St. Lawrence Parish in Tonkoshurovka

The history of parish  Catholic School Pral. Lorenz Gawol

The people of Atbosar (6-3 centuries B.C.) and Botay (who for the 3-2 centuries B.C. carried out religious rituals in our region) lived along the Ishim river at that time.

In the years when Russians opened up new lands in Siberia, during the reign of Peter I in 1700, the people brought Christianity with them.

German Catholics from the Volga region migrated here in 1909, and founded the village of Triden (Peace, Tonkoshurovka). Although it was hard in the beginning, they soon built a small church building. The priest from Kellerovka (50 km. away) came there as often as possible - the last time he visited Tonkoshurovka was in 1929.

In November of 1939, members of the Komsomol demolished the church, burnt the crosses that had stood at the entrance of the village, and destroyed all the religious things in private homes. A great number of deportees from different parts of the Soviet Union were sent there in 1941, including many Lutherans from Odessa and the Caucasus.

A priest came secretly to Tonkoshurovka in 1974 for some hours. He called himself Michael, and said that he had come from Frynse (Kyrghyzstan). Seven people were christened at that time. There were those who kept the faith, despite the persecution against them. Fifty-four women and three men in our village gathered to say the Rosary and read the Bible on Sundays, but they had never all come together at once (there were not more than 20 people at the meetings). The prior from Krasnoarmeysk (now our bishop) came to the village on August 19, 1990 and sanctified a cemetery. During the next meetings, together with Deacon Jogan Try, he christened about 100 believers in our village. Bishop Lute from Cologne came on May 27, 1991 to Tonkoshurovka: he was the first bishop visiting that village. From his tour of Europe, Bishop Lenga returned with Monsignor Laurence Gavol from Berlin, who had been appointed prior of our parish.

God had been praised in the Eucharist since November 9, 1991 in Tonkoshurovka. The parishioners elected St. Lawrence as the patron of the parish. It included all of the northern Kazakhstan region for two years, until the fathers who had taken care of the regions near the Trans-Siberian Railway arrived. On June 25, 1992, the first pilgrimage after the revolution took place to the ŤTsaria of peaceť in the village of Osernoe. Sixty children and 20 adults walked 8 km., while 12 children and 54 adults went by bus. Sisters from the congregation of the Eucharistic Jesus have been working in Tonkoshurovka since November of 1944. In the beginning it was Sr. Helen, Sr. Maria and Sr. Olga who carried out all the necessary work: catechizing of adults and children, and different translations, including the translation of sermons during public worship. Franciscans from Feclabrook St. Vincencia and St. Jadwiga worked with the children and sick men of our parish from March of 1995 until September of 1997.

The first Christian school in the history of Kazakhstan - the school of St. Lawrence - was opened on September 1, 1996. Bishop Jan Paul Lenga and the apostolic nuncio in Kazakhstan, archbishop Marian Oles, dedicated the school. Seventy-two children are studying in this school in the first, second, third and seventh forms. Agnes Martsenkovska from Poland teaches catechism in the school. Bishop Jan Paul Lenga, the Apostolic Administrator of Kazakhstan, dedicated the new church on July 27, 1997.
 

Sponsored by RCNet