Moscow Shelter Opens for the Homeless

MOSCOW, NOV. 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Homeless women in Moscow will have a new roof over their heads this winter, thanks to the work of the Community of Sant'Egidio.

The Rome-based community, as part of its Friends on the Street program, recently opened a house for homeless women who often spend long days, even during the coldest winter months, on the subway begging for money.

The Community of Sant'Egidio points out that these "subway" people are often elderly women who in the past had worked as teachers, company directors, physicists, chemists and engineers.

They are "daughters and mothers of a Soviet Union that no longer exists," and that has left very little in the way of retirement pensions, the community said in a statement.

"Every year several hundred die from the cold, a tragedy that is announced and foreseen," it added.

The Community of Sant'Egidio said that with the help of some "people of good will," they were able to build the house.

ZE06110128

3 Priests Establishing Carmel in Latvia

Aim to Build Convent for Nuns in Ikskile

RIGA, Latvia, NOV. 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Three Carmelite priests have taken on the challenge of establishing the only contemplative community in the Baltic nation of Latvia.

Father Alejandro Salazar, from the province of Colombia, and Father Jaroslaw Nenza, from the province of Krakow in Poland, arrived Sept. 7 in this country of 2.3 million inhabitants.

They will be joined by Father Victor Hurtado, from the province of Mexico, who is finishing his studies at the Teresianum in Rome.

The priests are living on the grounds of a Catholic school in the capital city of Riga, and are learning the language. "They resolutely and with much hope took on the responsibility of rooting Carmel" in Latvia, reported the order.

The priests' first building project is to build a convent for the Carmelite sisters in Ikskile, in the suburbs of the capital.

On July 16, Cardinal Janis Pujats blessed the first stone of the convent. The convent will include 18 cells and additional rooms for people wishing to spend days in prayer and retreat in the shadow of Carmel.

The Carmelite fathers are supported locally by a group of Lay Carmelites.

Church in context

Latvia was invaded by Hitler's army in 1939, and then subsequently annexed by the Russians.

The nation gained independence in 1991, held its first democratic elections in 1993, and was admitted into the European Union in 2004.

Carmelite Father Damaso Zuaza, who visited the country recently, described the situation of the Church: "They feel a great need for openness to the universality of the Church. They recognize that the Church in Latvia has arrived at the moment to begin to give, without being content with receiving, as up to now, since the date of the acquired freedom.

"The Church in Riga is facing the material and moral reconstruction of five decades of postponement, of confinement by the Communist regime. In 14 years of freedom it has built more than 30 new places of worship. Its promising wealth is a young and enthusiastic clergy."

Father Zuaza added that another element of the foundation is the "ecumenical interest that the Carmel has awakened in the Lutheran community," which had invited the Carmelite nuns "to build the first Catholic church" in Ikskile.

The priest said sporadic vocations to Carmel in recent times have gone to Belgium, Germany and Poland, and with the new foundation he has hopes for more.

ZE06110126

Выступление папы в Регенсбурге