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Spring 2020
God • World • Human Family • Church
Faith in the Future
Confronting Climate Change in India Lifting Children out of Poverty in Ethiopia Advancing the Church in Ukraine Carrying the Cross, Living for Easter
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India’s Climate of Uncertainty The church helps weather the storms by Anubha George
FEATURES
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A Letter From Armenia by Hovsep Galstian with photographs by Nazik Armenakyan
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Lessons in Success Men and women religious educate and uplift in Ethiopia text by Maria Gerth-Niculescu with photographs by Petterik Wiggers
DEPARTMENTS
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Connections to CNEWA’s world
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Issues An Ancient Church, a New Ukraine by Anna Nekrasova
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Focus on the world of CNEWA by John E. Kozar
t An Adivasi family, part of India’s community of indigenous peoples, walks through a field in Chaligadhea in northern Kerala.
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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
Volume 46 NUMBER 1
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Your Generosity Can Be Your Legacy A bequest is a simple way to make a huge impact, helping us to:
28 Front: A parishioner prays at the Divine Liturgy in an Armenian Catholic church in the village of Mets Sipasar, Armenia. Back: Students attend the Kidane Mehret Catholic School in Dessie, Ethiopia. Photo Credits Front cover, pages 3 (upper right), 12-19, Nazik Armenakyan; pages 2, 3 (lower right), 6, 9-11, Sajeendran V.S.; page 3 (top), CNS photo/Paul Haring; pages 3 (upper left), 3 (far right), 20-27, back cover, Petterik Wiggers; pages 3 (lower left), 38-39, John E. Kozar/CNEWA; pages 4-5, 8, CNEWA; pages 28-9, Snitovsky Oleh/Barcroft Medi, via Getty Images; page 30, Peter Turnley/ Corbis/VCG via Getty Images; page 31, Chris Niedenthal/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images; page 32, VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP via Getty Images; page 33, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Department of External Relations; page 34, GENYA SAVILOV/ AFP via Getty Images; pages 35, 36-7, Ivan Chernichkin.
6 Publisher Msgr. John E. Kozar Editorial Staff Paul Grillo Deacon Greg Kandra Michael J.L. La Civita Elias Mallon, S.A., Ph.D. J.D. Conor Mauro Timothy McCarthy ONE is published quarterly. ISSN: 1552-2016 CNEWA Founded by the Holy Father, CNEWA shares the love of Christ with the churches and peoples of the East. CNEWA works for, through and with the Eastern Catholic churches to identify needs and implement reasonable solutions. CNEWA connects you to your brothers and sisters in need. Together, we build up the church, affirm human dignity, alleviate poverty, encourage dialogue — and inspire hope. Officers Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Chair and Treasurer Msgr. John E. Kozar, Secretary Editorial Office 1011 First Avenue, New York, NY 10022-4195 1-212-826-1480 | cnewa.org Š2020 Catholic Near East Welfare Association. All rights reserved. Member of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada.
Build up the church Affirm human dignity Alleviate poverty Encourage dialogue Inspire hope A bequest also has tax benefits for your estate and can help create your own personal legacy Contact us today to learn more: Haimdat Sawh Development Officer (212) 826-1480, ext. 511 hsawh@cnewa.org 1011 First Avenue New York, NY 10022 cnewa.giftplans.org
Connections to CNEWA’s world Msgr. Peter Vaccari Visits Middle East In February, CNEWA’s vice president, Msgr. Peter Vaccari, visited Lebanon and Jordan. In addition to meeting CNEWA staff, the incoming president — who will succeed Msgr. John E. Kozar this summer — caught a firsthand glimpse at a number of the programs and projects CNEWA supports in the region. In Lebanon, for example, he celebrated Mass at St. Joseph’s Church with the Jesuit community and approximately 600 migrant workers, visited refugee camps and shared a meal at St. John the Merciful Table in Zahleh with poor Lebanese and Syrian families. His visit to Lebanon also included meetings with seminarians, formation faculty and rectors at both the Maronite and Melkite seminaries.
CNEWA’s Msgr. Vaccari meets with Iraqi refugees cared for by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Amman, Jordan.
