CATHOLICISM IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST
Table of Contents
Apostolic Administrations in Russia
Apostolic Administration for Northern European Russia in Moscow:
Apostolic Administration for Southern European Russia in Saratov:
Apostolic Administration for Asian Russia in Novosibirsk:
Apostolic Administration for Eastern Russia in Irkustk
Bishop Karol Slivovsky (1848-1933)
Bishop Joseph Werth, S.J., D.D. (b. 1952)
Canons Regular of Jesus Christ the Lord
Nursing Home Service (2 nurses with 5 volunteers)
Catechetical Camp for the Catholic Children
Catholic Concert Choir of Vladivostok
Father Daniel Maurer (b. 1951)
Father Gregory Yurkevich (Marytr)
Far Eastern Catholic Youth Conference
Lay Pastoral Workshops, Diocesan
Living Conditions and Transportation
Ordination of the first native russian
Parish of St Joseph in Second River
Prisoner’s Rehabilitation Center
Staff of Most Holy Mother of God Church
Tackling the Problem of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
Tenth Anniversary of Work in Russia
Building the Steeples, Repairing the Facade, Removing the Last Extra Story
Parish Office and Rectory Project
Organ Concerts/Festivals/Recitals
The 2000-2001 Organ Concert Series
Windows Project for the Cathedral in Vladivostok
Apostolic administrations are a relatively new concept. They are a creation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. This 1983 concept was a development of the 'apostolic administrator' as presented by the 1917 Code. Until 1983 an Apostolic Administrator was seen as one who administrates a diocese in the name of the Pope. In instances where the local diocesan bishop was not capable of governing his diocese for a long period of time, and the duties to be fulfilled were more demanding than the office of a vicar general (the bishop's second in charge) the Pope could appoint an apostolic administrator who would govern the diocese, not as diocesan bishop but rather on behalf of the Pope. In 1983 the Church developed the idea of an 'Apostolic Administrator' a step further, by allowing for the creation of 'Apostolic Administrations' by the Pope. The Church sometimes sees that there is a need for some type of ecclesial structure and order, in areas where there are Catholic communities, but where there are important reasons for not establishing dioceses. Such reasons can be political instability, lack of any internal structures and ecumenical concerns.
Pope John Paul II has established four Roman Catholic apostolic administrations in Russia.[1]
This Administration was established in April 1991, with Bishop Kondrusiewicz appointed as Apostolic Administrator. The Bishop in Moscow has the title of Archbishop, with all of Russia, Kazakhstan, and the other Asian successor states in his province.
This Administration was established in April, 1991. Bishop Clemens Pickel was appointed as Apostolic Administrator.
Bishop Joseph Werth, S.J., D.D.[2] was consecrated on April 13, 1991, and appointed Apostolic Administrator of Novosibirsk in April of that year. The Apostolic Administration of Novosibirsk is geographically the largest in the world. Before the establishment of the Apostolic Administration for Eastern Russia, the Administration of Asian Russia was well over twice the size of the 48 contiguous United States (which have 193 dioceses). It spanned 9 time zones,[3] and covered a total area of over 5 million square miles.[4] Catholics of the Russian Far East are scattered and include ethnic Poles, Lithuanians, Koreans, Ukrainians, Russians, and Armenians.[5] At the time of the Pastoral Conference in October 1994, there were 53 priests in the diocese.[6] At that time, there were also about 200 parishes in the diocese. The border between the Administration of Northern European Russia and that of Asian Russia is the Ural Mountains. The church in Novosibirsk was the first to re-open after the collapse of communism. It reopened for Holy Mass on January 1, 1994 and the first Mass Bishop Werth prayed there was on June 26, 1994. Most Catholic Church buildings in Eastern Russia are still standing because the Catholic people were destroyed, but the churches were kept and converted for secular use.
This, the youngest of the Russian Apostolic Administrations, was established in May 1998, with Bishop Jerzy Mazur[7] appointed Apostolic Administrator. This is the Administration that contains the Vladivostok Deanery.
Adopt-A-Birth is a program where a woman who comes into our crisis center is offered the funds to deliver her baby rather than seek an abortion. The current amount is $20, which pays for a packet that CARITAS gives her to take to the hospital for delivery. It consists of sutures, cleansing preparations, anesthetic, antibiotics, soap, etc. The hospitals don’t have it and the woman usually can’t find the extra money. We also offer clothes, adoption, job skills, abuse support, AA and Al-anon. Contact point is Mary Mother of God Mission Society located in St. Paul, MN (address listed under names and addresses in this document).
