Scottish Catholic Observer

“We are experiencing a great solidarity with the faithful from the whole world. So many of you are supporting us with your prayers and offering us your generous help.”

The words of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki, President of Ukraine’s Latin-rite Catholic Bishops’ Conference, spoken during an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians.

Weeks and months of turmoil in Ukraine have wreaked havoc in a country which in a matter of days lost its president, signed a new Constitution, and saw Crimea become part of Russia. And with people being killed on the streets of the capital Kiev’s Maidan Square and thousands upon thousands crowding the streets to demonstrate, the country remained at tipping point, with the threat of wider violence constantly in view. This explains why both the country’s Latin-rite clergy and Faithful, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have turned again and again to ACN beseeching prayer and support.

Bishops, sisters, priests, seminarians and lay people knew that they could rely on ACN not to abandon the country’s Faithful and leave them to their fate. Ukraine has been a top priority for ACN aid for half a century. The charity has accompanied the Church in Ukraine, helping it to recover from some of the worst persecution ever carried out under Soviet Communism.

The bitter memories of those long years, which finally ended in the early 1990s, have been rekindled by recent events amid widespread concern about the apparent expansionist policies of the Russian regime under President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Latin-rite Catholic bishops have told ACN that the conflict and turmoil that their people have suffered is in essence a struggle for the soul of the country. Lying on the fault-line between Russia and Europe, does Ukraine’s future point East or West?

Bishop Borys Gudziak, who has made a vital contribution to the Church’s growth as rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, told ACN: “Events over these last months and days have been a pilgrimage in our battle for dignity.”

Wherever Ukraine’s political destiny lies, ACN has assured bishops such as Borys Gudziak and Mieczysław Mokrzycki that—thanks to the ongoing support of so many benefactors —the charity is determined to stand by the country’s Faithful through thick and thin.

ACN UK national director Neville Kyrke-Smith, himself a frequent visitor to Ukraine dating back more than two decades, recently said: “The Ukrainian Church has seen a miraculous revival in recent years—and I have been privileged to attend the Liturgy at packed churches.

“But our brothers and sisters in Ukraine need help once more. Ukrainians have experienced conflict and political turmoil as winds of change sweep through the country and threaten to undermine much of the progress of recent times.”

He added: “As we approach Holy Week, please remember all those who suffer for witnessing to Christ.”

Offering help that is specific and practical is essential to the work of Aid to the Church in Need and that is why the charity responded to the growing crisis in Ukraine by providing urgent assistance in times of great hardship

and pain.

Late last month, ACN provided an aid package of more than £45,000 for use in Kiev Archdiocese and the Crimean Diocese of Odessa-Simferopol. Two-thirds of the aid provided care of the sick, psychological help and medicine and the rest was used for transport costs for priests—military chaplains—moving between the mainland and the Crimean peninsula. Thanking ACN for the support, Auxiliary Bishop Jacek Pyl of Odessa-Simferopol told the charity that he had been appealing to people on all sides to keep alive the spirit of goodwill and tolerance. Referring to how the region is home to Ukrainians, Russians, Crimean Tartars, Armenians, Germans, Poles and Czechs, he said: “I am calling on all the people… that in the name of solidarity with the heritage of our fathers… they stay away from extremism and ensure that the bonds of brotherhood are not broken.”

The same determination to retain unity and fellowship lay behind an earlier ACN grant for the victims of violence in Kiev’s Maidan Square and elsewhere in the country. Amid reports that 2000 people had been injured, ACN offered hot meals, trauma counselling and medicine in a project overseen by Auxiliary Bishop Stanislaw Shyrokoradiuk of Kiev.

Working in tandem with this requirement to provide immediate emergency assistance is ACN’s commitment to offering long-term pastoral help. There are almost 2000 Catholic seminarians in Ukraine—Latin-rite and Ukrainian Greek Catholic combined—and every one of them is supported by Aid to the Church in Need.

Seminarian numbers have grown fast since 1989 when there were only 300. ACN has offered ongoing support to enable Church leaders to provide for the hundreds of young men who felt called to try their vocation. And that work goes on. The charity is helping with the formation of Latin-rite Catholic seminarians from the Sacred Heart Seminary in Vorzel, supporting vital repairs to their seminary building. The students’ families are so poor that very often the rector, Fr Jan Safinski has to pay for their clothes and travel costs.

“We are very grateful for your ongoing help,” seminarian Ruslan Mychalkin told ACN. “Every day at 3pm we pray for all our benefactors and Mass is celebrated for their intentions on Wednesdays.”

ACN’s help for future clergy is matched by its commitment to supporting sisters, building churches and perhaps most critically aiding the formation of lay Catechists.

The charity has for many years worked with Sr Luiza. Known as the ‘Mother of the Catechism,’ Sr Luiza is director of youth Catechists for the whole of Ukraine. Under her guidance, huge numbers of Catechists have gone out teaching the Christian faith to young people, and helping them to live the Gospel values—faith, hope and charity. ACN’s latest project with Sr Luiza involves supporting her three-year-training programme for 45 lay Catechists preparing to work in central and eastern Ukraine. Given recent political developments in the country, this is no small task and so good formation is urgently needed. One recent course graduate told ACN: “The course I attended changed my life. Now I want to be a true Christian—I feel enriched both spiritually and morally.”

“We are most grateful to you for everything that you are doing to help our Church and Ukraine,” Sr Luiza told ACN. “May God bless you and your families.”

The Church in Ukraine suffered grievously under Soviet Communism. One priest said that there was a time when ‘we almost did not exist.’ Since that long winter of suffering there has been a generation of springtime—though not without continuing difficulties. Now, years of regrowth and fresh opportunity are overshadowed by political uncertainties that have sparked international concern. But the Church in Ukraine is strong in faith; if ever there was a Church today founded on the blood of the martyrs it is the Church in Ukraine. Its moral authority as a force for peace and justice is matched by its commitment to upholding the rights and responsibilities of the individual.

With your help, ACN can continue to stand in solidarity with the Church in Ukraine. It is an honour and privilege to support those who have suffered so much and yet stand strong in their faith. Thanking ACN for its support, Bishop Stanislaw in Kiev, said: “We do not know how long the crisis will last but we hope to respond as fully as possible to the many challenges we expect to face.”

And ACN Scotland’s Lorraine McMahon added: “Our television screens have been filled with ominous reports from Ukraine. Could I please ask the readers of the Scottish Catholic Observer to remember the faithful in their prayers? They count on your support.”

- For information about Aid to the Church in Need and its work in Ukraine, visit: www.acnuk.org/ukraine or call Lorraine McMahon at ACN Scotland on: 01698 337470