Dushanbe (Fides Service) - To mark the 7th anniversary of the opening of the Catholic Missio sui iuris in Tajikistan (29 September 1997), on the feast day of Saint Therese of Lisieux, patron of the Missions, Superior of the Mission Father Carlos Avila IVE, presented the Mission’s new official web site www.catholic.tj on line since 1 October. The web site in Russian and Spanish provides information on the history, culture and geography of the Republic of Tajikistan besides information on the different pastoral activities of the Catholic Church in Tajikistan. Father Carlos Avila hopes the site will help the plantatio Ecclesiae in Central Asia and to “use the web to announce and bear witness to the Gospel”.
The Missio sui iuris of Tajikistan, created on 29 September 1997, has an area of 143,100 sq. km., and a population of 6,155,000 including 245 Catholics. It has three parishes and one mission centre. The oldest parish with the highest number of Catholics is St Joseph’s in the capital Dushanbe. Then comes St Roque’s Parish in the south in the town of Kurgan Tubie followed by Saint Therese of Lisieux parish in the northern town of Chkalovsk. In the whole country there five priests of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and 4 Sisters of Charity. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 4/10/2004; Righe 18; Parole 255).