Bishop Sipovich new file

31 about the manner of organising a Belarusian mission for the conversion of Russia. However it is quite clear that the whole Catholic hierarchy in the Belarusian territory should be intimately convinced of the necessity of this mission and of its certain fundamental principles... The fifth principle is very delicate; it teaches (us) to exercise caution in affirming the national independence of Belarusians in Great Russia, lest it may lead to hostility bewteen Belarus and Great Russia and thus hinder the future work of conversion of the latter. On the other hand Belarusian patriotism is quite awake, and denial of independence (of Belarus – A.N. ) may constitute an obstacle to the conversion of non-Catholic Belarusians. The bishops of Belarus must show extreme prudence" 28 . It seems that the Vatican had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find this "expert" on Belarus. It speaks volumes about the state of their knowledge of, and interest in, that country and its people. Obviously what mattered for Buchys, a true disciple of d’Herbigny to the end, was the "conversion" of Russia. As far as Belarus was concerned he knew little, and cared even less. It is instructive to compare Buchys’s memorandum with the report of Sheptytsky on Belarusian Exarchate, in which the great Ukrainian Metropolitan wrote: "It is a very sad thing to see that in the 20th century a Catholic nation, counting almost 3 million souls must consider a bishop of their own nationality as an unattainable ideal. The Belarusians want above anything else a bishop of their own nation, because they have a need of priests of their nation" 29 . Sipovich seemed to have been familiar with the contents of Buchys’s paper from the beginning. Almost ten years later, on 8 May 1951, by now from London he wrote to him: "I am well acquainted with what Your Excellency wrote to the Oriental Congregation about Belarusians, at the time when others showed little or no interest in them... Things, however, have moved forward, and now we are faced with other requirements. For this reason Belarusians today cannot agree with all your plans and suggestions to the Sacred Congregation (I have in mind your paper De missione orientali apud Alborussos of 12.1.1942). Catholicism in Belarus must be considered in the same manner as, for instance, in Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine etc. – which means that Belarus must have its own clergy, and hierarchy depending directly on Rome".- On 22 July 1942 Buchys had a long talk with Sipovich about Belarus. Here is the relevant entry in the Chronicle: "His Exc. Bp Buchys in a conversation with Fr C.Sipovich expressed his views about Belarusians. It is a fact – he said, – that Belarusians today are disunited: some stress their nationality as separate among the Slavs, others consider themselves Poles, and still others – Russians. Thus there are 28 "Alba Russia est pars propriae Russiae... hodie non datur pons inter catholicismum et Russiam melior Alba Russia... Conversione ista iam facta, Alba Russia capax esset suppeditare sufficientem quantitatem aptissimorum operariorum ad efficiendam conversionem totius Russiae... De ordinanda missione alborussa ad convertendam Russiam vix expedit nunc temporis loqui ita, ut intretur in singulas minutas res. Sed clarum omnino est totam and integram hierarchiam catholicam in terris alborussorum debere esse intime persuasam de necessitate eiusdem missionis et de quibusdam principiis fundamentalis... Quintum principium valde delicatum est; nam docet independentiam nationalem alborussam in magna Russia caute esse afirmandam, ne luctamen inter Albam et Magnam Russiam condatur et impediat futurum opus conversionis huius. Ex altera parte patriotismus alborussus iam satis vigilat et ideo negatio independentiae facile crescere potest in impedimentum conversionis acatholicorum alborussorum. Extraordinaria igitur prudentia opus habent episcopi Albo-Russiae". 29 "Il est bien triste de voir qu’au XX siècle une nation catholique, qui compte presque trois millions d’âmes doit toujour considerer un évêque de sa nationalité comme un idéal qu’elle ne peut pas obtenir. Les Ruthènes Blancs désirent avant tout un évêque de leur nation, car ils ont besoin d’un clergé de leur nation". Exarchate de la Russie Blanche (cf. Note 25)