LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (04/18/04)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Prayer without action is asking too much

Dear Editor:

Following are my comments on the column by Myron B. Kuropas, "Back to square one," (March 14).

I agree with the need for more prayer, but prayer without action is the equivalent of asking too much of God. In my catechism book, that was considered a sin. So, I suggest the following action.

Indeed, the Ukrainian Catholic Church should declare its patriarchal status. At the same time, the new patriarch should call on all of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches to join him in an all Ukrainian Church Council (Sobor) to elect a patriarch in accordance with Canon 24 (25) of the Holy Apostles, wherein, "The bishops of every nation must acknowledge him who is first among them and account him as their head..." Bishops beyond the boundaries of each nation must not interfere.

The rules for the council must be that all bishops are equal. Those with administrative ranks, such as patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, etc., must come to the council prepared to resign their positions and prepared to accept the reorganization of the newly united Church in Ukraine with its newly designated eparchies and titles for its newly elected hierarchy.

The new all-Ukrainian Patriarchate would call upon the pope of Rome, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, the Patriarch of Moscow and all of the other patriarchs for recognition of the Ukrainian Church. Recognition of the Ukrainian Church by any or all of the primates would bring that Church back to its recognized Christian status at the time of St. Volodymyr the Great - really back to square one.

There would not be any good excuse to not recognize a united Ukrainian Church. Ukraine is independent, and the Eastern and Western Churches already accept their status of being "sister" churches. Recognition would not only remove the so-called obstacle in the dialogue for eucharistic unity between the East and the West, the leading first step toward unity would have been taken by that recognition.

Currently, there are no theological reasons against eucharistic unity. After all, the pope of Rome and the Orthodox patriarch of Romania concelebrated divine liturgy and mass respectively in Orthodox and Roman Catholic cathedrals a day apart during the pope's visit to Romania in 1999.

Any primate who would refuse to recognize the Ukrainian Church would be in violation of the Apostles Canons, and that should not be of any concern to Ukrainians except in compassion for his soul. The same would apply to any Ukrainian bishops who would refuse to participate in a unifying council (sobor). Such actions would expose their concern for personal prestige or power over their concern for Christian unity - hardly, an exemplary Christian attitude.

So, let us take this opportunity provided by God. Let us not botch it up like that fellow who was surprised to find himself dead after turning down the offer of the police to evacuate him in the face of a flood, then turning down the fire department rescue boat when the waters were high, then again turning down the rescue helicopter when he was on the roof of his house. He turned them all down each time because he prayed to be rescued by God.

This may be our last chance to unite the Ukrainian Church in answer to our prayers. And, if the hierarchy will not take the initiative in good faith to show good leadership in this matter, then it is the obligation of laypeople to put pressure on their leaders until proper action is taken. You are right, Dr. Kuropas, the primates are playing politics. Their playing politics is the greatest stumbling block to Church unity.

There may be differences in rites, customs and practices between the East and the West, but there are no fundamental Christian theological differences. The nitpickers can have their say in the East-West dialogue over Christian unity. But, our salvation is not dependent upon the outcome of that dialogue.

Christian unity does not require administrative unity. When the time comes when "there shall be one fold, and one shepherd," (John 10:16) that shepherd will not be an administrator like a pope or a patriarch, but the spiritual head of Christianity, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Meanwhile, we should follow the Canons of the Holy Apostles and have our autocephalous national Churches recognized by our fellow autocephalous national Churches, each by each other, as prescribed.

Stan Humenuk
Calgary

Let's focus energies on something vital

Dear Editor:

In his letter to the editor (March 14) Askold S. Lozynskyj asked subscribers to cancel their Sports Illustrated (9 million monthly copies) and Time Magazine (10 million monthly copies) subscriptions, as well as to switch from Time-Warner cable to Direct TV. Why? This is his reaction to someone referring to Vitalii Klitschko as "Russian."

Even if 10 percent of The Weekly's readers did what he asked, this would only be a drop in the bucket. This would not even make a wave! Therefore, no one at Time-Warner would pay attention to these canceled subscriptions. Cancelling subscriptions as means of protest is someting of the past. This is why such protests are buried someplace in "the research department."

This year, we have a very important national presidential election in the United States. Don't you think it would be more appropriate to concentrate our collective energy on something more vital? Something more important to us as Ukrainian Americans? Somehow to generate enough interest about the intrusion of Russian forceful influence on the former Soviet republics? This fact is written and spoken about by many of our honorable representatives, senators, former secretaries of state, other national political dignitaries, newspaper columnists and various foreign correspondents. All are worried about Russia's renewed expansionism under Vladimir Putin; expansionism to regain suzerainty over Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, etc., and especially over Ukraine.

Why not start another postcard campaign like the one regarding Walter Duranty and the Pulitzer Prize? Or a campaign that asks both (or all) presidential nominees to discuss the status of Ukraine and the renewed Russian intrusion in a debate? The national daily newspapers will pay attention and follow this topic like they did with our Duranty campaign. This generated commentaries and, therefore, sales for the papers.

We still have time to set up such a campaign. The nominations of candidates should be formally finalized by the end of July. The elections are not until the first week in November. This gives us approximately four months (April to July) to put this campaign in place. Then we will have three more months (August, September and October) to implement this postcard campaign.

The real question is: Are our Ukrainian American "political leaders" willing to set up such a campaign? Are they willing to make a bipartisan campaign (Republican and Democratic)? Remember that our "political leaders" are active (and some very) in the two major parties. But, will they be willing to cross swords with their leadership in their respective parties?

Who cares if Mr. Klitschko is not called Ukrainian but a Russian? I do not. It just reflects on the ignorance of the given sports journalist that called him a Russian.

But, I do care if our Ukrainian American "political leaders" do something more serious, such as making sure that Ukraine is not only part of the presidential debates but also part of the overall national presidential daily election discussion.

We all know the old saying "if there is a will, there is a way!" This is one way of doing this. But, is there a will to do it on the part of our leadership?

Slawomyr M. Pihut
Crystal Lake, Ill.

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