order, and all the Centers and Communities, to do their utmost to help in any way they can.  As I said at the beginning of the pandemic, we are once again living through a "charismatic emergency" and once again it is "the hour of hospitality", although we know that it always is.

You can make your contributions in various ways, but to do everything as well as possible, I would ask you to contact the Provincial Superior of Poland, Brother Lucas Dmowsky (prowincjal@bonifratrzy.pl), if you who wish to send material donations, such as food, medicine, clothing etc., in order to coordinate the donations and meet the needs as well as possible. It would also be a good idea to send details of any donations made in your Provinces to the Director of the Missions and International Cooperation Office at the General Curia, Brother Ángel López, for his information.

For those who wish to send a cash donation, here is the bank account number provided by the General Curia:

"Emergency Ukraine"

Curia Generalizia dell'Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli

Intesa Sanpaolo

Piazza della Libertà, 13. ROMA

IBAN IT37 I030 6909 6061 0000 0125 478

SWIFT BCITITMMXXX

In the hope that this war will end as soon as possible, let us join our prayers to those of our brothers in Drohobich, and pray to Our Lord and Our Lady, Our Mother of Hospitality, for all the victims of this conflict.

United in Our Lord and in St John of God, I send you my fraternal best regards.

Brother Jesús Etayo

Superior General