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Mongolia: Church Has Learned As Well As Grown During First 15 Years Print E-mail
Written by UCA News   
Saturday, 02 February 2008
The Catholic Church has completed 15 years in Mongolia, picking up many "lessons" for the future along the way.

"God has done great things for us, and we are glad!" Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, told UCA News recently.

The Filipino Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) prelate arrived with two confreres in 1992 to open the Mongolian mission, and the growth in the numbers of Church personnel and local Catholics since then is an obvious fact.

Today, 64 missioners from 18 countries belonging to nine Religious congregations and a Korean diocese, together with six lay missioners from three countries serve the local Church.

Meanwhile, 70 Mongolians were baptized in 2007, bringing the number of Catholics in the country to 415. The past year also marked the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Mongolia.

Bishop Padilla said 2007 also held major and valuable lessons that he hopes will serve the Church well into the future.

"The first lesson is that with the leaving and recall of some missionaries, I am more and more made aware of the need for local (Mongolian) clergy and Religious," he said.

"We are establishing a local Church, but most of the pastoral agents of the apostolic prefecture are foreigners," he explained. "It is high time to encourage vocation animation and recruitment in the parishes among the baptized youth."
Another lesson he says the Church has learned has to do with missioners' "over-indulgence" in social, developmental, educational, and charitable projects. These "should be balanced by strengthening involvement in spiritual activities," the Church leader said.

"The pastoral plan we formulated for the next three years will hopefully help in (achieving) this temporal and spiritual equilibrium," Bishop Padilla continued. He explained that the plan provides a framework for the Mongolian Church to discover the Bible, the sacraments and acts of charity as the true nourishment for human life.

The Catholic Mission in Mongolia now has four parishes, rather than the three -- Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Mary's, Good Shepherd -- with which it began 2007. But the fourth parish, Mary Help of Christians in Darhan, which was added in January 2007, has special significance as the first parish outside Ulaanbaatar. Darhan, Mongolia's second-largest city, with 80,000 inhabitants, is 200 kilometers north of the capital, where about 40 percent of the country's 2.5 million people live.

Already this year the number of mission stations has increased from five -- Dair Ekh, Niseh, Shuwuu, Yaarmag, Zuun Mod -- to six with the addition of Arvaiheer.

Two additional chapels, one in the CICM mission house and the other in Ulaanbaatar's Bayanhushuu district, are not yet considered mission stations, because they do not hold regular Sunday Masses.

The children's ministry involves about 500 children in all the parishes and mission stations, who come to Mass and take part in Sunday-school classes held by Missionaries of Charity sisters and Mongolian catechists.

Ministry to another 200 children and youth continues at Amgalan Boys' Village, the Verbist Care Center for Street Children and the center for girls at risk in Dairekh.

Poor children who are unable to afford regular schools attend the St. Paul schools in Ulaanbaatar and Zuun Mod. Younger children go to the Montessori kindergartens in Bayanhoshuu and Erdenet.

For those old enough to learn work skills, the Don Bosco Technical Vocational School offers an alternative to academics, while university and college students can stay in Church-run dormitories.

Two other educational projects -- the Rainbow center in Sharhad for children with special needs and a St. Mary's Parish program for infants and very young children with special needs -- serve about 600 children.
Last Updated ( Friday, 01 February 2008 )