By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 9/16/04)

"Anybody can have an idea, but it’s empty talk unless people follow and do something about it," said Father Marcel Guarnizo, president of Aid to the Church in Russia (ACR). Father Guarnizo is a native of Washington, and a graduate of Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington.

Last week, ACR celebrated 10 years of people following Father Guarnizo’s plea to convert and aid the people of Russia. Also present at the gala in Arlington were Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of the Mother of God Diocese of Moscow, Ambassador Frank Shakespeare and George Weigel. At the celebration, ACR honored Warren Carroll, founder of Christendom College in Front Royal, with its first International Achievement Award for Truth and Freedom.

Carroll has extensively studied the rise and fall of communism in Russia, and is the author of 1917 Red Banners, White Mantle.

Before the Bolsheviks took control of Russia in 1917, there were approximately 150 Catholic parishes with more than 250 priests to serve the 500,000 Catholics. By the end of the 1930s, only two churches remained open, served by two elderly priests.

ACR was created in 1994 to provide spiritual and material support to Russia. In the last 10 years, ACR has helped rebuild several notable churches, including the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Our Lady Queen of Apostles Seminary in St. Petersburg and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Siberia.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz anticipates that with ACR’s continued support the Curia building in Moscow will be able to open within the next year.

However, 27 percent of Russia’s 200 parishes still have no place for worship. In many areas, it is still difficult for the Church to reclaim old churches or even secure permission to build new ones.

"May God, through Our Lady, bring us to a time of an undivided Church," Archbishop Kondrusiewicz prayed last week.

Three months before the Bolsheviks took control of Russia, Our Lady appeared in Fatima and said, "If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, then Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, bringing new wars and persecutions of the Church … The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and the world will enjoy a period of peace." While Russia has been set free from communism, there is still much work to be done to convert her people.

This can be evidenced by ongoing difficulties in the relationship between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic hierarchy. Pope John Paul II has wished for years to visit Russia, most recently to deliver the Icon of Kazan.

"We are witnessing new times, new climate regarding our relationship," the archbishop said. "We are on the threshold of new times."

The Orthodox mistakenly believe that Catholics in Russia are "proselytizing" — attempting to expand their influence over a culturally Orthodox people by specifically aiming to convert Russians.

"We need dialogue to clarify this definition, what this means — proselytism," the archbishop said. "The Orthodox Church has the same means of salvation as the Catholic Church. There is no need to proselytize."

The lack of conversion in Russia was made most apparent this month with the siege at the school in Beslan. On the day before the anniversary celebration, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz joined a "long queue" of Americans at the Russian Embassy in Washington to sign a book of condolences.

"It’s a very tragic event," the archbishop said. "Throughout our churches, our parishes, we are praying for those who are wounded and their families. We are praying for peace." Although he refused to comment on whether Chechnya should be independent and on the possibilities of a resolution between Russian and Chechen leaders, the archbishop said, "Violence is not a solution. Problems must be solved through dialogue."

Currently, about 50 percent of Russians are Orthodox and about 600,000 are Roman Catholic. While there is still a severe shortage of native priests, it has become easier for foreign priests to get visas. About 90 percent of priests are foreign-born, coming to Russia from more than 20 countries. Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said that God willing, two priests will be ordained in 2005 and six in 2006. A total of about 20 priests have graduated from Our Lady Queen of Apostles Seminary since it reopened in 1993.

Although he admitted that it was always his wish to serve God, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz worked as an engineer for six years before he entered the seminary.

The Kondrusiewicz family was "absolutely 100 percent Catholic." Although there was no priest in his hometown for five years, his family continued to go to church together and pray devotions.

Born in Byelorussia (present day Belarus) in 1946, he earned a degree from Leningrad Polytechnical Institute and worked as an engineer. The Soviet government sent him to work in Lithuania, where he discovered the seminary, only one of two in the Soviet States.

With only one radio allowed at the seminary, the seminarians took turns listening to the news of the outside world.

The archbishop described Oct. 16, 1978, as "the most happiest day of my entire life because I got to hear that Karol Wotjyla was pope.

"It was a new sign of hope," he said. "It was hard for us to believe that one of us, from a communist country, was pope."

While some may claim that communism in Russia fell because of Mikhail Gorbachev, and others may credit Ronald Reagan, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz of course thanks God, and also the Holy Father.

"Everything happened because of divine providence," he said, "but also because of John Paul II."