Archive

Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category

Belarus: To Survive in a Homophobic Society with the Homophobic Government

December 1st, 2011 1 comment

Uladzimir Shcherban of the Free Belarus Theatre based in London talks to Ihar Ivanou, a Committee member of Quest. This interview was originally published by the Belarusian web magazine, New Europe, in October 2011.

You planed a career of a Catholic priest in Belarus, and then changed your mind. Why?

Career – it’s a bit misleading word, perhaps. At some point, almost all Catholic boys contemplate becoming a priest. In every country where the life is particularly difficult Catholics are tempted to resolve some of those difficulties through priesthood; gays – especially.

You were invited to London by the head of the Belarusian Catholic community there.

That’s right. At that time, I was working at a Roman Catholic publishing house in Minsk. Some of my best friends were in London studying theology and I thought: theology would be a good option for me too. Then, a notion of secular theologians has not crossed my mind yet – it was a pretty unknown in our country, therefore I started thinking about priesthood. That was how I got to London.

Read more…