Milford chronicle., 1955-11-04
Religion In The
Soviet UUniOn

by Sen. ]. Allen Frear, il.
Does freedom of worship exist
in Soviet Russia? This question
and many others were in my mind
as the Soviet commercial airliner
on which I was a passenger heW
from Helsinki toward Moscow ON
warm, sunny Saturday afternoon.
Like the handful of other Ameri-
cans who had been granted visas
to the u. S. S. r. during the past
few weeks, l wondered what lay
behind the sudden relaxation Of
travel restrictions for foreigners.
There were probably many eXpla-
nations. However, once granted au-
thority to enter, I was determined
to find out as much as possible in
the course of MY limited visit.
To learn at firsthand about the
practice of religion, male IN ini-
tial inquiry within HlinUtes after
/ the plane came to a stop at the busy
Moscow airport. First though, l
went through the formality of
meeting the head of the Russian
News Agency, Tass. He gave me a
warm welcome to the Red Capital.
En- route to the Hotel Rationale,
a representative from the Ameri-
can Embassy told me that there
we're churches Of four denOmina-
ti6ns-Protestant, Catholic, Jewish
and Russian Orthodox. I decided
to see them at firsthand at a time
when they would be holding SER
vices.
Sunday in the Soviet Union is
primarily a shopping day when al
stores are open. 1t is also the day
when some Russians go to church
That morning J went first to the
Catholic Church of Saint Louis
which had scheduled the earliest
service. It is located in a poor sec
ton of the city very close to tht
Labianka Prison where the former
Russian leader, Beria, was report
edly executed. The church is sur
rounded by tenements and run
down apartments, but is the Onl!
place for Catholic worship in thi
entire Russian Caaital.
NV attendance there occurred a
the same time as that of DR., Kon
rad Adenauer, the Chancellor o
Western Germany, who was in Mos
COW for conferences with the Rus
sian leaders The Mass was cele
/ brated by a priest whom we wer
told was from the Diocese of Lat
/ via. l tried to observe the peopl
who attended rather closely. Tn
most immediate and forceful i'm
preston which one obtains is tha
the churchgoers in Moscow ar
/, largely Of the older generation
Very few young people were in al
tendance except for a handful fro1
, the American and other Embassie
Of the Western World. The churcl
however, was practically filed wit
, worshippers for this early servicl
: Tt was to be followed by anOthe
Mass three hours later. / undel
stand that in the United State
routine church announcements an
l a sermon are usually delivered b
: the priest during the course of th
! Mass. Here, however, there was n
: interruption in the ritual for ths
purpose. This tends to bear out tn
? report that all churches must cor
; fine their activities entirely to n
ligious services; in other word
: no church socials, Sunday SchoC
| or other meetings which are a con
: mon practice here at home.
The Church of st. Lois, thoug
obviously not of new constructiol
u seemed to contain adequate fu-
nishings and other necessary e.
clesiastical objects. Although ol
served no children in attendanc
? a number of them quickly collects
: from nearby tenement building
= to watch as we left the church
L the conclusion of the service. II
& Russians seemed greatly interests
Il in the official car of the Germs
Chancellor which flew the flags
z the West German Republic.
= In another part of Moscow,
q next visited the Baptist Church, Il
I ONLY Protestant place Of worsh
L now open there. How significa
IL ------