Quo Vadis Belarus?

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz made an appeal with regard to the tragedy in Stoubtsy.

The appeal of Metropolitan of Minsk and Mahiliou Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Belarus, with regard to the tragedy in Stoubtsy.

Quo vadis Belarus?

On February 11, 2019, when the Catholic Church marks the Day of the Ill on the liturgic day of memory of Our Lady of Lourdes, a tragedy occurred in the school #2 in Stoubtsy – a 10th-former stabbed a teacher and a fellow student to death, and severely injured two more pupils.

We are asking ourselves: how could something like this happen in the peaceful, tolerant Belarus? How could a youngster, characterized my many as a non-conflict person, commit such a horrible crime? Who is to blame for that?

We hope that the investigatory bodies will reveal the motives behind this tragedy. Today, however, such a complicated situation forces us to focus on the spiritual causes of what happened in Stoubtsy. Not very long ago, we were wondering how it was possible that they shot, killed and mutilated people, including children, in the American schools, supermarkets and streets. However, such practice is becoming a life realm of the peaceful Belarus.

Mass media more and more often report on various crimes, committed in our society: a mother throws a baby into the dump, a son kills his parents, a youngster with a chainsaw attacks a woman in the mall. Now this tragedy in the Stoubtsy school…

When we try to find the reasons for these and similar tragedies, it is not enough to focus on the social environment or family circumstances, including domestic violence, which the Church has always stood against and so it will remain. In our view, the real reason lies deeper.

Three generations of enforced atheism could not but bring consequences. As a result of this process, the man got torn away from the roots of the spiritual life – the Gospel and the doctrine of the Church. For the last three decades the situation has changed, but not to the extent when it would become possible to fully facilitate the real spiritual revival.

What are the basic principles on which the youth is being brought up today? Their upbringing is mostly influenced not by family and school, but by the internet and mass media. What do the kids see there? Most often, it’s violence, murders, alcohol, drugs, immoral lifestyle etc.

Today, we are praying for God’s mercy for the innocently killed, and for the recovery of the injured, and sympathize with their families and friends. Alongside with that, when we look for the reasons of this horrible tragedy, we should first of all focus on the problem of spiritual upbringing of the young man. This is the foundation on which the future of our youth should be built, the same as the future of our Motherland.

You cannot build a house without foundation. Such building will be similar to the house upon the sand, which will be destroyed by rain and wind, as Christ says. Without spiritual foundation, there can be no future.

In such a difficult situation, we must ask ourselves a question: Quo vadis, Belarus?