Congratulations to Mr. George Riess and our benefactors who have donated to our "Adopt-a-Birth" program! More than 300 Russian children have been saved from abortion and helped to have a healthy birth through this program which was George's brainchild. Many more children have been saved by our Women's Support Centers, but the "Adopt-a-Birth" program is key for Russian women who consider abortion just because they can't afford the expenses of giving birth (Abortions are nearly free!)[8]
Adoptions have started with Caritas Primorye (our Catholic Charities in Russia) and Catholic Charities U.S.A. The Ashville, N.C. office is handling the adoptions for the American side. Call 1-888-990-4199, request to speak to Carol or Michelle. Home study and follow up are done in your area.
Annunciation Parish in Arsenev
See Arsenev, Parish in.
His Grace Francis T. Hurley, Archbishop Emeritus of Anchorage, made his first visit to Magadan, Russia in 1988. He celebrated the first known public Mass there on Christmas of 1989. On January 3, 1991 the religious community of the Catholic Christians was granted a certificate of registration as a religious community in Magadan. On January 4, 1991, Archbishop Hurley, then on his fourth visit to Magadan, gathered the twelve people who had petitioned for certification. They selected the parish name, Church of the Nativity of Jesus. Archbishop Hurley sent a notice of this action to His Holiness Pope John Paul II. On January 11, 1991, the Holy Father “having learned of the formal registration of the Catholic Community of Magadan graciously imparts his apostolic blessing upon the faithful of Magadan and upon your Excellency as a sign of paternal care.” (Signed) Archbishop Angelo Sodano, Pro-Secretariat of State. Father Austin Mohrbacher of Passaic, New Jersey was assigned as the first pastor of the Church of the Nativity of Jesus in June 1991. September 1994, Father Michael Shields of Anchorage, Alaska, was assigned to serve in Magadan. September 1996, Father David Means of St. Louis, Missouri was assigned to serve in Magadan. Archbishop Francis T. Hurley, in service to the Russian Bishop of Novosibirsk, oversees and financially supports the Catholic missionary work of the Church of the Nativity in Magadan, Russia. The webpage of the Church of the Nativity of Jesus in Magadan can be accessed of our website. Archbishop Hurley retired from the active care of Anchorage in 2001.
No details.
The parish of Annunciation in Arsenev was named in honor of the parish of Annunciation in Washington, DC. The Parish was founded on Feb 21, 1999. It currently only has a 3 room apartment for its 30 Parishioners. Masses are celebrated in the Public High School.
Fr. Christian Labanovsky, OSF was installed as the pastor on April 6 during the parish celebration of Arsenyev’s parish feast day of the Annunciation. Fr. Myron as Dean of the Vladivostok Deanery installed Fr. Christian.[9]
The anointing of the elderly and sick of the parish at Vladivostok took place this year on September 29. Many of the elderly simply can’t get to the church in the wintertime because of the conditions in which they live. The anointing takes on even greater meaning for them. This year the first snow was on October 21. Parts of the city never have the snow plowed all winter. After the Mass there was a treat and tea for the elderly and the opportunity for a few minutes of personal talk with the pastor and to visit with others.[10]
Bells for Our Lady in Vladivostok
See Vladivostok, Bells for Our Lady.
Toward the end of the 19th century, thousands of Poles, Lithuanians, and Byelorussians were exiled to penal labor camps in Siberia and the Far East for their participation in nationalistic revolts. Then many Poles were drafted into military service and military chaplains were then needed. The first Catholic priest arrived in 1867 to serve the region, living first at Nikolaevsk-na-Amur, then in Vladivostok. A small wooden church and rectory were built, the church later being destroyed by fire. Construction of the current Church of Mary, Most Holy Mother of God was begun. In 1912 Karol Slivovsky was appointed priest for Vladivostok. He had come from the Warsaw nobility and had a doctor’s degree in Divinity. He was energetic, well educated, and greatly loved by the people. In 1920, the Archbishop of Mogilyov, Russia, established the Vladivostok Deanery that included a large area with 11,000 Catholics and 5 priests. Karol Slivovsky was appointed Dean. On October 28, 1923 he was consecrated Bishop of Vladivostok. The ceremony took place in Harbin, China, with the Archbishop of Harbin and two other Chinese Bishops. Bishop Slivovsky served in Vladivostok until the closing of his Cathedral by soviet authorities. The last years of his life were spent in the Vladivostok suburb of Sedanka, where, seriously ill, he was cared for by Sr. Casimira Piotrovskaya. He died on January 5, 1933 at the age of 85.[11] We are attempting to open his cause for sainthood. Preliminary work has begun. Please see our web page for further details and updates.
