Upcoming collection aids Church in Eastern Europe

Since 1990, the collection has raised nearly $37 million and supported more than 1,400 projects in 21 countries. The theme of this year's Collection is: "The Light Shines in the Darkness."

The collection is essential in helping to bridge "the great disparity between the haves and the have-nots," according to Msgr. R. George Sarauskas, executive director of the Office to Aid the Catholic Church in Central and Eastern Europe. Economic problems linger in those countries with the fall of Communism, especially among the elderly.

"People are still depending on their pension, costs are going up, and their buying power is less and less," Msgr. Sarauskas said.

Projects

* re-establishing seminaries, convents and monasteries, and training young priests and religious. For example, donations from Catholics in the United States were integral in opening the first Catholic seminary in Moscow in 1993. The seminary moved in 1995 to St. Petersburg, where it had been closed down 76 years earlier. There are 50 Catholic seminarians currently studying to minister in Russia, Siberia and Kazakhstan, where priests are extremely scarce;

* providing the means for catechesis. In one Latvian diocese, the collection supported master's level training of women catechists who then went back to work full-time to educate children and adults in the faith. Bishop Anton Justs also requested and received funds for a one-week catechetical summer workshop for 80 additional catechists, as well as catechetical books and equipment such as slide projectors and VCRs;

* assisting with the Church's social ministry. Contributions supported the building of a convent for the School Sisters of St. Francis, who run an orphanage for 53 abandoned children from the ages of 3 to 18. The sisters will now have a permanent home, be able to accommodate the new sisters joining the order each year, and continue to provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of these abandoned children in the only Catholic orphanage in the entire Slovak Republic;

* spreading the Gospel message through the media. One of the most successful of these projects is Catholic radio in Poland, which has 1.5 million regular and 1.5 million occasional listeners. The radio studio becomes one voice for the work of the Church and in competition with so many conflicting voices on the airwaves;

* helping priests reach their parishioners. Cars provided through the collection have made a big difference in the apostolate of many priests in Belarus. In the diocese of Grodno, for example, Rev. Stanislaw Pacyna and Rev. Antoni Dziemianko travel to eight churches in eight towns, each of which is about 20 miles away in different directions. They also save time in their commute to the two churches in their home of Nowogrodek and ministering to Catholics in areas without churches;

* rebuilding churches. Funds from the collection helped to complete construction of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Tashkent, which began in 1905 but was never completed. It is the only Catholic parish in Uzbekistan, one of the largest and most important cities in Central Asia.

Encouragement

"Your contribution, along with that of many other Catholics in our Diocese and in our country, will assist the Church in carrying on the life-giving spiritual and corporal works of mercy for our sisters and brothers in Central and Eastern Europe and, thereby, in advancing the saving mission of Jesus the Risen Christ," he said.

(05-21-98) [[In-content Ad]]