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Franciscans in Action
April 2008 e-newsletter
Conventual Franciscans Enter Kazakhstan
The three friars heading on their mission to Kazakhstan received
the cross and the Gospels from Minister General Friar Marco Tasca
Kazakhstan - April 2008 - Three Conventual Franciscan friars, Robert Peretti, Pawel Block, and Alexei Skakovskii arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan, the country's capital city this Easter and founded there a Franciscan community. The Bishop of Astana, Tomasz Bernard Peta had invited the friars to bring Franciscan spirituality to his city. The Conventual Franciscans will also run various Astana charities.
The newly-arrived missionaries have studied the local Kazakh culture and language for many months to prepare themselves for their new lives. Their missionary courses took place in Brussels, Belgium with one month of spiritual retreat in Assisi, Italy. Friar Robert will already bring with him many years of missionary experience from Romania. Friar Alexei who hails from the General Custody of Russia was actually born in Kazakhstan and will assist with the transition into the new environment.
Astana, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, located in Central Asia, is more than 1 million square miles in size and was a constituent republic in the Soviet Union.
We encourage you our readers to send in stories where you see the spirit of St. Francis shine. Email your stories to Peter Rajchert at peter@franciscans.org.
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