Regina Stanko of Tomsk, Russia, a former parishioner, sent by mail two more personal items of Bishop Karol Slivovsky. Bishop Slivovsky was the last priest in the whole of the Far East of Russia, so he had to be buried by his lay parishioners. Regina's father Stanislav Stanko buried Bishop Slivovsky's body after his death of old age in 1933 in the local village cemetery of Sekanka, the village to which the bishop had been exiled. A funeral mass was celebrated in Harbin, China after the European community there got word of the bishop's death. Stanislav saved the bishop's effects. The family was threatened with death during those Stalinist years, and Mr. Stanko was arrested, at which time some of the bishop's things were taken by the KGB, including his photo album (which might be used to identify people), his Latin-font typewriter, and his binoculars.
After Stanislav was most miraculously released, he immediately gathered his family, and the remainder of the bishop's belongings, and left for Tomsk in Siberia, hoping that no one would know them there so that they would be safe from arrest. They immediately had new identity cards made so that they could get rid of the old cards which had a black stripe which identified them as "enemies of the people". After Regina's father's death, she saved the bishop's effects all these years in a wooden box under her bed. Regina has now given them to our parish. My helper Alexei Hartman and our parish archivist Miroslava Efimova were present to witness the opening of the historic parcel from Regina Stanko. Inside were the Bishop's cupholder, and a notions box labeled "KS" for Karol Slivovsky.
Regina Stanko is a physician veteran of WWII. It was her father Stanislav Stanko who took care of Bishop Slivovsky. Stanislav Stanko buried Bishop Slivovsky and saved his personal belongings. During my last phone conversation with Regina, she was thinking about coming to Vladivostok to go to the cemetery where Bishop Slivovsky was buried to see if we can locate the grave. What a miracle it would be if we found it and were able to bring the remains to be buried in our cathedral![12]
On September 16, Miroslava Igorevna, our parish archivist and historian, and I traveled to Sedanka to see if we could find the house where Bishop Slivovsky lived and died after he had been exiled from Vladivostok. We did indeed find the home which still has the address it did in the 1930's. Stanislava Josephovna who now lives in Tomsk, but who was a child when the bishop was still alive and who used to take him milk every day from their family, described the house in detail, and how to walk from there to the bishop's grave at the Sedanka cemetery. After finding the house, we followed her instructions, and the path took us to the general area where we had believed earlier that the bishop was buried. Naturally, we hope to definitely locate the bishop's grave in conjunction with plans to work toward his canonization. Unless we find some further documentary of eye-witnessed facts, it will take quite a bit of work yet to locate the grave.[13]
Bishop Werth was born of a traditional Catholic family in Kazakhstan. His parents were of German nationality, his father from the Volga, and mother from Odessa. From 1979 to 1984 he was a seminarian in Lithuania. His first assignments after ordination were at Aktubinsk and the Volga region.[14] As Apostolic Administrator of Asiatic Russia he put out a global call for priests to work and stay in Russia. In 1991, some Vladivostok Catholics managed to locate each other through radio, television, and newspaper ads. They wrote to Bishop Werth, 3,000 miles away in Novosibirsk, told him of their existence, and asked him to send a priest. Fathers Effing and Maurer had been in contact with Bishop Werth about serving in Asiatic Russia, so the bishop asked Fr. Effing to visit Vladivostok and report back to him on the needs of Catholics there. Fr. Effing first visited in November 1991, and celebrated Mass for the fledgling Catholic community on the steps of the locked cathedral building on November 5. The Bishop assigned the two priests to Vladivostok.[15] They received their religious work visas from the Russian government on February 7, 1992 left San Francisco on February 11, and arrived in Vladivostok on February 13, 1992.
Bishop Mazur was installed as Bishop of the newest Russian Apostolic Administration of Eastern Russia on May 31, 1998. He is from Poland and is a member of the religious order of Divine Word Missionaries.
Population of the city is 200,000. It is a two-hour flight from Vladivostok. Blagoveschensk is the capital of the state of Amur.
