Roman Catholics In Chernihiv Struggle For Return Of Church

With little success after ten years, the Roman Catholic community in eastern Ukrainian Chernihiv has been working for the return of an old Catholic church building nationalized by the Soviet regime in the 1930s. This investigative report, exclusive to RISU, was posted on its Ukrainian-language site on 16 May 2002.

A three-story building, in which authorities of the city and regional governments were living not long ago, has for many decades been located on the territory of the cemetery adjacent to the church. Catholics believe that the reason the church has not been returned to them is because the interests of believers and the authorities have clashed. Neither the previous administration nor the court has managed to solve the problem. The church was not returned even after the papal visit to Ukraine.

History

Roman Catholics, mostly ethnically Polish, have lived in Chernihiv for ages. There were no... Read more »