Catholic Church in the West Kazakhstan – the Apostolic Administration in Atyrau.

The presence of Catholics in Kazakhstan goes back to the mid-20^th century, when Germans, Koreans, Poles and Ukrainians were, as a result of political persecution and Soviet nation-building policy, compulsory resettled by the Soviet administration. They and their successors tried to keep together in order to save, in spite of harassment from the communist officials, their national identity and their faith. Establishment of independent Kazakhstan in 1991 considerably stabilized and improved the situation of the Catholic Church in the region, though there is still much to do. Among the believers who stay under spiritual guidance there are also Americans, Canadians, Italians and Philippinos, who are contract workers in Kazakhstan. To bring the Gospel closer to the hearts of members of our congregation, our priests are serving the Holy Mass not only in Russian, but also in English, German and Italian.

             The Apostolic Administration in Atyrau was established on 6^th August 1999 as the last unit of church administration in Kazakhstan (there are also three dioceses: in Almaty, Astana and Karaganda) and covers an area of roughly 740 000 km². The Apostolic Administrator is Fr. Janusz Kaleta, supported by 7 more priests, who come mainly from Poland, but also from Belarus’ and Germany. Although there was only one parish at the time of establishment of the Administration, thanks to hard and unrelenting work of the clergy four new parishes were set up. They are:

• The Good Shepherd’s Parish in Aktobe, it was the first parish and was established in the 1950’s and officially registered only in 1983.

• The Transfiguration Christi Parish in Atyrau, established in 1999

• Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Uralsk, established in March 2003

• Divine Mercy Parish in Kulsary, established in Dec. 2003

• Holy Family Parish in Chromtau, officially registered in March 2004.

• Sacred Heard Parish in Aktau, founded 2006, not registered yet.

 Moreover, there are three sisters from the Poor Child Jesus in Atyrau, who are taking care of the recently established youth centre.

            Although the Administration is covering a vast area, there are barely 2600 Catholics under its jurisdiction. From 2,13 mln. people living in this area 80% claim to be Muslims, although there are also Orthodox Christians. The disastrous devastation of spiritual life – the heirloom of the communism, is a very difficult and troublesome situation. Therefore two neocatechumenal families from Italy and Spain, who live in Aktobe with their children and teachers (altogether 9 people), as well as lay voluntaries, are playing an important role in the evangelical work. The apostolic visit of the former Pope John Paul II to Kazakhstan in 2001 was also of crucial significance.

             Considering, that our Catholic community has a few active and aware members, as well as bearing in mind poverty and religious ignorance of large masses of the local society, we are trying to engage in educational and charitable activity. Through these actions we are doing a pre-evangelical work and conveying Christian spirit. These activities are for example:

• Language and computer courses: Aktobe, Atyrau, Uralsk

• Sports – e.g. football club in Aktobe

• Charity: help to the poor and the homeless, e.g. meals for the poor in Aktobe

• Choirs and music teams – Atyrau and Aktobe

• Theater group in Atyrau

 In spite of tough working conditions the Apostolic Administration is acting vividly and developing dynamically. Except for the abovementioned establishment of four new parishes, there are currently other important works on the run: building of a church in Uralsk, a thorough refurbishment of a parish house in Kulsary, preparations for building of a chapel and a parish house in Chromtau and Aktobe. One of the biggest problems is the small number of priests. Acquiring new priests would greatly help us to have a better contact with the believers (e.g. making the Kulsary parish independent) as well as creating a new parish in Aktau, at the Caspian Sean. Moreover, we are planning to bring order sisters to Uralsk, which could give a substantial help in pastoral work for the Uralsk priests.

 CHRISTMAS IN ATYRAU

Another Christmas is approaching. It is a common working day in Kazakhstan; nevertheless, we will be celebrating the Christmas Eve mass at midnight in our church in Atyrau, we will be singing carols in Russian, Polish, English, Italian and even in Philippine. Together with those who live here and those who have come to work, we will be trying to get saturated with the atmosphere of benevolence and warmth that usually prevails in these days in our catholic, Christian homes.

In Atyrau every Christmas will bring to my mind the first Christmas in this city. With Fr. Waldemar Patulski we came to the capital of West Kazakhstan at the end of October 1999. There had not been a catholic parish before, priests had never come even by fortune. Therefore, we were gropingly trying to find any Catholics. It was not easy. There came, indeed, a dozen  people for a meeting with us organized by an association of the Germans. However, having listened politely to what we had to say in our clumsy Russian, they dispersed quickly, leaving us with a little bit mixed feelings.

For a couple of weeks we were saying mass in our room. It seemed to us that we could barely expect people willing to attend it in the nearest future. Yet, some days before Christmas I received a phone call from the chief of the personnel in an oil company OKIOK (now it is a consortium AGIP – KCO). I had left my address with them before. An Englishwoman, not quite zealously practicing Anglican, decided to organize a service for her colleagues on Christmas Eve. Around fifteen people appeared, and only four Catholics among them. For the first time in Atyrau, in a hotel, I celebrated mass “with people”.

On Christmas Day Mrs. Lidia Schwabbauer, a doctor by profession, whom we had made acquaintance with on the meeting with the association of the Germans, appeared unexpectedly in our flat. With little introduction she said: “I will take you to babushka. She is over 90 already, she is a catholic and we always go to her on Christmas to pray.” Slipping through grey blocks of flats on a gloomy and cool Christmas morning, we entered at last a small flat of grandma Gerlina. She was by no means credulous. After the welcome and introduction she asked: “So you are a priest, aren’t you? Say Our Father and Hail Mary then. Do you know the catholic holidays as well?” Thanks God I passed this exam and was invited to the circle of a dozen or so people who had gathered for prayer.

Miracles do happen from time to time; and for me and for her this meeting on the Christmas morning proved it. I had somebody to say mass for!

It turned out that for decades Gerlina not only had been gathering her relatives for prayer, but also had baptized most of them. Those who had completed their earthly itineration she walked off to the repository. She became faithful and passed it to her closest.

Three years later, in 2002, we celebrated Christmas in our church for the first time. In the afternoon

of the 25th of December I went to Gerlina. She was weak, but confessed and attended Holy Mass. Pensive, she said: “Look, there have always been so many people with us on Christmas. Now, there is nobody. They have the church now, they can sing carols full- throated, not concealedly at home as before…”

She died in the morning of St. Stephen’s day. She is looking down on us from one of the stained – glass windows in our church. She must be happy in heaven that we try to sing carols all – out and with all our heart.