UGCC's Permanent Synod of Bishops discusses beatification of Sheptytsky, Slipyj

Religious Information Service of Ukraine

LVIV - A meeting of the Permanent Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) was held on February 3-6 in Rome. The UGCC hierarchs gathered to discuss the problems of the beatification of Ukrainian confessors of the faith, as well as the religious situation in Ukraine.

On February 5, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, and members of the Synod met with Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and Archbishop Edward Nowak, secretary of the congregation. During this meeting, the UGCC bishops discussed the problems that arise in the process of beatification and canonization.

Special attention was focused on the beatification of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, which has now entered its final stage. In addition, the Ukrainian hierarchs presented a list of new martyrs of the UGCC whose beatification processes will be started shortly. All necessary documents for the beatification of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj were also submitted to the congregation's officers.

Also on February 5, members of the UGCC Permanent Synod of Bishops met with Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and other representatives of the council. Both sides stressed the uniqueness of the religious situation in Ukraine, which is home to many different religions. According to the participants of the meeting, the Ukrainian Churches need to overcome obstacles on their way to unity in order to prevent further splits and divisions.

Finally, the Ukrainian hierarchs also considered some organizational issues connected with a new synod in September of this year, in which all the UGCC bishops from Ukraine and the diaspora are expected to participate.

On the morning of February 3, Pope John Paul welcomed members of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, in particular their major archbishop, Cardinal Husar, and told them that their meeting in Rome "is a happy occasion to reaffirm your communion with the Successor of Peter."

He remarked that their Church, "reborn after the tragic events of the last century, proceeds on the path of rebuilding with the awareness of its great spiritual legacy, of the fecund testimony of her martyrs and of the need to maintain at all levels a demeanor of dialogue, collaboration and communion."

Pope John Paul encouraged them to pursue this path and he underscored their recent meetings with bishops of the Latin rite which allowed everyone "to consider ... the pastoral questions that interest both communities. Such encounters are a practical application of that effective and affective communion that must guide the pastors of Christ's flock."

"Such communion," the holy father affirmed, "is all the more necessary if we reflect on the challenges that today's situation places before us: from the spiritual needs of broad segments of the population to the serious dilemma of emigration; from the pain of the least fortunate to problems in families; from the need for ecumenical dialogue to the desire for a greater integration in the European context."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 16, 2003, No. 7, Vol. LXXI

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