Collection aims to assist Catholics in Eastern Europe

This weekend, May 21-22, parishioners across the Albany Diocese will be called to remember the physical and spiritual needs of Catholics in Eastern Europe through the annual Collection to Aid the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

Catholics here are given a chance to show their solidarity with Catholics in Europe who witnessed and experienced "three generations of religious persecution," said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard in a letter read at Masses last week.

He noted that the Church in Communist Europe saw the imprisonment of bishops, priests and lay leaders; the destruction, closing or conversion of churches, monasteries and seminaries; the end of charitable and ecclesiastical activities; the confiscation of religious materials; and "the near extinction of deep-rooted and vibrant religious traditions."

Proceeds from the collection support seminaries, social service programs, youth ministry, pastoral centers, church restoration, and ministry through television and other forms of mass media.

Project sites are located in post-communist Russia, as well as Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Slovakia and 20 other countries.

Many of the dioceses in those areas do not have adequate funds to provide high-level training for catechists, support full-time seminaries or even rebuild their churches on their own.

Monies from the collection also fund religious education for children and adults.

Bishop Hubbard thanked Albany diocesan Catholics for their "continued support in this effort to assist our brothers and sisters in Central and Eastern Europe."

(5/19/05)