The Higher Seminary “Mary – mother of the church” in Karaganda, Kazakhstan

Introduction
Conditions of entering to Seminary

Rector: Father Zygmunt Kwieciński
Prefect of discipline: Father Lawrence Schamberger
Spiritual Director and Prefect of studies: Athanasius Schneider
Our address:
Wostok 3
KZ-470077  Karaganda
Kazakhstan
Tel./Fax ++ 3212-222983
e-mail: seminaria_krg@nursat.kz

Dear reader of this web-site,
 
We are glad to introduce ourselves to you. Our Seminary is the only one in the whole of Central Asia at present. This Catholic Educational Institution has been existing in the coal metropoly of Central Kazakhstan for five years already. Our Seminary was founded on July 16. 1998. His Excellenc Bishop John Paul Lenga, the Apostolic Administrator of the whole Kazakhstan at that time, opened this Institution that is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Father Christopher Marchinyak was the 1th Rector of our Institution. He supervised the Seminary from 1997 until 1998. At that time it was colled "Redemptoris Mater". After the official decision was made by the church, authorities the Seminary was renamed the Higher Seminary "Mary – Mother of the Church" and  Father Johannes Trei was appointed Rector of the Seminary and Father Yevgeny Zhinkovsky was made its Discipline Prefect.

Now let us have a look at historical background before the Seminary was opened. During the time when the church was persecuted by the Soviet Government the priests who worked in Kazakhstan all year round or from time to time clearly realized the necessity of taking special care of those who were called to ther priesthood. Some of the priests paid great attention to this necessity. Thanks to their devotion,  during the communist regime appeared ten priests and 26 nuns for instance in Karaganda alone. One of the most active educators of  youth in this sphere was the parish priest of Saint Joseph Church in Karaganda - Maikuduk, Father  Albinas Dumbliauskas (in Kazakhstan  1961 – 1991).

After the countries of the fromer USSR obtained  freedom of religion in 1991, the necessity of discovering vocations to the priesthood became more vital. The  preliminary training of young boys was conducted by the French priest Pier Demoulon. In 1994 he founded a Preseminary  in Karaganda in the honor of Our Lady Mary of Geneva. The purpose of this Preseminary was to give elementary spiritual and intellectual preparation for further study in the Higher Seminary which was already functioning at that time in Moscow.

The Apostle Apostle Paul and the missionary Francis Xavier became the patrons of the new Seminary in Karaganda, which Angelo Cardinal Sodano called during his visit to our Institution in May, 2003 a bridge for Evangelization to China

The beginning of the development of  the Seminary turned out to be not an easy undertaking. The Seminary required a lot of remodeling work. The building used to be a kindergarten and before the church bought it, it had been abandoned for five years. Another important thing in the history of the Institution was to find qualified teachers. Luckily there was no difficulty in finding teachers for compulsory subjects. At the invitation of the Rector of the Seminary several excellent teachers from Karagandas State University (one of the oldest Universities of the Republic) started to work there. For the Theological subjects we had to invite professors from abroad who teach their subjects during so-called block lessons. Also some priests and  nuns with academic qualifications  who work in Kazakhstan and presently take part in our students’ education.

On the 8th  of  August 1999, the church of Kazakhstan was reinstated. There appeared the Diocese of Karaganda for the eastern part of the country and three Apostolic Administrations: Astana in the northern part, Almaty in the south and Atirau in the west. The ordinaries of the country agreed that the Seminary “Mary – Mother of  the Church” should retain a universal character for the whole Republic, in spite of its diocesan status.

Since the 1st  of January 2001 the Rector of the Seminary has been Father Zigmund  Kwitchinsky  (who was a parish priest in Kokshetau), and the Prefect of discipline and education is Father Lawrence Schamberger (formerly a vicar in Sherbakty).

In the autumn of 2001, Father Athanasius Schneider (ORC) who had acquired a lot of experience by working in a Seminary in South America began to work here as Spiritual Director and Prefect of Sciences as well. Also Father Victor Lukanovsky (ORC) has been working at the Seminary as a Confessor since the Fall of 2001, as well as Fahter Christopher Ertsik, the parish-priest of Michailovka.

At present  23 young men are studying in our institution. The whole course of studies in our Seminary lasts eight years, that includes 1 year of Preseminary , 2 years of Philosophy, 4 years of Theology and 1 year of Service Training.

 In the last three years the remodeling of the building has been proceeding so fast that now we have eight lecture rooms, a new roof and a new fence around our property. We also had a new entrance made and a new tower erected in front of it. in front of the Seminary there is a paved parking place for 6 cars. Beside the building we have a special ground for playing football and volleyball in our free time. The Seminary is intended to house total of eighty seminarians. The interior reconstruction works has been underway, so that at present we already have twelve  rooms for students.

One of the latest important events in the history of our Seminary was a visit of the General Secretary of the Vatican, Angelo Cardinal Sodano to our institution on the 18th  of May, 2003.


Conditions of entering our Seminary:
Documents necessary for entering the Seminary:


Before entering the Seminary the applicants should prepare themselves for their studies by reading the Bible and theological works.
Those who whish to enter the Seminary should let us know about their  desire before the end of May. During May they will be invited for an interview.
Every year the Seminary begins its work on the 1 st of September and finishes on the 31 st of May. All the above-said documents should be sent to the Seminary before the 20 th of August.  The accepted applicants should bring to the Seminary the following items:
A dark suit, white shirts, dark ties, and other clothes and footwear for all seasons.

We hope that the information you have read on this web-site was useful for you and we ask you to pray for our Seminary, so that we may be able to give the church many holy priests.
 
 

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

Saint Paul holy apostle of the nations and holy Frank Xavier missionary support us!