Eastern Churches in the spotlight at Catholic conference in Australia (09/06/98)

Eastern Churches in the spotlight at Catholic conference in Australia

by the Rev. Kenneth Nowakowski
Caritas Ukraine

SYDNEY - The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference meeting at St. Paul's National Seminary in Sydney expressed a very positive vote of support for the Eastern Churches in Australia - including their married clergy.

Held May 19-28, the conference passed the following motion:

"The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference welcomes the development of the Ukrainian, Maronite and Melkite eparchies in Australia. Conference expresses its respect for the clergy, including the married clergy, working in the Eparchies and the other Eastern Catholic Churches. Conference further affirms that it has no objection to the eparchs ordaining married men to the deaconate and priesthood in Australia."

Bishop Peter Stasiuk of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy and Bishop Issam Darwich of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy were present for this historic vote on May 25. Bishop Darwich, himself a grandson of an archpriest in the Middle East, expressed his great joy at this development.

This motion was made to counter-balance a motion almost 50 years ago by this same conference which in part read: "Appreciating the alarming reaction which would result from any introduction into Australia of married clergy of the non-Latin rite, this meeting directs that only celibate clergy shall be permitted to publicly exercise their ministry in Australia" (Motion No. 8, November 9, 1949, Sydney).

Many of the Latin bishops present at this year's meeting commented that this is another time and the world has changed. The decree of 1949 had resulted in the expulsion of the Rev. Paul Smal from Australia, but now, 50 years later, there are probably as many married ex-Anglican priests working in Australian Roman Catholic dioceses as there are married Eastern Rite priests in the country.

Bishop Stasiuk sincerely thanked the conference for its very positive step. "This vote is very much appreciated as Ukrainians prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their presence in Australia," he noted.

The recent request of Cardinal Angelo Sodano for Ukrainian priests to leave Poland was discussed by the Committee for Ecumenism and the negative effect this move was having on ecumenical dialogue was noted.

Historic liturgy

The bishops at the conference were impressed by the Ukrainian liturgy celebrated during the conference on Saturday, May 23. This historic liturgy, the first Ukrainian liturgy to be celebrated at this conclave of bishops, which took a couple of years to plan, became a major talking point among the bishops who commented on the very beautiful singing of the Ukrainian Catholic choir from Canberra, led by Irene Pellegrino and composed of parishioners of the St. Wolodymyr parish in Lyneham. Many bishops attended such a liturgy for the first time. Most of them bought the CD of the divine liturgy that the Canberra choir has produced.

Bishop Stasiuk gave the homily and was assisted at the altar by the Rt. Rev. Zenon Chorkawyj and the Rev. Adrian Ckuj, who acted as deacon. Altar boys from Sydney's Ukrainian Catholic parish contributed to the ceremony.

Besides the liturgy, there were many other points of interest for Ukrainians at the conference. At the Latin liturgy on Sunday morning Archbishop Barry Hickey commented on his trip to Ukraine a few years before, noting how impressed he was with the Church that had risen out of the underground after so many years of persecution.

In a historic move, the conference affirmed that it had no objection to Eastern Rite bishops ordaining married priests in Australia. It further pledged its support for the development of the Eastern Churches in Australia. In another historic move, the conference pledged to recognize Australia's ethnic communities by promising to publish important documents in languages of the major communities.

A number of Ukrainian Catholic parishes had participated in the seminar on women's participation in the Church hearings. Dr. Marie Macdonald and Sandi Cornish reported that the study was on schedule and that the committee would publish its findings in mid-1999. The Ukrainian women's contribution to the discussion will be contained in a special chapter in the book which will be published by the committee.

The Rev. Michael Mason and Bob Dixon reported to conference on the survey which was conducted in Catholic churches and also within Ukrainian Catholic parishes. However, only 241 questionnaires were answered by Ukrainian parishioners in Aus Eparchy. The survey will be considered separately from the rest of the Latin Church, but the sample of 241 entries is a bit too small to make any accurate study. The Rev. Mason promised to release his findings to the Ukrainian community soon.

The booklet "Eastern Catholics in Australia" is presently being worked on for the Churches in New Zealand and the United States. The American Conference is reportedly spending $30,000 on the first edition.

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