The Transfiguration of Jesus parish serves all of Amur state, 141,500 square miles, an area larger than New Mexico.[16] Fr. Effing was the refounding pastor. The current pastor is Fr. Vladimir Sek, SVD.
Mr. Alexander Renaysky, whose mother had decided not to abort him 50 years earlier, helped the Catholic parish get started in his city. Mr. Renaysky, who has a tourist business in Blagoveschensk, has offered the use of his office until the original Catholic Church building is returned to the parish. Many Poles came to Blagoveschensk when Poland was partitioned between Russia and Prussia. They built a beautiful church and a Catholic hospital where sisters served the poor. During the communist revolution, the Bolsheviks decided to make Siberia a showplace of the new communist era, a land without the Church, a land without God. Under Stalin, all Catholic churches in the Far East were confiscated, and Orthodox churches were destroyed by the hundreds. Any remaining churches were turned into the most degrading uses possible – public toilets or barns. Cemeteries were turned into amusement parks. The Catholic Church in Blagoveschensk was made into a horse barn. In the 1950s some Orthodox asked the city for the Catholic Church as theirs had all been destroyed. The building was rented to them free of charge. They repaired it and it has been in constant use since then. In 1993 Fr. Myron Effing sent a Vladivostok parishioner to find out the situation of the church and Catholics in the city. Then, on March 23, 1994 Fr. Effing said the first Catholic Mass there.
On June 28, 1994, Bishop Werth re-erected the parish of Blagoveschensk, calling it Transfiguration of the Lord. Father Myron was named pastor, and the first public Catholic Mass was held there on July 20, 1994, when they also had the first organizational meeting of the parish.[17] The Orthodox have recently required what was their original parish land, and intend to rebuild their church there. When the Orthodox Church is rebuilt, the Orthodox will return the Catholic Church building to our parishioners.[18]
The city has a Population of 65,000, and lies about 40 miles east of Vladivostok (roughly a three hour train ride).
On May 31, 1993, Bishop Werth established the third parish in the region, St. John the Evangelist. A generous donor gave the funds for the purchase of an apartment that serves as both rectory and chapel. Fr. Dan Maurer is pastor, spending several days there each month.[19]
The parish is temporarily inactive. It is too difficult for Father Dan to get into the city, and because there are only three active parishioners there, a car is sent to drive them the thirty minutes to Romanovka once a month for confession, Mass and Catechism.[20]
The Canons Regular of Jesus the Lord is a new congregation being founded in Russia at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Mother of God in Vladivostok. The Cathedral is a natural place for canons because there is plenty of opportunity to live, pray, and work together while helping to replant the Christian faith in this land in which it was almost completely destroyed.[21]
CARITAS is an international aid organization similar to Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services. The organization has had an opportunity to begin working in Russia in 1991. CARITAS Primorye (Primorye is the state that Vladivostok is located in) operates under the direction of Mrs. Anastacia Potopenko, the first person of Russian nationality to join Most Holy Mother of God Parish. CARITAS operates an office in Vladivostok and has a number of volunteers, and helpers who work for very little pay. A pulmonary surgeon, Dr. Larissa Birukova, heads the CARITAS Medical Program.
This charitable organization was started locally by Anastacia Potopenko, the parish secretary of Most Holy Mother of God in 1992.[22] She was invited by CARITAS International to attend their conference in Rome, December 1992. There she was granted a private audience with Pope John Paul II, as part of a group of seven Russians at the meeting. After the trip, Bishop Werth asked her to begin organizing CARITAS in the Far East.[23] Anastacia started as the parish director of CARITAS, and has now become regional director. She was voted one of the three members of the CARITAS Russia board of directors. The other two are priests. A teacher by training, she is the mother of four children. It is nearly unheard of in today’s Russia to have four children. Her charge has been to found CARITAS in our region, and develop it. Now there are seven local CARITAS offices under her leadership. She also has been in charge of the parish CCD program for four years, doing most of the teaching herself.
CARITAS operates programs inside and outside the parish. It works with elderly parishioners who need help finding medicines, transportation to doctors or to Church, and assistance purchasing heavy items like potatoes. Most Russians do not have cars so they must find transportation from other sources. CARITAS Primorye also operated several programs with other institutions.
1) The MedPunkt program with the teacher’s college helps the medical staff of the college clinic work with older people in need of medical care.
