Bishop Athanasius Schneider of the diocese of Karanganda (near the Chinese border) visited the Children of Mary on July 24th, 2008. Many friends of the Children of Mary came to have coffee and meet the bishop that evening.
Bishop Schneider shared with us the situation of his local church which lived hidden during the soviet communist regime. He is now trying to implant the church in a visible manner, living in a context of Islamic majority and among a strong Russian-orthodox presence.
How Bishop Schneider Came To Visit Children Of Mary: We saw a video clip of him being interviewed about his book, Dominus Est, about reverence towards Our Eucharistic Lord. We were very impressed with his love for Our Lord and the humble manner in which he presented his ideas on how we can restore reverence to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. After seeing the video, we sent him our CD and prayer cards and told him that if he were ever in the United States, we would love to have him visit us. A few weeks later he wrote and said he was coming!
We feel greatly blessed that this holy man came to visit us.
Note: Bishop Schneider is the author of the book, Dominus Est. The book includes interesting stories about some of the bishop’s experiences growing up in a soviet occupied country. For example, how he made his First Holy Communion in secret, stealing away at night, traveling by train to the church and returning to his home after dark the next night. We ask Our Heavenly Father to let this book spread throughout the Church and help restore love and reverence to Our Eucharistic Lord.