Aid to the Church in Need: Ukraine: A big challenge for the Churches

Ukraine: A big challenge for the Churches

Posted by ACN News on 6/7/2009, 10:42 am
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Ukraine: A big challenge for the Churches

Politically and economically Ukraine is mired in a profound crisis. The forces seeking to reform this East European state and steer it into the European Union are divided among themselves. And the confrontation with those who seek closer ties with Russia instead has still further paralysed the country. Important reforms are not being carried out and the already disastrous state of the economy has become still worse as a result, while the political tensions continue to grow.
Against this background the Christian Churches have a particular responsibility. Their social, charitable and pastoral initiatives, combined with an attitude of co-operation and reconciliation between the various denominations, are helping to strengthen the sense of social cohesion at a critical time. The majority of Ukrainians belong to one or other of the two Orthodox denominations – the Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate – while around 10% of Ukraine's 46 million population belong to the (Eastern-rite) Ukrainian Catholic Church and 5% to the Latin-rite Catholic Church. A further 2.7% are Protestants, while Muslims account for around 4%. Additionally, there are something over 100,000 Jews in Ukraine.
Catholic auxiliary Bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk of the diocese of Kiev believes that the Churches are facing major challenges. "We can do a great deal. The spiritual hunger is immense, and after decades of oppression we can at last work freely", he says, adding that many adults are today receiving baptism and many intellectuals discovering the Church anew.

Catholic auxiliary Bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk of the diocese of Kiev

In his view relations with other Christian Churches and with the faithful of other religions are good. One factor that has undoubtedly contributed to this has been the years of persecution under the Soviet Union, which all the religious communities suffered up to the end of the 1980s. This has brought them closer together. Today, however, the policy of the state is altogether more open to the various different religions, and numerous properties and buildings confiscated in communist times have been returned to their original owners. Currently there is a drive to explore ways of offering Christian ethics as a subject in the schools.
According to Bishop Stanislav, Catholics are tackling these new challenges and responsibilities "with faith and a great deal of initiative". Their means are limited, of course, but they are making the best of them, he says. "The Church is poor, the parishes are poor. The priests live on whatever they are given", says 53-year-old Bishop Stanislav. In Ukraine it is traditional for the faithful to bring an offering for the priests when they attend the Sacred Liturgy.
There is a strong sense of solidarity – which also extends to their friends abroad. For instance the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) continues to support many pastoral projects both for the Eastern-rite and the Latin-rite Catholics in Ukraine; this includes the establishment of parish structures in areas where the faithful are thinly spread, the publication and printing of books and other educational materials for teaching the Faith, and help for the Catholic radio station Radio Voskresinnya. Another priority is the basic and ongoing formation of priests, religious and catechists.
Bishop Shyrokoradiuk underlines the importance of the training of priests. "Under the Soviet Union, many priests were deported to Siberia. Only six returned after Stalin's death". And subsequently, those who wanted to become priests were subjected to all kinds of obstruction. Bishop Stanislav himself had to wait for years before the state finally permitted him to enter the seminary in 1979 – and even then not in his own home country but in the Latvian capital Riga. Today though, the Latin-rite Catholics alone have three seminaries in Ukraine.
Another central task for the Church, the Bishop believes, is the family and youth apostolate. For although religious practice is very strong, particularly among young people, there are also many who hold a purely materialistic outlook, he acknowledges. "That is undoubtedly a growing factor, but I have faith in young people, because they have profound Christian roots".

Christian Youth Forum, Kyiv, Ukraine - Musical prayer by the
Resurrection Cathedral (Photo: RISU)

To help the work of the Church in Ukraine please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org