In Jordan, Msgr. Vaccari concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. George Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Ader. There he met Melkite and Latin priests, parishioners and religious sisters whose Bedouin ancestors were among the first to accept the Gospel. He also visited CNEWA-supported hospitals, clinics and community centers under the heroic care of women religious, including the Combonis, Dominicans and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
Sweeping Changes in India With an unpredictable climate now affecting agriculture in India, and with wild elephants and boar damaging crops, some at-risk families are seeking other income sources — such as broom weaving. Brooms are among the most common and useful items in any Indian household, and the making of brooms by hand is a valuable skill for families who live in or near forests, where the grass needed for brooms is found everywhere. To help indigenous families in Moolagangal, a forested region in
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Accompanied by CNEWA’s regional directors, Msgr. Vaccari expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to make these initial visits: “This was a great opportunity to see the wonderful work CNEWA’s donors are making possible,” he said. “It was a real blessing to meet those whose lives have been enriched because of CNEWA’s work in the region. I look forward to visiting more parts of CNEWA’s world in the months to come.” Visit CNEWA’s blog to learn more about the pastoral visit.
the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Palghat, CNEWA now supports an initiative offering instruction in weaving brooms. The local artisans can then sell them through a cooperative, thereby avoiding the fees they would have to pay to vendors. This project has been helping to create an important income stream for these vulnerable families. Support in Syria In late February, Michel Constantin, CNEWA’s regional director in Beirut responsible for the association’s
activities in Syria, provided an update on the thousands of Syrian children who have received food, health care and warm clothing during the winter months. Religious congregations — including the Sisters of the Besançon Congregation, the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Marist Brothers and the Sacred Heart Sisters, among others — have provided nourishment, education and warmth, all through the generosity of CNEWA’s benefactors. Mr. Constantin wrote, “These projects remind us of CNEWA’s vital mission to aid the most vulnerable.”
As We Go to Press … As we go to press, the world is coping with the effects of a growing pandemic. COVID-19, or the coronavirus, is changing our lives dramatically — and having a serious, and sometimes devastating, impact on the world CNEWA serves. As this story continues to unfold, please check our blog regularly at cnewa.org for updates from the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe; we will post them as often as we are able as our team in New York is working remotely. Please know all of us at CNEWA are striving to maintain our service to those in need in whatever ways we can.
Jerusalem, Joseph Hazboun, together cutting the ribbon. CNEWA’s Pontifical Mission began the center as a library in 1970, and has evolved into a thriving community center contributing to the “educational, social and cultural growth” of the Palestinian community. The Teresians, a secular institute of Catholic lay women, now help provide summer camps for youth, along with leadership classes, and various cultural, artistic and interreligious activities.
Winter Parish Outreach CNEWA’s parish visitation team made several visits over the winter as part of its outreach program. Deacon Greg Kandra and members of the CNEWA team visited parishes in Florida and Minnesota, with the deacon preaching at Masses and introducing parishioners to CNEWA’s ministry with the Eastern churches. The team also met with local donors to express gratitude for their generosity, prayers and good will. If you would like CNEWA to bring its message of hope to your parish, send an email to info@ cnewa.org.
And know, too, that we are joined together in prayer around the world — praying for a swift end to this crisis and praying those most affected by this pandemic will be consoled, uplifted and healed. May God bless you and those you love during this difficult time. A Re-opening in Bethlehem In January, the Pontifical Mission Education and Cultural Center at Bethlehem University was rededicated, with dignitaries including the university’s vice chancellor, Brother Peter Bray, F.S.C., and CNEWA’s regional director in
Deacon Greg Kandra greets parishioners at Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, Florida.
There is even more on the Web
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Visit cnewa.org for daily updates. And find videos, stories from the field and breaking news at CNEWA’s blog, at cnewa.org/blog
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Responding to Human Needs
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India’s Climate of Uncertainty by Anubha George
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t seemed to happen in an instant. One night last August, Philip M.J. was speaking with his wife, Lissy Das, swapping stories, talking about the children, praying. The next, before he could react, Lissy was swept away right before his eyes. Lissy died in a landslide in the village of Tinoor in the Thamarassery district of northern Kerala. A few months later, Philip remains in shock and traumatized. “It had been raining heavily for three days,” he recalls. “There was a sense of foreboding. When we prayed that night, we were scared. We said to each other, ‘Let’s just leave everything to God.’ ” Later that night, Philip and Lissy were awakened by what sounded like a howling wind. Philip thought of making his way out to see what was going on. But he had no chance. “Out of nowhere, mud and boulders smashed through the house,” he says. “The force carried Lissy out, along with the bed. That was it.” Lissy’s body was found two days later, a mile from her home. Philip had tried to make his way out, but the mud had blocked all Joshna Martin walks with her daughter, Alphonsa, in the village of Vilangad, Kerala.
