Bishop Sipovich new file

44 Father Sipovich was tireless in encouraging young people to try to obtain a good education. There were a few Belarusian university students in London, but for the majority the way to higher education was closed because they did not qualify for study grants. In 1949 the opportunity arose for them to obtain their education at the Catholic University of Leuven (Louvain) in Belgium. This was due mainly thanks to the efforts of a few Belarusian refugee students, chief among them Doctor Barys Rahula, and the remarkable Belgian Benedictine priest, Robert van Cauwelaert, who became a staunch friend of Belarus and champion of the cause of Belarusian students. A meeting of representatives of Belarusian student groups and organisations from Belgium, Germany, France and England was held at Leuven in October 1949. Father Sipovich attended the meeting. In the years that followed he acted as a link between Leuven and the Belarusian community in England, helping to send a number of young Belarusians to that university. Also at the October meeting in Leuven the Belarusian Catholic University Union "Run’" (pronounce "roon", meaning young shoots of winter crop) was founded, with Father Sipovich as ecclesiastical assistant. It was decided that the headquarters of the new organisation should be in London at Marian House. In the years that followed "Run’" was very active. In the late 1940s and early 50s Byzantine rite Catholics were still a rarity in Western Europe. Therefore the establishment of a Byzantine rite centre in London attracted the attention of those interested in the Eastern Christianity and in the Union of Christians. There were many English vistors at Marian House, some of them becoming regular "parishioners". Father Sipovich was often invited to celebrate Liturgy and give talks by various groups such as university students, schools, convents etc. Some people were disappointed when they learnt that he was not a Russian, but his warm personality and friendliness usually won them over, and in many times they remained lifelong friends. But the Russian problem was never far away. In summer 1949 Bishop Buchys was making canonical visits to the Marian religious houses in Great Britain. On Sunday 21 August he was scheduled to celebrate the Liturgy at Marian House. Belarusians, Catholics and Orthodox, turned up "en masse" only to hear the bishop in his sermon telling them that "Great, Little and White Russians" were one. To say that the listeners were indignant would be a gross understatement. This was the second serious setback for Father Sipovich after the notorious article in the Catholic Herald . On the occasion of Buchys’s visit, the same paper published on 2 September 1949 an article entitled "Two Priests will work here among Russian Orthodox". It was written again by the "staff correspondent" who, among other things, had this to say: "Two Russians, formerly of the Orthodox Church, now Catholic priests of the Slav Byzantine rite, are shortly arriving in London from Rome to help explain the Catholic viewpoint on reunion to thousands of Russian Orthodox now exiled here. Announcement was made by Mgr. Francis Bucys, titular bishop of Olympus, and Superior General of the Marian fathers, himself an Oriental prelate, who is now visiting England. Said the 77-year-old Bishop, a linguist of repute: ‘The work of evangelising Russia is in a state of preparation, but actual good and efficacious work can be, and is being, done outside Russia – among the emigrants’... The two priests, both members of the Marian Congregation, are to reside at Marian House, Finchley, London, along with Fr. C. Sipovich, also a Slav-Byzantine priest, who serves an Eastern Rite chapel there. But whereas, as Bishop Bucys explained, Fr. Sipovich has been doing excellent work among his own people, that is, the White Ruthenians or Bielorussians now in this country, the two newcomers are to expand the work to