A GIRL STUDENT'S VISIT

She went to Mass
in Moscow
"Catholic Herald " Reporter MISS KATHERINE HUNTER-BLAIR, a 24-year-old Catholic student who has just returned from a visit to Russia, described for me on Monday a visit to Moscow's only Catholic Church.
It is a fairly large building with a classical exterior and it is full for every service. The priest in charge is a Latvian, and the regular congregation is entirely composed of people of nonRussian extraction. The church is dedicated to St. Louis of France and was once, in fact, attached to the French Embassy.
" There is a Mass every day except. for some reason which 1 don't know, on Monday," said Miss Hunter-Blair. " On Sunday. there are two Masses, Every Saturday evening there is a service which consists of prayers, a sermon and Holy Communion. The singing is lovely, but terribly sad and gloomy."
Old women in the congregation, she added, at once got up to give their places to the young visitors, about 40 of whom, from the British hostel alone. were Catholics.
Among priests and laymen of the Orthodox Church. she found less prejudice than she expected. To the question of whether it was possible to he a Christian and a Communist at the same time, their answer was an emphatic and unhesitating: " Of course not."
FREEDOM
They were extremely curious about religious belief in Britain and the differences between Catholics and Orthodox, and plied her with questions, as did most of the RusSiane she met.
Miss Hunter-Blair received the impression that religious freedom has increased during the past few years. " Persecution has completely stopped as far as one can see." she said.
Her own visit was occasioned by the recent " World Festival of
Youth." Although she realised that it was simply an instrument of Communist propaganda, she seized upon it as an opportunity to visit Russia: " In fact, I only attended a couple of the functions. They hadn't a hope of keeping track of all of us. and I was completely free to wander round during the whole of my stay." She was there for two-and-a-half weeks.
SINCERE
The language barrier did not exist, for Miss Hunter-Blair is able to speak Russian. and is now reading for an M.A. degree at the London School of Slavonic Studies. It was while she was an undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, that she became al Catholic four years ago. Her home is' at Straiton, Maybole, Ayrshire.
Whatever ulterior motives lay behind the Festival, she has no doubt about the sincerity of the warm welcome given to the dole-1 gates by the Russian people. Young people who firmly believe in the Communist Party seem to be animated by a great sense of unity, of working together to build up a new Russia. She believes that in fact material conditions have improved greatly during recent years.
" They have no illusions at all about Hungary; they realise that it was a popular uprising and not Fascist-inspired," she said. Many of them were sad and worried about Russia's role.
Students asked her not to hesitate to send them news of the literary and scientific worlds in this country. " Let us know all that happens," they urged.