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24.07.2007, [09:03] // Conflict // RISU.ORG.UA

Dnipropetrovsk – On 20 July 2007, employees of the American firm Dugsberry Inc. started dismantling the roof and vault of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph in eastern Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk. The Catholic community is working for the return of the building.

Court proceedings have been initiated in two cases regarding the return of St. Joseph’s Church in Dnipropetrovsk to the city’s Roman Catholic community.

As stated by Roman Catholic Bishop of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia Stanislaw Padewski in a recent address, the Catholics believe that “the state authorities assume responsibility for sharpening of the religious conflict in Dnipropetrovsk and expansion of the public conflict.”

The Catholics are erecting tents for long-term picketing. Members of the Roman Catholic community are convinced that the actions started by the American firm can result in passing of the building to the ownership of the firm.

RISU note: The Roman Catholic community of Dnipropetrovsk considers itself the legal owner of the Church of St. Joseph on Karl Marx Prospect and has asked the courts to return the building, now owned by the American company Dugsberry Inc., which the media connects with former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.

The church was built 100 years ago at the expense of local Roman Catholics. The current Catholic community states that the church was privatized in 1998 unlawfully and that the present owner does not maintain it in proper condition.

During his visit to Ukraine in 2001, Pope John Paul II raised the issue of St. Joseph’s Church at his meeting with then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

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