BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

04/09/2007

Teetotalers' ally to be laid out near a Catholic church in a Byelorussian village

Minsk, September 4, Interfax - Catholic Father Jozas Bulka plans to invite anonymous alcoholics from Byelorussia, Lithuania and Latvia to lay out a temperance ally in the Mosar village near Minsk, Byelorussia, Interfax was told by a spokesman for the Catholic Church of St. Anna at Mosar, of which Rev. Bulka is rector.

Thujas are to be planted in the ally 100 m long and 5 m wide on October 7. Father Jozas has gathered seeds of rare plants for a few decades, some growing now in the dendro-park next to his church.

Having come to the village some 20 years ago, the priest launched a struggle with alcoholism among locals, forbidding the church in particular to those who used alcoholic drinks.

A few years ago, Father Jozas founded the first anti-alcoholic museum to be established in Byelorussia, to which local bootleggers surrendered their moonshine devices. In the museum there are also receipts from villagers, certified and sealed by village officials, stating that they have abandon drinking.

In 2005, Father Jozas became the first cleric of the Roman Catholic Church in Byelorussia to be given the state award "For Spiritual Revival".

On October 10, 2007, his Church of St. Anna will celebrate its centenary.

Source:

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3582