Byzantine church is witness to long presence of Siberia's Catholics

Published: 2007-11-08

NOVOKUZNETSK, Russia (CNS) -- The first Byzantine Catholic church in Russia built in nearly a century serves as a witness to the long presence of Catholics in Siberia, said a Jesuit working in the Russian region. The recently dedicated Church of St. John Chrysostom in Novokuznetsk also will serve as a tool for evangelizing and "an invitation to Catholics who are still unaware of the presence of a Catholic community in the area," said U.S. Jesuit Father Tony Corcoran, vicar general of the Novosibirsk-based Transfiguration Diocese in Siberia. For example, he said a woman appeared at the church a day after its dedication after she saw the building from afar. She said she was Catholic and "expressed her own joy at finding her community," said Father Corcoran. The Office of Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops helped fund the construction of the church.

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