An inflatable relocatable church. It is the idea of the Catholic parish priest of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk, Father Krzysztof Kowal, who having failed to obtain permits and funding to build a place of worship has availed of this sort of “ploy”. The initiative was proposed to him by a long-time friend in Poland who builds inflatable toys for children.
“Many people – he told the BBC Russian service- do not even know that there is a Catholic priest in the city and there is not a single Catholic church in the peninsula, so when we meet in homes, the people think that we are a sort of cult “. Before the arrival of the travelling parish, the local community gathered for prayer in hotel rooms, or outdoors near rivers or lakes.