BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
05/02/2008
Bishop from Belarus to preside at Ash Wednesday Mass
By Tom Dalton
Staff writer
SALEM - A bishop who helped rebuild the Roman Catholic Church in the former Soviet Union will officiate at a service tomorrow at the Polish Catholic church.
The Most Rev. Wladyslaw Blin, bishop of Vitebsk, Belarus, will concelebrate the 7 p.m. Ash Wednesday Mass at St. John the Baptist Church, 28 St. Peter St.
The public is invited.
Blin's appearance comes just days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that this year's collection for the Catholic Church in Eastern and Central Europe will be held on Ash Wednesday. The bishops established a fund in 1991, shortly after the fall of communism, that has given more than $100 million to assist Catholic churches in the former Soviet Union and Europe.
Blin consecrated a church in Belarus that was rebuilt with assistance from the fund. The church was closed during Soviet rule, fell into disrepair and eventually collapsed.
At tomorrow's Mass, the bishop will be joined by the Rev. Jerzy Auguscik, pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in South Boston, and the Rev. Stanislaw Parfienczyk, pastor at St. John's.
The St. John's adult choir will sing Lenten songs in English and Polish.
There will be a reception for Blin in the school cafeteria following the Mass.
Source:
http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_036064637.html
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