the exits, leaving him buried under the rubble. “I tried desperately to call out for help. None came,” he says. “So I used my fingers and nails to scrape myself out. It was a will to survive.” Philip shows us his hands. His fingers and fingernails are rotten, the tips of his fingers blackened from the effort to make it out alive. There are bruises on his arms. He has a dislocated shoulder. Three months on, his body has not yet healed. “Lissy and I both could have been dead. But I am still here. This is God’s grace.” When he smiles, Philip looks younger than his 53 years. His eyes light up when he talks about his children — a 23-year-old son and a 21-year-old daughter, both studying in college. “Fortunately, the college is funding their education now,” he says. “There’s no way I can work and support them.” Philip’s relatives have been kind enough to put him up, giving him a place to live until he can rebuild. Through all this, Philip’s faith remains strong. “God saved me for my children. There was no other reason for me to survive,” he says. “I have to get my daughter married yet.” Joshna Martin was Philip’s neighbor. Her husband, who works in the Middle East, had left for
the Persian Gulf four days prior. Mrs. Martin was alone at home with her 2-year-old daughter, Alphonsa. “My daughter is so precious because she came along after years of trying,” she says. On the evening of 8 August, Mrs. Martin had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. “It was an intuition thing,” she recounts. So she decided to take her daughter to her parents’ home in a nearby village. “I took my jewelry, money and my motorbike and left at about 7 p.m.,” she says. “I just didn’t feel it was safe to stay,” she says. Around 11:30, the landslide completely destroyed her house. “Can you imagine if my daughter and I had been there? This was a miracle amid all that was unfortunate about that night.” Mrs. Martin and her daughter now live with another family. “The owner of the house allowed us to live rent-free because none of us could afford to pay rent,” she says. She moved out of her parents’ home because there was no Wi-Fi service there and she wants her daughter to be able to Facetime her father every day. The other family sharing the house has special needs: 52-yearold Jose Vattakunnel and his 50-year-old wife, Alice Jose. Mr. Vattakunnel is paralyzed from the waist down; he had fallen off a tree
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CNEWA Connection t A parish holds a funeral in August 2019 for community members who perished in the flooding in Kerala. y Fathers George Chemparathy and Matthew Thakidiyel survey damage in Vilangad.
CNEWA was among the first to rush aid to help local parishes in Kerala care for those devastated by the floods in 2018 and 2019. Galvanized by the sheer scope of the devastation, parish-led initiatives rescued families, housed and fed the homeless, and offered support and counsel to those who lost family members. And parishioners remained supportive even after the initial crises had faded from public view. Most of these efforts were coordinated by the various social service ministries of the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic eparchies, among CNEWA’s primary onthe-ground partners. “The landslides here really showed that more work needs to be done to create eco-awareness and natural disaster rehabilitation,” said one such partner, the Rev. Sebastian Kochupurackal of the Eparchy of Idukki. To help CNEWA as it accompanies the churches of India, call: 1-800-442-6392 (United States) or 1-866-322-4441 (Canada). while picking coconuts some 20 years ago. “We were sleeping,” he says of that evening last August. “Then we heard a sound. It was as if the sky was falling. We couldn’t identify what it was.” The couple was trapped in their house by the mudslide. “The fact that Jose is paralyzed means we had to wait for people to come and lift him out in a chair,” his wife says. “Roads were blocked,
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people were screaming and shouting, it was raining heavily,” she says. “It took hours for help to arrive.” Mr. Vattakunnel, meanwhile, felt helpless. “I said to Alice to leave me there to die and save her own life,” he says. His wife would have none of it. “‘In sickness and in health,’ ” she recites. “How could I ever forget that?”
