When Joseph Werth, S.J., became Bishop of Siberia on June 16, 1991, he inherited an area of six time zones, an estimated 100,000 practicing Catholics, and three priests.
His first tasks, he said, were to recruit a corps of priests and to establish the first official papal representative in Siberia. Everything had to start from scratch: obtaining an apartment, a curia (chancery) office, a phone, a FAX, etc.
Currently, there are 33 priests in Siberia, 25 sisters, and 10 foreign lay volunteers. Twenty religious centers, or "chapels," have been registered in the territory, and 60 more are in the registration process. Bishop Werth said that one of the main tasks remains to locate all the Catholic communities in Siberia.
Other tasks he mentioned were establishing better communication between the priests in the territory and the curia; developing a liturgy that expresses the religious tradition of the people; coordinating with the Bishops in Moscow and Karaganda the publication of prayer and liturgical books; and assisting the German, Polish and other Catholic ethnic groups in developing their cultural roots.
The Church in Siberia is also trying to regain about ten former church buildings. To date only the one in Tomsk has been returned, and that was three years ago. Plans are underway for building churches in Omsk and Chelabinsk, a cathedral and curia in Novosibirsk, and a religious center in Aldan. The Bishop also plans to renovate the church in Vladivostok once it is returned.
Bishop Werth said he does not view the Church in Siberia as a new phenomenon. Catholics have been present there for 190 years, but they have been cut off from international contact for the last 60 years. The Bishop said his goal is to reawaken the faithful to their roots in the spirit of Vatican II.
Recent News:
Fr. Rudolf Kohlstring, O.F.M., of Saxony province in Germany, became the new director of Caritas Novosibirsk in February.
Five German sisters from the "Pro Deo et Fratribus" community arrived in February. They will work in Siberia for the next several months, two in Novosibirsk and three in the Altai area.
Corner-stone-laying ceremonies for the cathedral in Novosibirsk will be on March 19. The stone comes from the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome and was blessed by Pope John Paul II.
Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., of San Francisco probably doesn't think of himself as an archangel, but last May he announced Bishop Werth's surprise historic visit to Ellis County, Kansas, and now he has also heralded this surprise "letter from SIBERIA." The letter reached him in California via electronic mail, and he immediately FAXed it to Hays.
This letter, written apparently by Fr. Alexander Kahn, S.J., Bishop Werth's secretary for English-speakers, and Dan McNeil, 25-year-old Franciscan lay missionary from Rogers MN, proposes to be the first of many monthly newsletters from Novosibirsk which hopefully will sustain interest in the Church in Siberia among its American brothers and sisters.
Though anxious to see the American Church help the bishop, I am personally unable to become involved with fund raising through this medium. Those able and willing to send funds to Bishop Werth and the Apostolic Administration in Siberia should do through one of these three reliable organizations, who assure that the funds will get to Bishop Werth.
Please do not send money or checks directly to Bishop Werth. Cash will disappear from the mail, and for the present checks and money orders can not be cashed in Siberia.
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