2) The Med Program works with the regional polyclinic to aid the abandoned homebound. The medical program includes home health care, meals on wheels twice weekly; medical visits by Dr. Birukova, and provision of medicines when needed. Referrals for the home health program come from the public health clinics in two of Vladivostok’s four districts. Workers see that many of the older people they visit have already sold off household items to stretch their small pension—furniture, dishes, crystal, and jewelry. Housing is so tight that many elderly feel their families are waiting for them to die so they can have the apartment. Dr. Birukova feels that the local government, especially the Social Services and Health Department, is excited about the CARITAS Program, believing it to be a model for each of the health care districts and for mobile home health care teams.
3) The CARITAS Social Program serves other emergency requests, such as the Sakhalin Island earthquake, prisons, and assistance for the poor.
4) Finally, the City of Vladivostok has a contract with the “U Elvira” restaurant to help feed the poor and hungry. CARITAS cooperates with Svetlana to provide medical check-ups and clothing for these customers. Most support for CARITAS comes from Catholic Relief Services, but also from donors in America who send food clothing, and money; from CARITAS Japan, CARITAS Germany, and CARITAS Austria; and from local and foreign businessmen.[24] [See also Popov Island]
1996 was the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy. As part of the celebrations, many foreign ships visited Vladivostok.. On April 18, the Canadian ship HMCS Protecteur arrived with a load of donated hockey equipment and teddy bears for the local children. The equipment and toys were distributed through CARITAS.[25]
In November, 1996, a typical month, 13 people received clothing, food or medicine from CARITAS, 117 people were seen by the volunteer Russian physicians, 1,953 medical procedures were performed by the staff of nurses and physicians, and 543 other needy people came to the office for help. December saw the first results of new activities meant to employ the needy and handicapped. From the donated sewing machines brought by the American ship USS Blue Ridge came doll’s clothing, kitchen mittens, and kitchen aprons. From the candle molds came the first variety candles in time for the holidays.[26]
CARITAS directors are: Anastacia Potopenko as Regional Director; Lilia Selena as Vladivostok Parish’s Director; Nina Labutina as Nakhodka’s Director; Tatyana Yermak as Khabarovsk’s Director; Ecaterina Revisov as Blagoveschensk’s Director Ludmilla Sidarenko as Romanovka’s director. Sergei Akulenko (Vladivostok) is in charge of organizing the children’s parties in Vladivostok and in helping the other parishes to organize theirs. He stays behind the scenes, giving pride of place to “Grandfather Frost” (the Russian version of Santa Claus) and the other people he has arranged to lead the actual events. He is the “producer.” Dr. Milkhailova works with the elderly programs.
· Visits to people in need: 4787 persons.
· Persons receiving assistance (financial, food packs, medicines, spiritual support): 3849.
· 259 baby items were made by 22 volunteers.
· Volunteers visited the children’s orphanage, and the specialized house for arrested homeless children 24 times.
· 176 persons were supplied with second hand clothes, and about 4708 kg of clothes were sorted out for other cities and villages of Primorye and Amur regions.
· 102 persons supplied with medicines.
· Medical consultations at Caritas Medical Center:
o Therapist: 258.
o Lasertherapist: 1213.
o Physiotherapist: 86 persons (909 procedures).
o 284 inhalations to 39 patients.
o 708 massage procedures to 443 patients.
o Dressings: 42 patients.
o Injections: 656 patients
o Tests: 96 patients.
The therapist, opthamologist, cardiologist, psychotherapist and urologist were involved in the Medical Trip Program for the citizens of the poor and socially troubled regions of Popav Island, Romanavka, and Nahodka. 102 patients were supplied with medications.
· 4555 visits to sick patients.
· 575 patients served
· 9925 medical procedures (dressings, massage, injections).
· 1257 beneficiaries received medications.
· 108 received food packs.
There were training sessions for workers and volunteers for chapters of Caritas, including: reports on Christmas programs for the children; assistance to Regional Clinic Hospital; volunteering at the specialized house for arrested children; volunteering at the maternity hospital; helping the regional association for children suffering Diabetes; and volunteering at the city orphanage in Arsenev.
Our "Oasis" Catechetical Camp for the Catholic children of our state was held from July 18-25 at an old pioneer camp on Amursky Bay. Forty-six kids from our seven parishes took part and the theme was "The Family". Fr. Myron went to the camp for confessions and mass. Russian catechists ran the camp with Sister Rosario in charge of the teaching at the camp. Nicolai Dorodnov, Fr. Myron’s secretary, was in charge of activities and discipline.[27]
Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Irkutsk
See Irkutsk, Parish in.
