Our apostolate in Slovakia

The Presentation Sisters came to Slovakia in 1992 and up to ten sisters from Ireland have served there at the one time. There are currently eight sisters from the three Irish provinces and they are engaged in a wide range of ministries.
Today, the work begun in 1754 - when Nano Nagle opened her first school for the education of the young, who had no access to education in Ireland at that time - continues here with the same basic vision.   Her work was an outward response to her rich inner life of prayer and reflection.  The growth of her schools eventually led to her founding the Presentation Order on Christmas Eve 1775. This was the culmination of her journey to ensure the continuation of her work after her death and her desire at all times to empower people to live with dignity and freedom. Just as Nano Nagle saw that education is a powerful means of empowerment, the first ministry of the Presentation Sisters in Slovakia was the teaching of English both formally in Catholic and State schools and informally where parents and children visited us privately for lessons to help better their lives and educational opportunities. This continues today to be one of our ministries and is continually developing as new needs arise. It is also a powerful means of evangelization and developing contact with a wide range of people. As time went on, other sisters joined Sr. Rita and with the learning of the difficult Slovak language as a parallel ministry at all times, other areas of need arose.  Visitation of homes and invitations to share something of our life story and spirit have always been a cornerstone of the mission in Slovakia. In some ways we are a bridge between two worlds, where we listen to the many painful experiences of people and their communist past and they in turn hear the Presentation story and both give each other some light and at times some of the forces of darkness are given space to be acknowledged and with time to no longer prevail. The Presentation story speaks to people all over the world very powerfully and challenges and supports people in their relationship with God.