Dear Father Greg,
Pax Christi!

Warm greetings to you from Marx, Russia (a town which, I am sure you know, was formerly called Katerinstadt and considered to be sort of a capital in the Volga German community.)

This is a very brief and very overdue email. I just wanted to let you know that you remain...and will ALWAYS remain very much in my thoughts, heart and prayers, Fr. Greg. I miss being at St. Andrew's very much. Still, it will always be my home parish.

We are on the 3rd day of an 8 day retreat for the Eucharistic Sisters (a local congregation made up almost entirely of young women from German Russian families.) The "oldest" sisters (who are now in their late forties and early fifties), began religious life by serving "underground."
It is a privilege to be here. This is my forth visit over the years. The other times I took a 52-hour train ride from Novosibirsk. This time I flew...true, the plane I flew on frightened me much more than the train ride...
Last evening I took a long walk to the Volga, through "downtown.' The German Russian cultural center was having an event and music was blaring from the windows. The huge old Lutheran church stands next to the overbearing statue of Lenin. The streets are wide and the houses that the Germans built still stand.
I thought much of you and thought of the many who were torn from this special place almost seventy years to the day.

In any event, please know of my thoughts and prayers. Please greet the beautiful parishioners at St. Andrew's, who God was good enough to make members of my family.
Pray for me!
In Christ,
Fr. Anthony