TASHKENT (UCAN) -- About 300 Catholics from across Uzbekistan studied and discussed aspects of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is love) at the Uzbek Church's annual gathering.

Catholics from all five parishes and two mission stations met May 12-14 at Sacred Heart Church in Tashkent. They have had such meetings since 2000. This year they also celebrated the first anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz, apostolic administrator of Uzbekistan.

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, apostolic nuncio to four Central Asian countries -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan -- came from Astana, the Kazakh capital, to join the Uzbek Church event.

On the first day Father Stanislaw Rochowiak told participants that faith must not be only theoretical. Action makes the Gospel alive, the parish priest in Urgench, 720 kilometers west of Tashkent, said as he called on the people to help "those who are far from God" live a better life.

After Mass that day, participants introduced their respective communities. Missionaries of Charity nuns told about their mission in Tashkent and their apostolate around the world.

On the second day, participants discussed Deus Caritas Est, issued in late January. In it Pope Benedict discusses the different meanings love can have, particularly the meanings of eros, the love between a man and a woman, and agape, a selfless love focused on the good of the other. He maintains that love is holistic, with its more self- and pleasure-oriented forms capable of being transmuted into selfless love, and that it originates in God's love.

The pope also distinguishes the Church's expression of caritas, or charity, from a philanthropic enterprise. He describes it as a responsibility born of the awareness of God's love for humanity, which naturally results in the "expression of a love that seeks the integral good of man."

Father Andrzej Kulczycki summarized the contents of the document for the gathering. "The Lord showed us his love through his son, whom he sent to his death," he told the participants. In explaining the essential link with charity, he cited the pope's admonition that charity "cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism."

After his talk, participants were divided into 10 groups and asked to find images of the loving God from the Bible.

They also were given the opportunity to read Deus Caritas Est in its Russian translation. They were unable to complete this, however, and were encouraged to continue reading the document after returning to their home parish.

At Mass that day, 27 Catholics received the Sacrament of Confirmation. A concert by the parishes wrapped up the second day of the meeting.

The third day started with Mass to celebrate the first anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Bishop Maculewicz. Presiding at that Mass, Archbishop Wesolowski said, "With great joy, I am looking at the vine of the Uzbek Church."

Bishop Maculewicz was ordained a bishop by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in Rome, on May 14, 2005, two weeks before he turned 50 on May 30. The Conventual Franciscan prelate was installed the first head of the Apostolic Administration of Uzbekistan the next month, on June 26.

An organ and vocal concert closed the three-day gathering.

After the meeting, some participants spoke with UCA News about their reflections on the papal encyclical. Natalia from Angren, about 80 kilometers southeast of Tashkent, admitted that it was difficult for her to see the differences between the kinds of love that the pope discussed. But Nina Petrulina from Tashkent said the document inspired her to see love for others in terms of God's love for her.

The annual meetings have been held in Tashkent except in 2001, when the Catholics met at St. John the Baptist Church in Samarkand, 270 kilometers southwest of the capital.

Father Lucian Shemansky, parish priest in Samarkand, told UCA News, "Such meetings contribute to Catholics from different parishes being one family."

Similarly, Bishop Maculewicz said communication at such meetings makes people's faith stronger. Referring to the latest meeting, the bishop told UCA News: "It was good people could share their views, which will bear fruit later, and have a wider perception of the encyclical."

The late Pope John Paul II raised the sui iuris (self-governing) mission of Uzbekistan to an apostolic administration On March 22, 2005. He had formally erected the mission in 1997, at which time he had entrusted its pastoral care to the Conventual Franciscans. Ten priests and two professed brothers from the order's Krakow province serve in the country with Bishop Maculewicz, as do eight Missionaries of Charity nuns, based in Tashkent.

Muslims make up 88 percent of Uzbekistan's 26.9 million people, and Russian Orthodox Church members comprise account for 9 percent of the population. Practicing local Catholics number about 500.

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(Accompanying photos available at here)