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Christianity in Mongolia

When in February 1922 Pope Pius XI decided to restructure the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Mongolia, he entrusted the administration of the Outer Mongolia mission to Scheut Missions – CICM (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae). Unfortunately, things did not move as planned, because Soviet troops invaded the country and the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party was put in power. Thus, due to the invasion and the new situation especially regarding the change of the government, CICM was not able to enter Mongolia.
In March 1992, however, a month after Mongolia’s new constitution allowing freedom of religion was passed, the Holy See re-established Mongolia as mission “Sui Iuris” (in its own right). The following month, the decision to establish diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the Holy See on the level of a Nunciature was made public. Msgr.Giovanni Bulaitis, at that time the apostolic Nuncio for Korea, was appointed as the Nuncio for Mongolia, a post held at present by Most Rev. Emil-Paul Tscherrig.
July 10, 1992 marked the start of Catholic Church presence in Mongolia with the arrival of the first three CICM Missionaries: Fathers Wenceslao Padilla and Gilbert Sales (both from the Philippines) and Robert Goessens (from Belgium). Faithful to their mission, despite the difficulties encountered, the first 3 members of the CICM team slowly made their way into Mongolian society through personal contacts. Very soon, they observed the many roving children in the streets of Ulaanbaatar and concluded that caring for these children would be one way of cooperating with the people of Mongolia, doing something about their social problems and thus giving the Christian message of love a concrete human face. Since then, the number of CICM missionaries working in Mongolia has increased substantially and was joined by many other missionaries, including religious Sisters.
Apostolic Prefecture of the Catholic Church Mission in Mongolia
This has allowed the CICM community to extend its activity and commitment to different fields, always keeping in mind the Vision and Mission of building the Reign of God through different services they render. Mongolia is in process of rebuilding itself with its own tradition and culture, including life in the Ger (the Mongolian traditional felt tent). Today, the interests of private enterprises tend to prevail over concern for the common good, and consumer culture has entered society and is sweeping away the youth in particular. More and more people are moving away from the rural areas to the cities, especially to the capital Ulaanbaatar where over the past years the number of cars has increased beyond measure, creating traffic jams as well. There is a growing marginalization of the poor, most clearly seen in the increasing number of street children. Even adults tend to be alienated from or thrown out of their family, often because of alcoholism.
Pastoral Commitments
Before the coming of the 3 CICM pioneers, no Church structure existed in the country. Some expatriate Catholics connected with embassies, international organizations, commerce and trade living in Mongolia had been attending protestant services. When the CICM team arrived, they started attending the Catholic Sunday liturgies. Then, after a while they started bringing with them some Mongolian friends. Bit by bit, local people started attending even the weekday liturgies. At present, the Catholic Church is slowly making its way into Mongolian society and the number of Mongolians who are interested in joining the
Catholic fold is increasing.
At the start, English was the language used in church celebrations, because the Catholic community consisted mainly of expatriate Catholics, moreover, there were no existing liturgical texts in Mongolian – not even the sign of the cross – and the missionaries needed more time to understand and express themselves in Mongolian language. One of the first major challenges, therefore, was the difficult task of translation and adaptation of texts and songs for liturgical celebrations. As for now, the Catholic Church in Mongolia has a new face: a strong and effective group of foreigners and a dynamic community of Mongolians – some of them baptized, the majority not (yet). Meanwhile, this new situation brings along a new challenge since most of our Mongolian brothers and sisters do not speak English.
As missionaries we are sent first of all to the Mongolian people, and Mongolians have the right to use their own language and culture in living and expressing their faith. Thus, Masses are now celebrated in Mongolian only or in a mixture of English and Mongolian. This is a way for us to show and pay our respect to the culture of the people to whom we are sent. CICM is in charge of two different parishes in Ulaanbaatar, while a Korean diocesan priest is in charge of a third parish community.
Saints Peter and Paul Parish (SPP Parish), under the pastoral care of Fr. Serge Patrick Mondomobe (from Cameroon). Originally started as the only parish church in Ulaanbaatar, the SPP parish was transferred to a new site and is now the Cathedral church and part of a large compound. The church building comprises the priest house, a kindergarten, a clinic, a library for religious books, and meeting rooms where, among other activities, volunteers conduct English language classes. Today there are about 170 persons, including a number of English-speaking expatriates, who regularly come and participate in Sunday Mass celebration.
The Good Shepherd Parish, under the care of Fr. Ronald Magbanua (from the Philippines), is a fairly new parish that started functioning in March 2003. Since then, the church population – people who somehow frequent meetings, classes, and celebrations – has grown from 8 to 156. The statistics can be broken as follows: 38 Children (6 to 12 years); 56 Juniors (13-17 years); 42 Youth (18-23 years) and 20 Adults (24-50 years). We celebrated seven baptisms on Easter 2006, and 15 catechumens are preparing for baptism on Easter 2007. It must be noted that is the Catholic Church policy in Mongolia not to baptize anyone younger than 16 (except children of Catholic parents). The present “church” is actually the first floor of a 2-story building, with a commercial bakery below in the basement and several families living on the floor above. That is why the parish has recently obtained land in view of eventually constructing a simple church building and facilities of its own. In the process of building a parish community of solid faith and formation for the people, also the social and special needs of the people must be addressed. Thus, besides catechism classes, parish activities also include two programs which are part of the overall CICM
social outreach program.

Social Outreach Verbist Care Center (VCC)
From the very beginning in 1994, the CICM community started working with street children, visiting them in places where they usually congregate in the evening, providing them with some food and first aid, trying to get to know them, and learning about their conditions and problems. From these experiences, the idea for a Children’s Center was conceived. It opened its doors in late 1995 and has expanded ever since under the direction of Father Gilbert Sales (who was recalled to his home Province, the Philippines, in late 2006). Opening a care center for street children was fully in line with the general charism of CICM, for
it was concern for orphaned children in China which prompted Father Theophile Verbist to start a new missionary Institute in 1862.

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