The pair has three children — two sons who both work in the Gulf and a daughter who has recently married, but lives nearby in another village. “We will never go back to Tinoor. The government has said the place isn’t safe to reside,” Mrs. Vattakunnel says. Both Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Vattakunnel are happy to have each other for company. As for Jose, little Alphonsa keeps him busy as she plays with him all day. Such outcomes encourage the Rev. George Chemparathy. “It is amazing to see that even in the toughest of times, people don’t lose faith. They remain faithful,” he says. The assistant director at the Centre for Overall Development for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Thamarassery, Father Chemparathy is responsible for visiting those impacted by natural disasters, such as the floods and landslides of the last few years. With the help of the parish priest, the Rev. Matthew Thakidiyel, Father Chemparathy checks on parishioners even after they have moved, offering not just financial aid, but also emotional and spiritual support. “In the village of Tinoor, children have needed counseling. They wake up in the middle of the night crying that something is going to happen. But the church is helping them to cope.”
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n 2019, at least 121 people in Kerala died as the state faced devastating rains, floods and landslides for the second straight year. More than half a million
people in the state were forced to evacuate their homes. The number of dead in 2018 was nearly 500; the damage to property and people was estimated at $5.8 billion. The United Nations General Assembly announced solidarity with India as the floods wreaked havoc in Kerala. An Indian government report put the unprecedented rain down to the impact of climate change. The report also says Kerala should be prepared for more similar events in the future. According to Viju B. — metro editor of the Times of India in Cochin, whose book, “Flood and Fury: Ecological Devastation in the Western Ghats” investigates the causes of the floods — the reason for floods and landslides in Kerala is simple: human interference. “It’s down to cutting off the hills to construct roads, coffee plantations and houses, [as well as] quarrying and mining. Yes, climate
change is a factor,” he adds, “but gross neglect of the environment can’t be ignored either.” In a report that came out 17 months before the state’s 2018 floods, the Kerala Forest Research Institute warned of the devastation that could be caused by excessive rain. This report estimated that there are about 6,000 quarries in the state. Most are close to drainage networks and near epicenters of earthquakes recorded in the past. “Quarries destroy much of the ecosystem around them. In hilly areas, which make up half of Kerala, they destabilize fragile environments,” the journalist reports. Across India, it is not just Kerala that continues to face the threat of floods and landslides in years to come. Kodagu, a district of Kerala’s neighboring state of Karnataka, has also paid a heavy price for haphazard development. Home to
many coffee plantations, Kodagu is considered a tourist’s paradise. Yet in 2018, floods ravaged the district, impacting most heavily those areas deforested to meet the demands of a growing tourism industry. Villages in Goa and Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg area have also borne similar repercussions as the result of illegal mining. “If things stay the way they are, parts of Kerala will be under water in the next five years,” Viju says. “The trouble is Kerala doesn’t even acknowledge climate change and pays no attention to what’s behind the floods; this is worrying,” he concludes. “Kerala has been seeing a huge variation in rainfall over the years — from cloudbursts to severe drought. But we’re not prepared for what’s to come.” The Catholic churches have been playing a big part in helping Kerala cope with the situation. Parishes around the state have been
“Even in the toughest of times, people don’t lose faith.”
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collecting funds and donations from parishioners to keep flood victims safe in camps and to help rebuild their lives, giving them opportunity to start again. In some cases, the churches have taken the lead in constructing houses outright, because most people cannot go back to the homes they lost. Parts of northern Kerala are considered vulnerable and are on high alert. This is the new reality that the local churches are gearing up to face. Syro-Malabar Catholic Bishop Mar Remigiose Inchananjal of Thamarassery says this kind of rainfall and flooding in Kerala two years in a row is peculiar. Yet, his eparchy is making ready. “We’re planning to conduct seminars and bring in experts to help us,” he says. “We’re also Ambika V. collects water outside of her home in the Palakkad region of Kerala.
encouraging people to plant more trees and bamboo to help the environment in any way we can.” So far this year, the Eparchy of Thamarassery has collected nearly $500,000 for flood relief. “This money will go towards housing, agriculture and to help people get back on their feet,” Bishop Mar Remigiose says. Officials of the eparchy are also helping neighboring churches, Eastern and Latin, with fundraising efforts.
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recent investigation revealed Kerala has no local forecasting systems to predict floods at river basins and reservoirs; such a system could have deflected some of the death and destruction in 2019. Amid such glaring oversights, the church does what it can to help those affected to regain stability. In a remote part of Wayanad district in northern Kerala, the
village of Chaligadhea is home to a community of Adivasi — an umbrella term for India’s indigenous or tribal peoples. Adivasi are financially and educationally underserved and are given a special status by the Indian government under its Scheduled Tribes category. Among the Adivasi of Chaligadhea, called Adiyas, poverty is high and the community receives governmental shipments of rice each month to help stave off hunger. Alice Cecil is the field worker in this area for the Wayanad Social Service Society — a social service organization of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Mananthavady. “The floods completely submerged the paddy fields in this village,” she says. Most of the workforce in this area consists of daily wage workers; as it is, work is not regular. “Now there’s no work, no money coming in,” Ms. Cecil says.
