Bucharest (Fides) - Young Rumanian Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants build their future together at the Youth Centre in Crevedia: they pray together, play sports together, organise matches, take courses languages and professional training. The Centre, run by the Oblates of Saint Joseph, is in Crevedia, (near Buftea) a town with a population of about 30,000 people situated a few miles from Bucharest. The young people will attend a youth meeting with Pope John Paul II during the imminent Papal visit 7-9 May.
The Giuseppini Fathers arrived in Rumania early in 1998 and set about looking for a place to open an Oratory for young people. At last, in October, having overcome the inevitable obstacles on the part of the Orthodox religious authorities as well as the civil authorities, the Oblates opened their Oratory in Crevedia. Children are numerous in this small town: they seem to pop out of every corner. Most of the families are Orthodox, Catholics are few, and there is a sizeable community of gypsies. But these differences are not important to the young people, they pray and play together with no difficulty.
The 10 Oblates run the Youth Centre with the help of a group of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. They hope by this September to finish the building of a hostel and so be able to have boarding pupils and offer more complete formation. Although it has not been open long, the Centre already caters for about a hundred young people. (7/5/1999)