[Photo unavailable]
The Franciscan friars and their associates from St. Petersburg
(SP) and Novosibirsk (N) joined the friars at Alma-Ata
(AA) June 6 - 8 for a meeting with their General Minister, Fr.
Hermann Schalück, and other officials from Rome (R).
Down the center of the photo, Fr. Leshek Sakal (SP), Fr.
Hermann Schalück (R), Fr. Vojtech Alexej from the Czech
Republic (AA). Down the left side: Fr. Henry Howaniec from
Wisconsin (AA), Fr. Giacomo Bini, an Italian missionary to
Africa, Bro. Diego Kim from South Korea (AA), Daniel
McNeil from Minneapolis (N), Fr. Klaudiusz Michalski
froin Poland (AA). Down the right side: Fr. Patrick
Hudson from Ireland (N), Fr. Emanuel Hosko, Slavic general
councilor (R), Fr. Fiorenzo Reati from Italy (SP), Fr. Guido
Trezzani from Italy (N), general mission secretary Fr.
James Perluzzi from St. Paul (R), Fr. Zenon Stys, general
delegate for the CIS project (R). Far right: Fr. Leonard-Paul
Odinch from the Baltic area (SP).
(The following is the beginning of a letter from Siberia, written in Minneapolis. It comes from the pen of this newsletter's 27-year-old founder, who returned home in September after three years in Novosibirsk.)
As many of you may remember, I left the U.S. Dec. 29, 1992, as a member of the Franciscan Mission Service (FMS), a Washington, D.C., based organization [P.O.Box 29034, zip 20017] that sends lay volunteers throughout the world to live in the spirit of St. Francis with local Franciscan communities.
In Novosibirsk, I lived with the OFM Francisans, a community which, during my nearly three year stay, included a variety of nationalities - Italian, Polish, German, Irish, and Polish-American.
Novosibirsk is a city of nearly two million people and the third largest city in Russia. Though western products and firms are now moving in, the city is too isolated to compare with the foreign investment in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is located over the northwest corner of China, three time zones from Moscow to the west and four from Vladivostok to the east. It is as far north as the southern shore of Canada's Hudson Bay.
The German-Russian community of Novosibirsk began constructing Immaculate Conception church in 1983. Located across the Ob river from the center of the city, the parish stands in the historically German quarters, which is still considered one of the city's poorer districts. The parishioners themselves supplied the necessary material and labor for the building, and were aided by members of a Polish construction crew then building the city's Intourist hotel.
Fr. Joseph Swidnicki, a Ukrainian diocesan priest, came to minister to the parish in 1984. The sudden public appearance of a Catholic community did not sit well with the local authorities, however, and Fr. Swidnicki was imprisoned for "anti-government activities." He was caught giving out a book on Fatima, which called for the conversion of Russia.
The first Franciscan to arrive in Novosibirsk was Fr. Paul Saulius Bitautas, a Lithuanian, who came to fill the spot vacated by Fr. Swidnicki. I am told Fr. Paul came directly from the seminary, knowing neither Russian nor German. He quickly adapted himself to the situation and obtained additional land in the center of the city - where the cathedral is being built - and other land near the Ob river, on the edge of the city - where construction continues on the Caritas orphanage.
Fr. Paul returned to Lithuania in early 1992. Fr. Guido Trezzani succeeded him as the parish priest and still works there today. The once primarily German parish is now more frequented by Russians. Around 80 - l00, mostly women attend the Sunday German mass. The two Sunday Russian masses may see 300 people.
In the past Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament worked with the children, but in October they were going to start work in the chancery office. Adult initiation, parish retreats, and bible study continue year round in the parish. Two years ago the parish opened a general education school, offering courses for the first grade in a three-room apartment. Now a new building, not far from the parish, has been purchased, renovated and in September opened for grade levels 1 and 2.
The school building is part of a larger complex, where the Mother Teresa sisters expect to live and work. A third building will be medical center for the area.
When I left, the Franciscans were planning to open a new friary next to the churcn in October. That would be the first time since Fr. Saulius Bitautis was alone, that all the friars shared the same roof. Till now the friars have been split, some of them living in the upstairs of the church and one or two in an apartment with me.
OFM Friars also reside in St. Petersburg and Alma-Ata, Kazakstan. In St. Petersburg, they operate out of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, two blocks from Nevsky Prospect, the main street in St. Petersburg. Like St. Louis in Moscow, Our Lady of Lourdes is owned by the French government and remained open throughout communist rule. The friars in St. Petersburg have started construction of a friary and are assisted in their work by an order of Franciscan sisters.
