07.01.2009
BELARUS: "THE VIEWS OF THE PARISHIONERS ARE NOTHING TO US"


The Catholic Church in Belarus has appealed for the state to rescind its
ban on four priests and three nuns working in the country, Forum 18 News
Service has learnt. One of the priests, Fr Zbigniew Grygorcewicz, was told
that he was being expelled for arranging a banned Christian music festival.
Like his colleagues, Fr Grygorcewicz was active in serving the people of
his parish, arranging for a sports pitch for local children to be built,
providing humanitarian aid in the area, promoting ecumenical activity among
the town's Christian churches, and lecturing in the Belarusian State
University. One of the many parishioners and students who have protested
against the bans, Lena Okolovicz, told Forum 18 that it is "absurd" that
foreigners need special permission from the state before they can conduct
religious work in the country. "I think believers should take the decision
over which priest should serve where, not the state." But Mikhail Rybakov
of the government's Office of the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic
Affairs told Forum 18 that "the views of the parishioners are nothing to
us."

BELARUS: "THE VIEWS OF THE PARISHIONERS ARE NOTHING TO US"

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

As the Catholic Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilov [Mahilov] insists it will
work to bring back the foreign priest and three nuns banned from continuing
their religious work in the country from the end of December 2008,
officials have dismissed Catholic concerns over the bans to Forum 18 News
Service. "If the Diocese wants them to return then they should apply,"
Mikhail Rybakov, the spokesperson for the government's Office of the
Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs, told Forum 18 from the
capital Minsk on 6 January. "Nothing prevents [Archbishop Tadeusz]
Kondrusievicz coming here to resolve this issue." Rybakov refused to
acknowledge that the Archbishop had already applied for the four to be
allowed to remain. Asked whether the Office would give the necessary
permission for the four if Archbishop Kondrusievicz applies yet again,
Rybakov declared: "I can't say."

Rybakov scorned protests by parishioners of ousted priest Fr Zbigniew
Grygorcewicz. "The views of the parishioners are nothing to us - he was
invited by the Archdiocese, not by the parishioners." He said that if it
needs to, there is nothing to stop the Catholic Church inviting another
foreign priest to take Fr Grygorcewicz's place. "Why can't the Church
accept another priest? I see nothing wrong in that."

Asked repeatedly why Fr Grygorcewicz cannot remain, given that he is the
choice of the parish and the Archdiocese, Rybakov avoided answering.
"Everything was done in accordance with the law," he kept insisting.

Rybakov refused to explain to Forum 18 why it was the role of the state to
choose which religious leaders are acceptable or unacceptable. But he
stressed that if those banned return to Belarus and conduct religious
activity without state permission they will be punished under the Criminal
Code.

Fr Aleksandr Amialchenia of the Minsk-Mohilov Archdiocese rejected
Rybakov's comments as "at the very least irresponsible". He insisted that
Archbishop Kondrusievicz had "more than once" appealed to the Office of the
Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs in recent weeks for the
priest and three nuns to have their permission extended. "He did this both
before the Plenipotentiary's official reply and afterwards," Fr Amialchenia
told Forum 18 from Minsk on 7 January.

He said that Fr Grygorcewicz's documents will again be lodged as soon as
the January 2009 holiday for Orthodox Christmas is over. As for the three
nuns, he said the Plenipotentiary had verbally "insisted" that the
Archdiocese not raise their cases. "Otherwise the attitude to the presence
of foreign nuns in Belarus would become even harsher," he reported.

The three Polish nuns who were also refused an extension to their
permission to conduct religious work after the end of December 2008 were
all working in parishes in the Minsk-Mohilov Archdiocese. Sister Malgorzata
Zarek was working in Nesvezh, Sister Antonina Bigaj in Svir and Sister
Katarzyna Cheldt in Novy Sverchen. Fr Amialchenia told Forum 18 that all
three nuns had left Belarus by 1 January.

Fr Amialchenia said that Archbishop Kondrusievicz is doing all he can to
have the priest and nuns returned to their work and to prevent further such
"incidents". "The reason officials gave - in writing - was the small number
of faithful in the parishes where they were serving," Fr Amialchenia told
Forum 18, an assertion the Church rejects.

As well as the priest and three nuns in the Minsk-Mohilov Archdiocese,
three Polish Catholic priests in the Grodno [Hrodna] Diocese in western
Belarus also had their permission to continue religious work in the country
revoked at the end of December. The three are Fr Jan Bronowski, Fr Jan
Skonieczny, and Fr Andrzej Krawczyk. Marina Tsvilik of the Office of the
Plenipotentiary told Forum 18 it was because they did not know the state
languages, Russian and Belarusian (see F18News 23 December 2008
).

The bans brought to 29 the number of foreign religious workers - including
Protestants and Jews as well as Catholics - banned from working with local
religious communities since 2004 (see F18News 23 December 2008
).

Rybakov of the Office of the Plenipotentiary insisted to Forum 18 that the
state makes no distinctions between different religious communities.
However, he was not able to recall any foreign Orthodox priests who had
been banned from conducting religious work in Belarus.

Fr Grygorcewicz, assistant priest at the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
parish in the town of Borisov [Barysaw] for the past three years, was told
verbally that his permission to conduct religious work both there and in
the small town of Okolovo some 70 kms (45 miles) north of Borisov would not
be extended after its expiry at the end of December 2008. "Nothing was in
writing," he told Forum 18 from Warsaw on 6 January. "I broke no laws, but
they thought I was too active. It is a violation of human rights."

