Kazakh Parish Struggles with Decline and Construction Amid Hardship
The parish is expanding, and the church in the Orbita neighborhood in Karagandà is beginning to feel small despite the continuously decreasing population. The message comes from don Giuseppe Venturini, the former parish priest and former footballer, who moved to Kazakhstan in 1997 at the age of fifty after spending a decade in Bardolino and another ten years as the parish priest at Madonna della Scoperta and Polpenazze, both towns in Brescia but within the Diocese of Verona.
Status of the parish and ongoing construction work
In a letter, don Giuseppe calmly describes a landscape of “uncertainty and precariousness” in which priests are called to operate in a country where the economic situation is continually worsening, offering no clear prospects or solutions. “There is a gradual decline in the population in both cities and villages,” highlights the ex-parish priest, who taught religion in the 1980s in compulsory schools in Bardolino, “due to job insecurity, with many working just to avoid losing their positions, often knowing they will not be paid but continuing to work regardless.”
Therefore, no one loves their job or takes responsibility,” don Giuseppe observes firsthand, noting how delays are stretching out in the construction of the meeting hall for parishioners, two rooms for catechism, and the “priest’s house.” These works are still far from completion, despite supposed to be finished before winter arrived.
“It is very tiring and stressful,” continues the missionary. “Working under these conditions is exhausting. One is never sure of anything, as they don’t even know what a promise means.” The fact remains that, in the middle of winter, catechism classes and meetings continue to be held in the church, in the corridor, and in basements where don Giuseppe himself is forced to sleep “from Wednesday to Saturday, while on the other days I commute.”
Pastoral activities and community support
Despite great difficulties, the priest dedicates himself especially to helping young people “without family support, lost in total disorientation, and thus easy prey for drugs, alcoholism, and attracted to sects.” With the help of the Mother Teresa nuns and donations from Italy, don Giuseppe managed to activate both the health fund, which helps the poorest buy medicines and supports them during hospitalizations for various procedures, and the employment fund, which pays off a family’s installment plan for buying a cow or commissions small jobs to help a mother with children and dependent parents.”
“Work is not lacking, nor is the Lord’s help with His gifts,” says don Giuseppe in conclusion. “And your prayers sustain me in evangelizing this not-so-easy country; your financial support gives me the opportunity to show concrete signs of our fraternity and to demonstrate that we are one family: the Church,” (a.j)