Cardinal Lubomyr Husar describes changes in the life of formerly clandestine Church (03/16/03)

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar describes changes in the life of formerly clandestine Church

by Alexandra Hawryluk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

OTTAWA - Undoubtedly the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church has come a long way since its underground days. When one considers that in 1989, at the time of the legalization of the largest Eastern rite Catholic Church, there were no Catholic educational facilities in Ukraine, no evangelization programs and no viable eparchies, there is a lot to be thankful for in 2003. During a recent visit in Canada, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, described the changes in the life of his Church.

"First of all, we should be aware that this Church had existed well before the Soviet era, that it had its own bishops, its own priests, its own history and its own faithful ... Today in Ukraine we have: a Ukrainian Catholic University, five seminaries, four Catholic schools, our own Christian press and Christian radio, a well-organized religious instruction program for the young with a new adult religious education program being developed, a number of new bishops, priests, nuns and monks. I believe that currently there are 19 women's and six men's religious communities in Ukraine. In the eastern regions of Ukraine, east of the Zbruch [River], presently there are 104 registered Ukrainian Catholic communities. All in all, we now have 10 eparchies and three exarchates [working] in Ukraine."

These structures are, in fact, the basis for the creation of a self-sufficient, patriarchal Church. Although there was much talk about the creation of such a Church in the past, the realization of those plans was hampered by the fact that the mother Church was an underground Church with neither a fully functioning synod of bishops, nor any means for maintaining a normal exchange of ideas with its diaspora communities.

Today, the Church is ready to move toward the realization of these dreams "because, we have all the necessary elements: our own homeland - the Ukrainian state - and our own ecclesiastic territory with more than 4.5 million faithful." Cardinal Husar said during an interview at the Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Ottawa.

"What is more, the said territory is now covered with a network of our [Ukrainian Catholic] structures, that is, eparchies, monasteries, seminaries, parishes. In short, we have all the elements in place that the Eastern canon law and ecclesiastic tradition require. We also have 1.5 million faithful engaged in the living, well-organized Church outside Ukraine. So, in terms of structure, there are no problems in creating a partriarchate," he said.

If the collapse of the Soviet Union changed the status of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, it has also altered its mission. During the Cold War years, Christians living in Ukraine were mainly concerned with maintaining their personal faith and avoiding confrontations with the Soviet authorities. Ukrainian Christian communities outside Ukraine concerned themselves mostly with the preservation of their cultural heritage by building churches, establishing Ukrainian university programs, publishing books and periodicals, and maintaining a network of parishes, schools and lay organizations. Consequently, not that much emphasis was placed on the development of a spiritual life. What, in that case, Cardinal Husar was asked, is the mission of the Church today?

For the Ukrainian Catholic Church that mission is threefold, Cardinal Husar explained. "First of all, it is pastoral work in Ukraine ... That means, providing all members of the Church with all the God-given means for the development of a normal Christian life ... The most difficult task in doing that, is helping people to understand that they ought to live their faith on their jobs and in their day-to-day affairs. This is hard, because it requires a lot of pastoral work and a lot of self-discipline. And that takes time."

Secondly, the mission of the Church is concerned with the evangelization of all those, who are living outside belief, outside religion. "We should bring Christ to those brothers and sisters who are distant from God. But we certainly don't want to convert people belonging to other Churches. That would be absolutely destructive and unjust. But there are a lot of people, approximately 40 to 45 percent of the population of Ukraine, who are living without God. They need to be encouraged to embrace a life based on Christian principles," Cardinal Husar continued.

The third objective in the mission of the UGCC is the diaspora Church, particularly its need to become open to the acceptance of non-Ukrainian faithful.

"Outside Ukraine we cannot live a self-contained life and say that only those, who are conscientious Ukrainians, those who understand their history, or those who speak Ukrainian, can be members of our Church. Living as we do, in a non-Ukrainian environment, we have to take into account the process of assimilation ... for even in such circumstances we have to try to preserve a clear sense of religious identity... [Therefore] we cannot remain closed in on ourselves and say that Church membership is limited to a specific group of people in the world. We do have mixed marriages, and we do have people, who in their search for God, find Him in those forms of worship which are particular to our Church," stated Cardinal Husar.

The cardinal then went on to speak about ecumenism. Although, there are no formal ecumenical relations between the UGCC and the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, personal relations between hierarchs of these Churches are friendly. However, he also observed that the beautiful stories from the Soviet past about Christians of different denominations helping each other, now that freedom is guaranteed, are being obliterated in some sectors of society by the return of prejudice. He then talked, with considerable enthusiasm, about the ecumenical role of UGCC within the sphere of the 21 Eastern Catholic Churches, on one hand, and within the global Catholic Church, on the other. "We have established relations with the Melkite Church and [as a matter of fact] their patriarch has recently visited Ukraine. We have good relations with the Malabar Church of India, a church numerically similar to ours ... and good relations with the Eastern Catholic Churches in Europe."

As Cardinal Husar explained, within the global Catholic Church, the UGCC's role is unique. "Since Ukraine is geographically placed between two worlds, two great cultures, it is our task to explain the East to the West, and the West to the East, that is, to bridge these two worlds by explaining Byzantine culture to the Latin culture and vice versa."

The incorporation of Christian principles into the life of post-Communist society, the evangelization of non-believers, that is, Ukrainian missionary work, to say nothing about the reconciliation of the ethnocentric concept of Church with the creation of an all-inclusive Christian community, are goals whose realization will require a lot of time and effort. No less time will be needed for the acceptance of the idea that a Church, and not just a geographically located civilization, could also be seen as homeland. "Undoubtedly there will be serious problems of which we should not be afraid. They simply need to be solved, and solved wisely," concluded Cardinal Husar.

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