Sevastopol authorities refuse to return church to Roman Catholic community opting for city referendum

Head of the Sevastopol City Council Yurii Doinikov believes that the fate of the building on Schmidt Street, which before the war was a Roman Catholic church and after a cinema, should be decided by a city-wide referendum.

According to UNIAN, Doinkov told journalists a deputy has added to the agenda scheduled for the July 19 plenary session of the city council the issue “On donating to the religious community – the Roman Catholic community of the St. Clement of Rome in Sevastopol and the Odesa-Simferopol Eparchy of the Roman Catholic Church – the St. Clement of Rome Church, which is located at 1 Schmidt Street in Sevastopol.”

“If we make a decision on this issue, we need to do so carefully by at least holding public hearings, and in general, perhaps a city referendum. Then the decision will clearly reflect the public opinion,” said the head of city council.

Previously, the pastor Roman Catholic Community of Sevastopol Yurii Ziminskyi said the Roman Catholic community of the city insists that the church, which was built 100 years ago and taken away in the 1930s, be returned.

As RISU reported, in September 2010 the Sevastopol city council said they were willing to return the Roman Catholic church only with full consideration of its value. Sevastopol City Council member Karp Bulatov at that time said: “Why should we give away public property for free?”

The Roman Catholics say they want the church returned to them because it was built in 1911 by Sevastopol Catholics, and later taken away.