NEWS AND VIEWS: About the meaning of "the Church" and the Ukrainian Church's ethnicity (04/17/05)

NEWS AND VIEWS

About the meaning of "the Church" and the Ukrainian Church's ethnicity

by the Rev. Ivan Kaszczak

I read Taras Szmagala Jr.'s piece on faith in The Ukrainian Weekly dated April 3. I found it to be thoughtful and worthy of both comment and critical commentary. I trust I will add something to the discussion Mr. Szmagala began.

The tension that exists between prayer and action is always a source of tension for the committed Christian. The interplay between our prayer and our social action can stimulate within us an acute awareness that makes us sensitive to the needs of the times. "Ora et Labora" the ancient monastic maxim - to "pray and work," express this complimentarity quite succinctly.

One of the qualities most overlooked in our parish communities is the generosity and social activism of our members. Since Vatican II we emphasize that "the Church" is not simply the hierarchy (clergy) but the entire "people of God," both clergy and laity. Yet, I find that many individual parishioners who volunteer at hospitals, AIDS clinics, shelters and myriad other wonderful services for society are not aware that wherever and whatever they do is a reflection of their Church.

In other words if you are a member of the Church and you do good things - you are the Church. Your Church is doing wonderful things through you. We do not simply count the social action which is listed in the parish bulletin as the official social work of a given parish. Many magnificent social action items are accomplished by individual parishioners, which reflects well upon our Church.

The last item I wish to comment on is the "ethnicity" of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. In history, our Church has been called "the Kyivan Church," "the Uniate Church," "the Greek-Catholic Church" and most recently "the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church." These various names have given birth to a notion that we are an ethnic Church. Allow me to speak to this issue.

We are ethnic in the sense that the Ukrainian Catholic Church began with a certain ethnic group: the people of Kyivan-Rus' empire who were converted to Christianity by the Greeks. Yet, we are not an ethnic Church. That is, we are not simply for Ukrainians just as the Roman Catholic Church is not simply for Italians or citizens of Rome. You rightly emphasize that we are "Catholic-Universal" and, therefore, open to all humanity.

Our Church is not something to be preserved as a museum piece of ethnic antiquity. We are primarily a group of believers who preach the gospel of Jesus and bring the treasure of our ethnic heritage as a gift to all who find it appealing to their spiritual sensitivities. Our Church has truly Christian gifts of mysticism, prayer, social justice, music and art, which gives life to the gospel of Christ. Our Churches have given the world a "cloud of witnesses" who have displayed the most wonderful mixture of prayer and social action.

Perhaps we should look to our Churches as places that produce primarily holy people who care about the world they live in. This fact will reflect well upon both words which describe us - "Ukrainian" and "Catholic." We know who we are; we know we are not alone. We belong to the world and the world, belongs to us.

The Rev. Ivan Kaszczak is pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Syracuse, N.Y.

| Home Page |