Cathedral / Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, Vladivostok
See Vladivostok, Church Building in.
The Catholic Concert Choir of Vladivostok is definitely a reality: twelve young women (all music students); and 7 men, only one of whom is a music student. The concert choir is preparing Camille Saint-Saens' "Christmas Oratorio" with three famous (for Vladivostok) guest soloists, soprano, mezzo-soprano and tenor. They are also putting the finishing touches on two modernish arrangements of traditional carols: "O Holy Night" and "Adeste Fideles". For three of the Christmas carols that the new concert choir will sing our parishioner and music student André wrote out all the orchestral parts. He partly composed them, partly listened to other versions on CD, and came up with some great stuff. One of them has some unexpected, modern, but interesting and pleasant harmonization. He must have spent hours doing it. Diana, our parish violinist also wrote out all the parts for the Verdi song, for two violins, viola, and cello.[28]
Fr. Maurer provided the following account of the beginnings of the Catholic Concert Choir: Relying on God's guidance we announce the beginning of a new project in the development of sacred music in the Russian Far East, the founding of the Catholic Concert Choir of Vladivostok.
In 1992 at the beginning of the rebirth of the Catholic parish of the Most Holy Mother of God, one of the greatest pastoral needs was to give people access to the Sacred Liturgy which had been denied to them for so long. The Catholic Church in Russia was completely destroyed by the Communist repression of religion. The Russian Orthodox Church, too, suffered the worst persecution in its history. By the end of 71 years of persecution very few people knew anything at all about Christianity, except that it was dangerous to have anything to do with it.
The Second Vatican Council reminded us that the Eucharistic Liturgy is the "source and summit" of our Christian life. When Fr Myron and Fr Daniel, members of the liturgical religious order of Canons Regular of Jesus the Lord, came to Vladivostok in February 1992, they saw that the greatest need was to help people to celebrate the Eucharist and to experience its beauty. The development of sacred liturgical music has been a major part of this recovery process since the beginning of our work in Russia.
Providentially, as Vladivostok Sunrise readers know, in 1995 the Catholic Parish of the Epiphany of Our Lord in Coon Rapids, Minnesota gave the parish in Vladivostok a used electric organ. It is a powerful instrument with 39 stops and a beautiful pipe organ-like sound. It has been an incomparable gift to the parish and to the entire city. It is used every week for Sunday and feast day Masses, and it has allowed us to develop perhaps the only regular organ concert series of sacred music in all of Russia. We now have at least 12 organ concerts a year. Not wanting our church to become just another concert hall in the city, our concerts consist only of sacred and classical organ music and other sacred music. The closest concert organ to ours is 2600 miles away.
For the first year of our concert program (1996) all concerts were open to the public free of charge. But because the demand for admission was so great, we had to start selling tickets as the only way to LIMIT the number of concert goers! Because our church has only 200 seats suitable for paid admission we also increased the number of performances of each concert. Our concerts have become the most popular concerts in the city. The price of admission in rubles is equivalent to $3.30, which is slightly more expensive than the average ticket for classical music events in our area.
Since a whole concert of only organ music can be too heavy for some people to listen to our concerts always include guest soloists of other musical instruments and guest vocalists, among whom are the best performing artists in the Russian Far East. The money realized through ticket sales allows us to offer a stipend to them and also to make a modest, tax free profit for the restoration of our pre-Revolutionary church building. All tickets are always sold out well before the date of the performance. In addition we give some free tickets to people who cannot afford the price of admission, including special group tickets to orphans and other children living in institutions and chronic care hospitals.
Since our concert series began it has become our tradition to include in the program of four Christmas concerts and four Easter concerts not only soloists but also one or more choirs in order to lend a fuller, more celebrative sound to these festal seasons. Vladivostok, however, does not have a tradition of high quality choral music, and has no tradition whatsoever of SACRED choral music. The performances of these secular choirs at our concerts in the past have been disappointing. Yet our parish choir, made up of members of the parish, most of whom do not read music, are not able to learn difficult music quickly enough to keep to a concert schedule.
With over five years of concert experience but without an adequate choir in the city, the time seems right to form our own Catholic concert choir. The choir will be made up of 26 members and one director. To become a member a person must have some university-level training in choral music. The choir director, Miss Svetlana Naumova, who is a parishioner and also the director of the parish choir, is a graduate student in the faculty of choral music at the Vladivostok Academy of Fine Arts.
The yearly schedule of the choir i