Heating for the parish church in Zaslaŭje

The small town of Zaslaŭje in Belarus is around 25 kilometres north of the capital Minsk. The Catholic parish here has around 400 faithful. Their 18th-century church of the Nativity of Mary was shut down in Soviet times and used as a dump, being badly damaged in the process. Renovation work began in 2005 and continues to this day.

However, the biggest problem for the parish community was the lack of heating, with temperatures inside the church falling below zero in the winter. Father Dzmitry Pukhalski, the parish priest, explained that this was especially difficult for the children and the elderly, and was reflected in the numbers of those attending Mass. For example, in summer, up to 180 people would attend Holy Mass, whereas in winter, there were at most 100. And the Sunday school for children, which was likewise held inside the parish church, had to be abandoned entirely in wintertime.

Thanks to your generous help, we were able to provide $20,700 to the parish to enable them to install a central heating system. Father Dzmitry has written to thank us: “On behalf of the whole parish, I would like to express my huge gratitude to you for your help. Thanks to this help, we were able to install central heating, and now the elderly people who no longer used to come in winter are able to come to Mass once more. In fact, they even come to Holy Mass on weekdays now. And we can once again hold our Sunday school for children in winter as well. Every first Sunday of the month, we celebrate Holy Mass for all of you who have helped us.”