The OFM Franciscans also serve the Catholic community in Alma-Ata, the capital of Kazakstan. The building formerly was a house of one of the parishioners, but now has been converted exclusively for the use as a church. A congregation of Franciscan sisters (OSF) joins the friars in ministering to the community. The friars and the sisters have started construction of a friary and convent near a main road of the city. They also hope to construct a new church building at this site.
Fr. Henry Howaniec from Wisconsin is living in Alma-Ata. He served in the Roman curia for more than 20 years, before answering the minister general's invitation for volunteers to go to Russia and Kazakstan.
The friars have made it a point to form international communities in the three cities. By bringing friars together from different countries the idea is to offer a model of Christian fraternity. The friars have been received well in the locations where they serve. Two candidates for the order have entered from Novosibirsk, two from St. Petersburg and one from Alma-Ata. The sisters in Alma-Ata also have three candidates.
I consider myself very fortunate to have had such a time with the friars. The Franciscans are a very dedicated group of people and treated me well.
(next issue: my work with Caritas)
(Conclusion of the address given at Colorado Springs CO on June 10, 1995, at the First International Conference to Aid the Church in Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan.)
(The first two parts of this address appeared in Issue 15 and Issue 16.)
Since the beginning of our Apostolic Administration, we have thought of starting a school for catechists. Though we do not yet have such a school, a large number of lay people have participated in such schools and courses elsewhere. Catholic schools have been started in Tomsk and Novosibirsk. This is possible only because of the collaboration of active lay people from the parishes and their priests. Many of our priests and sisters have already been invited to teach in schools and universities, and this is still going on.
A new Salesian center from which we expect much fruitful educational work with teenagers was dedicated at Aldan in the north in the spring of 1994; and a new Jesuit center of religious and cultural exchange, aimed at the intelligentia was dedicated in Novosibirsk in September.
We have also officially operated a diocesan Caritas since February of 1992, and local Caritases have been started in the parishes. The lay community of St. Vincent de Paul in Krasnoyarsk and other prayer groups in Magadan and Vladivostok work actively with Caritas. We are building an orphanage in Novosibirsk for 55 orphans, and Caritas Freiburg in Germany is helping to pay for this. In Tomsk the old and sick people find a home with the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Sisters of the Pro Deo et Fratribus community founded such a house in Talmenka for some old people who are alone.
Once it was no longer forbidden to print books, the priests and laity of in many parishes started printing parish papers. Catholic periodicals have appeared in Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Vladivostok and Krasnoyarsk. The Claretian center in Krasnoyarsk has printed the full lectionary in Russian. A diocesan newspaper has been published in Novosibirsk since January of 1995.
I am also glad to have in our diocese Fr. Voicheck, who worked in Catholic television in Poland, who will help us organize such a television center in Novosibirsk. This morning I visited with Msgr. [George] Serauskas and I hope, with the help of the American bishops conference, to soon have all that will be necessary to start this television station.
Briefly this is the activity of the Catholic church in Siberia.
Bishop Werth recently confirmed 50 people in Slavgorad, Redkaya Dubrava and Schumanovka. The youngest confirmed was 23 years old, and the average age was 60 years. Plans were for the bishop to bless the new church at Slavgorod at the same time, but all he could do was celebrate the completion of the first level of the church. During Mass, hot sun poured on the Bishop and those being confirmed through a large unfinished section of the sanctuary ceiling. That afternoon and evening, a torrential rain poured through the same hole, but the bishop was long gone.
Missionaries contacted in various parts of Siberia unanimously reported that, while Catholics there do pray the rosary, the various parishes already have far more rosaries on hand than they have Catholics. All agree, however, they could use small crosses on chains for new Catholics they baptize - not cheap plastic crosses on strings, but ones nice enough that people in America would personally consider wearing them.
Bishop Werth blessed twin Churches at Prokop'yevsk and Tal'menka on Aug. 19 and 20 respectively during a confirmation tour of the Kuzbass and Altai regions. The two churches were prefabricated in Germany and brought on a large number of semitractor trailors to Siberia, where they were put together in five days.
Three long articles by Sr. Alice Ann Pfeifer, CSA, which have appeared in the Ellis County (Kan.) Star in recent months, tell the tragic life stories of Frederick Staab, Helena Krug, and Josefina Herrspiegel - German Russians who suffered at the hands of the communists.
To express graphically its independence from Russia, the central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan officially dropped the "h" from the spelling of thousands of place names in April and will henceforth be known as Kazakstan.
The steel roof for the new church at Chelyabinsk was ready before Christmas, but now has to wait till engineers are sure the walls are sufficiently set to hold such weight.
Fr. Blase Edward Karas, an American Franciscan at Novosibirsk, has been caring for the parish at Barnaul left empty by the sudden death of Fr. Walter.
Fr. Ubaldo Orlandelli of the Communion & Liberation movement was appointed Caritas director for the Asian part of Russia Aug. 24.
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