Bishop Sipovich new file

56 without a house. Thus the proposal of Father Sipovich presupposes that the rector of the Belarusian Mission in England would always be a member of the Marian Congregation. Having received no answer for nearly one year, Sipovich renewed his request in a modified form. On 30 October 1953 in a letter to the Superior General he wrote: "I have maintained and continue to maintain that the cohabitation and cooperation of two institutions, namely Belarusian and Russian, in one house is practically impossible... To resolve this question I proposed to consider Marian House as the nucleus of a Religious House of Belarusian Marian Fathers (Ad solvendam questionem proposui ‘Marian House’ qua cellulam Domus Religiosae Marianorum Alboruthenorum considerare), and as such to purchase it from the Lithuanian Marian Fathers during the period of four years for the sum of £8200. If this is approved, in order to achieve this end, I humbly ask the Superior General and General Council for permission to collect money". This time he did not have to wait long for the answer. On 31 December 1953 the following letter, signed by the Superior General Wladyslaw Mroczek and Secretary General John Sakievicius, was sent to Father Sipovich: "To satisfy your request of 30 October 1953, after having obtained consent of our Council on 25 November 1953, we grant you permission to acquire the London property of the Lithuanian Province, called ‘Marian House’ for the purpose of establishing there in the future a religious house of Belarusian Marian Fathers (ut ibi in futuro Domus Religiosa Marianorum Alboruthenorum fundetur), and in order to achieve this end we give you leave to collect money, provided that everything is done in accordance with the requirements of the norms of the Sacred Canons and our Constitutions". The last two documents make it clear that the proposed purchase of Marian House was an internal affair between the Belarusian and Lithuanian Marian Fathers: the Belarusian Catholic Mission is not even mentioned. Having received the permission of his superiors, Father Sipovich applied himself with his usual energy to raise the necessary sum of money. A "Whiteruthenian (i.e. Belarusian – A.N. ) Catholic Mission Fund" was founded under the patronage of Cardinal Bernard Griffin, Archbishop of Westminster. An Honorary Committee was formed with members drawn from among Belarusians and their friends from different countries, and headed by Bishop Boleslaus Sloskans. Subscription lists were printed, with short explanatory notes in English, French and Belarusian. Here is the English text: "Founded in 1947, the Whiteruthenian (Byelorussian) Catholic Mission has carried out many good works of an apostolic, charitable and cultural nature among Whiteruthenians (Byelorussians) exiled in Gt. Britain, and until now these works have been carried out under the burden of our not having a regular House for this purpose. Therefore with the blessing of the church authorities we have started in this year of 1954 – which is dedicated to Our Lady – a fund for the acquisition of premises to be known – likewise in honour of Our Holy Mother – MARIAN HOUSE. For this purpose it is necessary to raise the sum of £8000. Whiteruthenians (Byelorussians), exiled from their native land, cannot by themselves reach this figure, and we therefore address our appeal to all our many friends who understand our needs, to help us in this charitable work. For all benefactors of Marian House Mass will said each year on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, August 15th".