Alice is on first-name terms with everybody in the village; she knows every nook, every corner. This familiarity helps her coordinate church efforts to rebuild local houses destroyed by the floods. “The priority is to give them a roof over their heads,” she says. “We’ve also been helping them to grow their own vegetables,” she adds. Every backyard has a garden that includes tomatoes, spinach, beans and mangoes. “It’s fine that they get rice, flour and lentils from the government. But they still need vegetables.” Some 70 miles south of Wayanad lies Palakkad — the hottest place in Kerala. During peak summer months of March through May, temperatures soar to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Mango trees blossom here in December, which is winter in the rest of the state. Yet Palakkad also witnessed landslides in 2019. “Palakkad is drought-ridden year after year,” says the Rev. Jacob Mavunkal, director of People’s Service Society Palakkad (P.S.S.P.), the social service wing of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Palghat. “But 2018 proved that we’re also prone to floods; 2019 confirmed the floods weren’t a one-off and that we should expect this from now on.” The eparchy turned 35 parish halls into relief camps for some 10,000 people. Father Mavunkal says the local church needs to be ready for this situation again. “The church is worried and concerned about those who work in agriculture because landslides mean those in remote areas lose their only way of making a living,” he says. “We’re making sure women are able to be financially independent. So we’re giving them sewing machines so they can earn money,” Father Mavunkal says, adding that P.S.S.P. works with 130 churches in the eparchy.
The climate may change, but our commitment to their future will not #WeAreCNEWA
“We help people irrespective of their religion. We help any family who needs our help,” he says. The organization now also helps to rebuild and reconstruct homes that were lost in the landslides, to repair damaged houses and to help people reclaim lost lands and livelihoods. In Puthanur village in Palakkad, Valli Mallampalla lost her six goats in the floods. “That was my livelihood. I’d sell milk and make a bit of money,” she says. P.S.S.P. has provided her with three goats to help her earn money. Down the road from Ms. Mallampalla live Omana Appu and her husband. They’re both daily wage workers, even though Mrs. Appu has not been able to work due to a back injury. Their home was destroyed in the heavy rains that lashed the area for more than a week. “We don’t have any land or house documents or indeed anything to prove that this land is ours,” Mrs. Appu says. “So we’re not entitled to get any compensation from the government.” P.S.S.P. now covers the costs of rebuilding. A mile farther down the road lives Ambika V., in the village of Vallapurathu. A widow, Ambika alone supports her elderly mother. Her house was also destroyed in the heavy rain last August.
“We managed to survive last year’s rain, but not this year’s,” she says. The local church is stepping in to cover the costs of roof repairs that she cannot. The floods of the last two years have tested the people of India. But through indomitable faith, and the support of the strong community of love in India’s churches, tragedy can bring to light an even greater hope. “We’re hoping Palakkad will adopt more environmentally friendly practices,” Father Mavunkal says. “We can’t afford to be ill-prepared for a situation like this again.” Anubha George is a former BBC editor and writes on Kerala culture. Based in Cochin, her work has been published in Scroll.in and The Good Men Project, among others. She also teaches journalism at India’s leading media schools.
FOR MORE FROM ANUBHA GEORGE, ALONG WITH A VIDEO ON INDIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE: cnewa.org/blog
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Accompanying the Church
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A letter from
Armenia by Hovsep Galstian with photographs by Nazik Armenakyan
’m not the best example of a servant, a sower of the seeds of the Gospel, a witness of dedication to the work of evangelization in Armenia. Just the same, I hope to provide a glimpse of the life of a priest serving the Armenian Catholic Church in the Caucasus — and more specifically, a married priest. The Lord has invited me to carry out two vocations. I pray constantly for the graces of meekness, prudence and fortitude to persevere, pleasing my Lord and my family, with respect to both vocations. Prayer must accompany this journey. But I have to say, this struggle brings me great joy when I see the little fruits of my efforts. I earned a master’s degree in theology in the Yerevan State University, Armenia, in 2005, and then for two years I served in compulsory military service in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been an object of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 1989. While serving as an artillery soldier, I occasionally thought of the priestly vocation as a way to contribute to the creation of peace, which we have been so lacking for more than 30 years. After that, I began to work as a reporter for a local television news program, then as a columnist and as a broadcaster for Radio Maria Armenia; there, I began to think more seriously about the possibility of a priestly vocation, being motivated mainly by the homilies of the popes and the biographies of the saints, about whom I was writing columns and radio broadcasts. By the time I firmly decided to start the preparation for priesthood, I was already married. In 2013, as I began to work as the editor and The Rev. Hovsep Galstian visits the village of Ghazanchi in Armenia’s Shirak region.