Fr Grygorcewicz said that another priest has had to be assigned from Minsk
temporarily to serve at the Okolovo parish, where there is no resident
priest. He said he had collected money to build a new church there to
replace the one destroyed during the Soviet period. He added that the local
authorities had provided a former shop for the small parish to use for
worship.

In Borisov Fr Grygorcewicz arranged for a sports pitch for local children
to be built, helped provide humanitarian aid as far as the authorities
allow it and promoted ecumenical activity among the town's Christian
churches.

Catholic priests and nuns previously expelled from Belarus have also been
involved in social care and ecumenical activity (see F18News 12 January
2007 ).

As well as serving in the parishes in Borisov and Okolovo, Fr Grygorcewicz
taught part-time for the past two years at the SS. Methodius and Cyril
Theological Institute at the Belarusian State University in Minsk. In
approving this part-time work at the request of Russian Orthodox
Metropolitan Filaret, the Plenipotentiary Leonid Gulyako made clear that
this permission did not extend to allowing Fr Grygorcewicz to conduct any
religious activity within the city of Minsk. Foreign religious workers are
only allowed to conduct religious activity in the locations for which they
are approved.

Fr Grygorcewicz said that when he asked the senior religious affairs
official for Minsk Region, Leonid Parkhimovich, in late December why his
permission to continue his pastoral work was not being extended, the
official told him verbally that it was because of a Christian music
festival he had planned to hold in his church in September 2008. The
festival was cancelled by state officials minutes before it was due to
begin (see F18News 25 September 2008
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1193).

Parkhimovich's telephone went unanswered when Forum 18 called on 5 and 6
January, while 7 January is a public holiday. No other official was
prepared to explain to Forum 18 who had taken the decision to ban Fr
Grygorcewicz from further religious work. Aleksandr Myadeltsov, the main
specialist on religious organisations within the Ideology Department of
Borisov Executive Committee, told Forum 18 on 6 January that the decision
not to extend Fr Grygorcewicz's permission for religious work was "not in
our competence".

Myadeltsov said permission to conduct religious work locally is signed by
the head of the Executive Committee, but "the decision is taken by the
Office of the Plenipotentiary in Minsk". He referred all further enquiries
to Valentina Shutko, deputy head of the Executive Committee with
responsibility for social issues. However, reached the same day she refused
to discuss anything with Forum 18, referring all questions to the Office of
the Plenipotentiary in Minsk.

Rybakov of the Office of the Plenipotentiary in Minsk said the decision
over Fr Grygorcewicz - as with all such cases - was taken locally.

Although not required to leave Belarus, Fr Grygorcewicz said that he chose
to do so and returned to Poland on 30 December.

Fr Grygorcewicz insisted to Forum 18 that he would like to return to his
parishes and says he will wait in Warsaw for a new invitation to conduct
religious work which would then allow him to apply for a new visa as well.

Fr Grygorcewicz pointed out that his parents - who are both now dead -
were born before the Second World War to the west of Minsk in territory
that is now in Belarus. "That's why I'm committed to the country," he told
Forum 18. "I want to get Belarusian citizenship." He said he had begun the
process of collecting documents from archives proving that his parents had
been born locally.

Fr Grygorcewicz enjoys vocal backing from his parishioners in Borisov, as
well as from staff and students at the university. "All parishioners are
awaiting his return," parishioner Lena Okolovicz told Forum 18 from Borisov
on 7 January. "The respect Fr Zbigniew has could only inspire delight among
the population." She said some 430 parishioners have signed a petition
calling for him to be allowed to resume his work.

Okolovicz said that parishioners had appealed to Borisov Executive
Committee, the Office of the Plenipotentiary and to the Presidential
Administration in Minsk. "When we went to the Presidential Administration,
officials told us a commission would meet and consider our petition,"
Okolovicz reported. She said a group of nine had also gone to visit Shutko
at the Executive Committee on 29 December and she had told them if Fr
Grygorcewicz came for an "audience" the issue could be resolved. "He went,
but there was no result."

Myadeltsov of the Executive Committee acknowledged that parishioners had
presented an appeal for Fr Grygorcewicz's return. "It is being considered
and they will get an answer," he told Forum 18. Asked if the answer will be
positive he responded: "I don't know."

Catholic parishioner Okolovicz told Forum 18 she believes it is "absurd"
that foreigners need special permission from the state before they can
conduct religious work in the country. "I think believers should take the
decision over which priest should serve where, not the state."

Seven Polish Catholic priests and five nuns - also working in Grodno
Diocese - were forced out of the country at the end of 2006, apparently
because of their high levels of religious activity, including youth and
alcohol rehabilitation meetings open to all. A petition and other campaigns
by local Catholics failed to get the decisions overturned. At the end of
2005, two Catholic parish priests working in the Minsk-Mohilov Archdiocese
did not have their annual visas renewed and were thus forced to return to
their native Poland (see F18News 12 January 2007
).

Another priest, Fr Grzegorz Chudek, had to leave Belarus at the end of
2007, apparently due to his discussion of Belarus' social problems in the
Polish press (see F18News 20 February 2008
).

A January 2008 Council of Ministers decree imposed tighter restrictions on
inviting foreign religious workers to the country. The Office of the
Plenipotentiary was given sole discretion in deciding whether religious
work by foreign citizens is necessary. The decree specified that only
registered religious associations have the right to invite foreign
religious workers. These consist of ten or more communities, at least one
of which must have functioned in Belarus for 20 years. Applicants have to
attest the knowledge of Belarusian and Russian for most of those they
invite.

Forum18