An AP article on the flourishing of religion in Mongolia:

Mongolia is flush with foreign missionaries these days — young Mormons going door-to-door, Korean Christians working with homeless children, new Catholic churches sprouting up on the grassy steppe.

The collapse of communism in 1990 brought religious freedom as well as democracy, opening the doors to proselytizers from around the world. They have flocked to this sparsely populated country wedged between Russia and China, eager for fresh converts.

"Here, history is ancient but Christianity is very young," said the Rev. Tiago Copolla, a Roman Catholic priest from Brazil.

The new openness has also sparked a revival of Mongolia’s traditional religions — Buddhism and a native shamanism. Everywhere, there are pictures of the Buddha in people’s homes and, along country roads, piles of "shaman" rocks that are shrines to spirits in nature.

Even Orthodox Russian priests are back, not to proselytize but to serve the dwindling ranks of Russian expatriates who moved here when Mongolia was a Soviet satellite.

Here’s an article from the Philly Archdiocesan paper, from this spring, about the Church in Mongolia

Here’s the page from the Missionhurst site about their ministry in Mongolia

A bit more on the order’s care for homeless children

There are about 300 Catholics in Mongolia. You might recall that Pope John Paul had hoped to visit Mongolia, and a trip was tentatively scheduled back in 2003.