uKRAINE
Greek-Catholics: inter-ecclesial and interethnic dialogue”In it my belief that the more thorough the recovery of the profound roots of Christianity of Kyiv, the more we will draw close to one another, and we will understand that what we share is far greater than what divides us, as Blessed Pope John XXIII used to say”. His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), released the statement on July 18 in an interview with news agency RISU (Ukrainian Religious Information Service). His Beatitude underlined that the identity of UGCC is “the identity of Kyiv’s Christianity”, born “with the baptism of Volodymyr, when the Church, that was reinstated on the lands of Russia was also a branch (Metropolitanate) of the Patriarchate of Constantinople” in communion “with the Apostolic See”. According to the tradition, the definitive Christianization of Kyiv dates back to 988 when, ensuing the baptism of Vladimir the Great, Christianity spread across Russia. The primate pointed out UGCC’s identity “faced many dangers” across the centuries, and sometimes “it wasn’t even recognized as a Church”. Msgr. Shevchuk said that in the third millennium the Church “is called to live her identity”. He explained that the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church “wishes to welcome not only all those living in the Country”, but also “other nations, nationalities and also other religions” so as to undertake an “inter-ecclesial and inter-ethnic dialogue”, highlighting the remarkable contribution of “Volodymyr’s baptism to ecumenism”. The question of the patriarchate, added the primate, is equally “relevant”. “We still need to make an effort to complete this process by obtaining the denomination of a Patriarchal Church”, he explained. “When this will happen our identity will be clear to everyone”. “The patriarchate structure will also help to protect our Church from the risk of disappearing in the immense ocean of the Catholic world”. Msgr. Shevchuk underlined that UGCC has undertaken a constructive dialogue with the national authorities, notably with the president of Ukraine, following his meeting with the Pan-Ukrainian Church Council past April 21. “We believe in dialogue, so as to cooperate for the good of Ukraine and of the Ukrainian State, but we don’t want to be used for political propaganda”, he pointed out. As regards the future of the churches of the tradition of Kyiv he concluded: “We must reflect and actively implement the strategy underlined by His Beatitude Lubomyr (Husar, ed.’s note) in his programmatic speech: “People of God on the hills of Kyiv”.Roman-Catholics: Sevastopol’s church restitutionAccording to the head of the Municipal Council of Sevastopol Yurii Doinikov, the destiny of the building in Schmidt Street, St. Clement’s Roman Catholic Church before the War, transformed into a movie theatre under Soviet dictatorship, should be decided with a national referendum. According to RISU news agency, Doinkov put the item on top of the agenda of the next Municipal Council plenary meeting. Before taking a stand on the restitution of the place of worship “it is necessary to at least hold informative public meetings and maybe also a national referendum. In that case the decision will faithfully correspond to public consensus”, he claimed. Previously, the Catholic pastor of the Roman-Catholic community of Sevastopol, Fr Yurii Ziminskyi, had made known that his congregation insists that the church, built 100 years ago and confiscated in 1930, be returned. “We will continue defending our claim – he said on that occasion-. We are determined in our initiative, as we wrote in the letter to the regional administration authorities”. He added: “Roman-Catholic parishioners are conducting a non-stop campaign on the issue”. “A few days a week – had been the announcement of Fr Ziminskyi – for a few hours, a pavillon will showcase large pictures of the church in the period 1912 – 1944 (after the city’s liberation) along with several icons. We printed informative leaflets and we intend to promote a petition”. Now the religious claims that the government requested to postpone the campaign and to not install the pavillon. “On July 1st – he continued – we stood in front of the church for two and half hours. There’s no hurry: we collected 75 signatures. And we will continue. For the time being we will wait, as we have been asked to do, and see what the government has decided”. As referred by the RISU agency, in September 2010 the Municipal Council of Sevastopol had announced its willingness to return the Roman-Catholic church, restoring its full value. On that occasion, a member of the Council, Karp Bulatov, said: “Why should we return a public property for free?” The local Catholics, RISU concludes, asked its restitution, for “accordingly, they erected it in 1911”.
