Claretian Formation

CLARETIAN MISSIONS IN EAST EUROPE

BELORUSSIA

Priwalka and Zelwa (Funded in 1991-92) Province of Poland.

We started to work in Priwalka, diocese of Grozno. Later on the pastoral work was extended to Zelwa (1991), where the church had to be restored. The main task is catechesis at all levels, due to the total lack of formation brought about by the implacable religious persecution during the Soviet era. One of the great difficulties the missionaries have to face is the language: the old folks speak Polish, the middle-aged Russian, and the children Belorussian. The other great difficulty is the lack of priests. The Claretians are serving seven parishes.

SLOVAKIA

Podbrezova y Tuzina  (Founded in 1996-97) Province of Poland.

The General Government entrusted to the Polish Province in 1996 the foundation in Slovakia. At first, the city of Brezno, 40,000 inhabitants, in the diocese of Banska Bystryca was considered, but finally it was decided to start the work on a smaller scale, in the small town of Podbrezova, with 4,000 inhabitants, 6 km away from Brezno. Pastoral work is done in Slovak and the mission is limited, for the present, to the administration of the sacraments and the formation of children and lay adults. They also attend to the village of Myto pod Dumbierom, a tourist zone where about one thousand people live. In this zone there are few religious and, even in the material aspect, everything is still to be done, after the long years of religious persecution. In 1997 the Claretians extended their pastoral work to Tuzina and Klacno, of the same diocese, with a population of 3,000 inhabitants.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague (Founded in 1995) Province of Germany.

In 1994 the first exploration was made towards the foundation in the Czech Republic. After studying the various possibilities, it was deemed better to found in the capital, Prague. Once the first difficulties and the learning of the language were overcome, work began basically with of young Czechs from the Faculty of Agriculture of the University where the Claretians are chaplains. Out of these groups a small active contingent has already been formed, willing to work summers in Belorussia. They also collaborate with various parishes and serve the Spanish-speaking colony, ambassadors, embassy employees and a good number of Cubans residing there. In 1999 a parish was accepted in the diocese of Plzen.

RUSSIA

Krasnoyarsk (Founded in 1992) General Government.

In 1991 a Claretian from the Polish Province and a postulant from Siberia went deep into the vast Siberian region with the purpose of connecting with all this zone where there were still remnants of the Catholic religion. After several subsequent visits and a thorough dialogue with the Bishop of Novosibirsk, the mission of Krasnoyarsk was accepted.

The zone belongs to the Asian part of Oriental Siberia. The entire extension of the parish would be about 7 times the territory of Poland and more than 5 times that of Spain: the second largest parish of the world. The city of Krasnoyarsk has 950,000 inhabitants and the zone about 3,600,000, with a great variety of nationalities, among which there are also Polish, Lithuanians, Germans… The climate is cold: polar in the north. The surface is covered with forest and tundra. Its main industry are coal and metal mines.

The religious situation is going through a moment of revival. Their faith is generic. The most practised religion is the Christian Orthodox and there is also a resurgence of Protestant groups. Religious books are abundantly used. The absence of Catholic priests is very noticeable and in the zone there are at present no priests or religious with fixed residence.

An important work is being done through the Claretianum Publishing House by means of the publication and distribution of Catholic books; in fact the Claretians have been the first to publish the Liturgy of the Hours and the Lectionary of the Mass in Russian. In 1997 the Parish-Community was divided in two: Krasnoyarsk and Atschinsk.

St. Petersburg (Founded in 1998) Province of Castile

In 1995, on the occasion of the Centennial of the Province, and having integrated the missions of Panama and Honduras in the Province of Central America, the General Government entrusted to the Province of Castile the foundation of a community in European Russia. Toward the end of 1996 the first two missionaries were sent to the community of Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia, to learn the Russian language. On 16 July 1998 took place the foundation in St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million inhabitants, old capital of the Czarist Russia until the Bolshevik revolution. The majority of the population are Orthodox but it still has a small number of Catholics, despite the persecutions of the Soviet era. During all this time the properties of the Catholic Church are being recovered, among them, the seminary, the cathedral and several churches. St. Petersburg belongs to the archdiocese of Moscow. The basic work of the Claretians till now has been the formation of the candidates in the one Catholic seminary in Russia. At the same time, the seminary for the postulants of the Province has been created. In addition to this, other activities in the service of the Word are being done, such us retreats, conferences, ecumenical dialogue, etc. The Claretians have also been made Dean of Studies in the seminary and President of the Conference of Religious in Russia.

In April 2000 the Bishop of Moscow has given to the Claretians the parish of Murmansk, a city with half million inhabitants, some 1,400 km North of St. Petersburg, in the Arctic Circle. It is the Northernmost Catholic parish. Since this parish was founded in 1916, there has been no religious presence until the fall of Communism. The number of Catholics is very scarce and one must begin from zero.