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columnist for the official website of the Armenian Catholic Ordinariate, I was also beginning preparation for priesthood under the direction of the parish priest of Gyumri, who eventually became my spiritual father and friend. When I was ordained in 2016, I began in earnest my spiritual journey, which brings me indescribable happiness jointly with weariness — but, as the Gospel of St. Matthew has it, “my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
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serve as the parish priest of four Catholic communities — around 2,500 parishioners in total in the villages of Mets Sepasar, Sizavet, Bavra and Ghazanchi — that are located in the northern part of Armenia. Climatic conditions in this region are harsh and severe in winter; in the churches, prayer halls an youth centers where I pray and work, there is no normal heating, sometimes even basic supplies. But I’m happy, because I see the parishioners coming, praying and working with me very devotedly — especially the young, the children,
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who are the real essential present and future of our Catholic communities. Our youth cope not only with severe weather conditions and social insecurity, poverty and ecological issues, but they have inherited negative values from the Soviet era — the indifference of their parents and grandparents toward the religious practices and the excessive anxiousness caused by the sole focus on material well-being. These factors are potentially demotivating for the youth who have to contend with these concerns and overcome the lack of encouragement from their parents and peers alike. Nevertheless, together we have managed to schedule regular liturgies and devotions, and formed local youth groups for catechism classes, sponsor cultural and religious events, theatrical performances and peer discussions. The youth also publish a parish newspaper, compete in sporting events, learn traditional folk dance and even take English classes with the support of local organizations, especially Caritas Armenia.
p Father Galstian prays with elderly members of a senior day care center in Gyumri. z Pastoral visits to homes often include the sacrament of Reconciliation. u Father Galstian meets with youth of the village of Bavra.
Besides service to the parish, Archbishop Rafael Minassian has asked me to take on pastoral duties with Caritas. This position is new for the 25-year-old charity of the Armenian Catholic Church, of which the archbishop is president. And so I try to carry out my responsibilities with the diligence it deserves, and in line with the importance of its mission — relief for the poor of Armenia. My mission with Caritas is to instill a broader understanding of Catholic social teaching and how this teaching grounds Caritas Armenia as the charitable outreach of the Catholic Church. I have to put it, however, that this objective can be reached only through prayer.
“I pray incessantly for graces. … Prayer is the only way of success on this journey.”
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x Joined by the church choir, Father Galstian celebrates the Divine Liturgy in Mets Sipasar. u At home with his family, Father Galstian says grace.
“It is a challenge to juggle my priestly responsibilities with those of a husband and father of three children.” Together with the Caritas team, we have made space in our busy schedules for spiritual exercises as we contemplate and seek a deeper understanding of Catholic social teaching. Also, we have started workshops for staff members and volunteers alike, which take into account the particularities of our Armenian identity. Rooted in the Gospel, Catholic social teaching — with its focus on the development of the whole person, body, brain and soul — is fertile ground to deepen mutual respect and to find common ground among people of various backgrounds. In Armenia this includes Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and evangelical believers, as well as agnostics and atheists. We have found an interest in discussing these topics, encouraging us to continue.
I meet frequently with the beneficiaries of Caritas Armenia projects — children, teenagers, children with disabilities and the elderly — and I am often invited to speak on the Gospel or on the catechism. Last Christmas, we had theatrical performances in three Caritas centers — for the young, the elderly and children with disabilities. It was too hard for me to initiate and conduct all these events simultaneously, but the fruits have been many. Every achievement made by an elderly person or a child with special needs is a great reward and source of hope! I have also the pleasure of writing about all of these matters, and also on the activities of our priests and lay people for the website of the ordinariate, and for our parish newspaper. In 2019, I began a
series of radio programs on Radio Maria Armenia focusing on Catholic social teaching. I use these platforms to address many of the same topics I have mentioned above: the dangers of indifference, the negative consequences of consumerism, and the need to address low living standards throughout our communities.
