Josef Suchár

„My preparation for priest training began, secretly, and I am very grateful for it, because I met wonderful people. I just don't know their names, I don't know [strictly confidential, it was such a conspiracy]. I only know that we went somewhere in the evening, then when there was to be a lecture, I could be there and we discussed something. We went over normal documents, moreover, my mother helped me with the bishopric by finding all the materials that were needed for this or that, so I can say that all the materials that were available at the seminar let’s say, I basically had them too. However, our specialisation was more about youth work. We went over some things quite marginally, such as languages, Latin and Hebrew, just so that I could orientate myself while counting on the notion that communists would be here forever and ever. With this, there would be enough time to supplement it in some way, and it is not the most important thing for priesthood, for youth work for which I was being prepared. - "Did you count on the secret church having to always exist in secret?" - "Well, we counted on the fact that I would never live to be able to serve officially. The preparation, the preparation of what we were doing, was dedicated to that. Of course, also with various secrecy, which turned out to be a big problem after the Revolution, because the documents that were about my ordination or my studies, as well as the index that we had, that we created based on things that I experienced… many of them could not be verified, because some have already died… My studies lasted seven years, the preparation actually. A lot of things happened during that time, so when those things changed and then when I took office, it had to be proven... We simply didn't send any documents to the Vatican. If only because when Bishop Otčenášek sent them there, they came for him. We knew that even in the Vatican there were confidants who were sending it back here, so these things did not happen. The record of my ordination are the signatures on the correspondence card of those who attended.“

„I personally think that this is also due to the fact that from the beginning we wanted the church to remain open to people. It is open day and night. And that we're here to fix it when something goes wrong. In all that time, it happened to us only once that somewhere someone wrote 666 on the ground with chalk or a brick, some kind of satanic symbol. Well, it got erased and that was it. Everyone asks: 'Aren't you afraid that someone will do something to you..?' And I say: 'Well, so what? If they do, we're here to fix it. Good. But I'm not going to close it to thousands of people because of one idiot.' And that's their church. So that they can come there when they need to. That is why it is the House of God, so that everyone can come there when they need it, not when the priest unlocks it and lets them in with permission. And I think that is the pain of our churches, because they provide us with wonderful historical monuments, wonderful monumental works, but of the past. Because of this and because they get stolen, we have to lock them up and do all these things. In a way, it is also a great grace. When that forgiveness comes, that's when miracles happen. What should I have the baroque decoration there for? The church is beautiful like this and it allows me to let it stay open. This goes hand in hand. And personally, I think that this is one of the ways to give back to people the possibility of a path to faith. It will be different from what we are used to, but it will be alive. And it is important that we can help them in this. The fact that a lot of mistakes will be made, well, they will be made. But those mistakes can be corrected.“