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Roman Catholics In Chernihiv Struggle For Return Of Church
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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 not so many of them, but the community managed to erect a sturdy church (by 19th century standards), as well as a house for the priest. They also had some land around these buildings. A Catholic cemetery was situated on this territory, which is today in the city’s center. During the times of militant atheism, the church and the priest’s house were expropriated and made public property by the communists. The ancestral graves were razed to the ground because they were an obstacle to building “a new world.”
In the 1970s, Leonid Palazhchenko, first secretary of the regional Communist Party , initiated the erection of a luxurious house for party elite on the territory of the cemetery. Witnesses recall how bulldozers and excavators plundered the graves, gathering valuable items and throwing mortal remains in the city dump.
Later, the city’s inhabitants called this building, set above human bones and surrounded with a high stone fence, “the noble’s nest.” The head of the regional administration used to live in the house, but he moved out a year ago, after he was appointed ambassador to one of the Central Asian republics. The newly elected head is living in a different place, which once again gave Catholics hope that the issue might be resolved.
President’s Order Still Not Carried Out
During the first year of Ukraine’s independence, the president of Ukraine issued a decree “On Measures for the Restitution of Religious Buildings to Religious Organizations,” followed by an order to return religious property to communities. The deadline for carrying out the order was 1 December 1997. Hopeful that the issue would be settled, people had faith in the authorities’ noble intentions. In 1994, the Catholic community received only the half-ruined priest’s house, whereas the church proper remained home to the regional archive.
Inspired by a small victory, the faithful repaired and furnished the house so that a missionary priest could live there. They temporarily used the cramped basement of an old building as a church.
Negotiations for returning the church were held with authorities at every level, only to result in rejections, written in a style reminiscent of the recent communist past. They either explained that “there is no other place for the archive” or suggested “write to Kyiv; when the Cabinet of Ministers builds a new archive, we’ll give you the church back.” There were also proposals to ask the Pope for money to build a new church.
In the process of corresponding with the authorities, the Catholic community needed to prove that the building really belonged to them. In order to prove an obvious fact, which caused no doubts when the priest’s house was returned, they had to delve into the archives. In the regional archive no document was found, but there were plenty in St. Petersburg, including a diagram on which it is clear that the path to the “noble’s nest” goes through the cemetery. Right now, Chernihiv Catholics believe this to be the main reason why the presidential decree hasn’t been implemented yet: if the church is returned, the gates and the road that give access to the prestigious regional commission building will be blocked.
The faithful waited until the deadline for implementation of the presidential decree had passed (1 December 1997). Then they realized that, without bringing the case to court, the government officials would never carry out the decree. Having considered their appeal, the court announced it unjustified and advised the community to file an official complaint against the inactivity of the authorities.
The head of the regional administration, appointed in 1999, keeps assuring curious journalists, including Polish ones, that the issue is under control. He has even proposed that it be considered by the deputies of the regional council, who should make a final decision on the basis of reports by a special committee. The regional council, however, is hardly eager to put the issue on the agenda, deliberately procrastinating with the decision. Therefore, inactivity appears to be the only feasible basis for complaints, which are nonetheless not acknowledged by the regional court. After four court hearings of the case, two of which were conducted by the regional panel of judges, no action has been taken.
On the Current Situation
Two years ago, negotiations between the head of the regional administration and the Polish Consul ended with a proposal to allot an area in the center of the city for the erection of a new complex, a church, bell tower, priest’s house and a building for the parish community. Even though the allotment was much smaller than the one owned by the community during pre-Soviet times, parishioners agreed to the proposal and withdrew the application for restitution of the former church. They also ordered and paid for a plan for construction of the new buildings (see illustration).
It seemed that all misunderstandings were over. The construction plan was ready and it was time to register the allotment, start the construction and prepare for a remarkable historic occasion, the Pope’s visit to Ukraine.
However, in reality things were quite different. It turned out that there was not enough space to implement the project. An iron fence that surrounded the yard of the regional treasury department was a major obstacle. The treasury produced a deed to the land. According to the Catholic community, this is dubious, since there were no constraints on the project a year ago, when the area for construction was allotted. Architectural and esthetic peculiarities of the future buildings were also discussed and approved.
According to Tetiana Makarova, head of the Roman Catholic community in Chernihiv, parishioners should not suffer because there turned out to be less space in reality than was indicated on the city plan. Now they need to order a new architect’s plan and construct buildings even smaller than expected. Another option is to wait indefinitely for another allotment.
Representatives of the regional administration seem to understand the problem, but are in no hurry to resolve it. The head of the special commission at the regional administration dealing with this issue sees no problem at all now. He says that everything has been settled. If the land has been given, let the community start the construction.
Attorney Nina Horila believes that for many years the rights of the parishioners have been violated in many ways. So it looks like a new suit will be soon getting under way. Moreover, if the decision is once again unsatisfactory, Horila plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Tetiana Makarova sees this procrastination on the authorities’ part as a surreptitious government policy against believers of so-called “disagreeable” confessions, since churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate are erected without constraints, despite violations of the architectural traditions of ancient (1300-year old) Chernihiv. And, she says, nobody puts obstacles in their way, whereas Roman Catholics cannot get back what they legally own, and in addition their building process is hampered.
“This kind of situation is painful and difficult for the soul, ” states Fr. Henrich Kaminski, pastor of the Roman Catholic Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Chernihiv. He says that people suffer and their faith weakens. The city administration loses its authority in the eyes of the population, since it is in no hurry to restore historical justice, and lags behind the times.
This year, Roman Catholics in Chernihiv celebrated Easter on the street again, because the basement is too small to fit everyone.
At the last session of the city council, which was held at the end of March, the community’s right to the previously given allotment, for which an architect’s plan was long ago prepared, was revoked. In addition to Chernihiv Catholics, the active intelligentsia of the city were outraged by the decision. A new complaint to the court was filed, but, according to a credible source, it was withdrawn after the recently elected mayor and new city administration showed a sincere desire to positively resolve this problem as soon as possible.
------------------- article: RISU ------------------------ the citi - www.holyspirit.org.ua ---------------------------
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