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t is a challenge to juggle my priestly responsibilities with those of a husband and father of three children — a son and twin daughters. My son, 5-year-old Emmanuel, attends kindergarten; the twins, Shahane and Gayane, both 8, attend primary school. I’m trying to be a good father to them. My wife, Ann, works for Caritas Armenia in a project dedicated to inclusive education, and so we both
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share in the charitable mission of the church. As Ann works full time, I take care of the children, making sure they are at school or their music lessons in time, properly dressed and prepared. My daughters often like to do their homework with me. I also make time for games with my son. When he is in bed, he asks me to sit beside him and say my evening prayers just there, and to read him a bedtime story — whether a fairy tale or something from the Bible. My daughters do not ask me to sit with them at night; they have already grown up! My dear Ann shares in my priestly vocation: She understands and encourages me after my long days in the villages as I serve the people of God. Never an obstacle, she suggests new ideas and initiatives and relates her own work with Caritas — which focuses on advocating for equal and inclusive educational opportunities — with
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those we serve with joy. And together we make time for daily family prayers, which include the recitation of the Rosary, though it is very difficult with my noisy children! What I find most challenging is to nurture a family that can witness as a modest, devoted, prayerful unit, active in community life. We are far from being a model family, but I am called to work in that direction, with the help of God, in the same way that I myself have to be a model for the many whom I am called to serve — to resemble the words I preach as a servant of Jesus. The way of a married priest is challenging. But if God calls certain men in the Eastern churches to this vocation, then it is worth the toil; the Lord not only bestows grace, but offers abundant fruit! Perhaps the married priesthood is a jewel of the Lord’s church, which needs to be studied and evaluated properly. In all this joyful toil and turmoil, I am always trying to find some time
p Delivering supplies from Caritas to Ende families ma nit in fuga. need Ipiet is one harchit of Father eos ut Galstian’s et odita aceptam many regular necus con duties. cone simus, sintet licid quatus. u The priest travels to Ghazanchi to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.
to work. But when I fail to find it, I am sure that at least late at night, when everyone has fallen asleep, in deep and serene silence, I will sit at last and read some fine literature or mostly pray, pray, pray and ask divine graces to continue in a happy and hopeful manner. Oh! I am indeed happy, because, my Lord always hears my prayerful cries at night and abundantly pours over me his graces and love, through the intercession of my holy mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary! May God bless all of us to repeat someday these very words of St. Paul, in his second letter to Timothy: “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” n
“Perhaps the married priesthood is a jewel of the Lord’s church, which needs to be studied and evaluated properly.”
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Children in Need
Lessons in Success text by Maria Gerth-Niculescu with photographs by Petterik Wiggers
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W
hen he was 5 years old, Berhanu Kebede was enchanted by the large playground close to his house. So he made his way through the trees and played basketball with the children of the Kidane Mehret Catholic School. It was said to be a very good school, but his family was extremely poor and could not afford the tuition. The school compound is lush with trees and plants, located next to the only Catholic church in the city of Dessie, some 250 miles north of the capital, Addis Ababa. From kindergarten onward, its students receive an education centered on high-quality academic instruction, moral development and discipline. In Ethiopia, government schools usually do not provide pre-primary education, and Berhanu had not yet reached the age to attend first grade. So he spent his days around the church and the sports field. 22
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His fate changed when an Ursuline sister working for the kindergarten noticed him. The school offered him free enrollment, with expenses covered by the parish. Today, Berhanu is 26 years old and teaching at a private medical college while completing his master’s degree in microbiology. He says his scholarship throughout his school career prevented him from dropping out. “As my parents couldn’t cover school tuition fees, I would probably have worked at least half time, which would have weakened my academic opportunities. I think without the Catholic community, I wouldn’t be here today.” It has been six years since Berhanu left Kidane Mehret School, but the memories of his time there remain poignant. Dressed in his white teacher’s shirt, he recalls the hours spent in the library or playing soccer. Today, he is proud to provide financial
p Berhanu Kebede, a graduate of Kidane Mehret Catholic School, teaches at a nearby medical college. u High school students attend class at Kidane Mehret.
support to his mother, father and brother. After he completes his master’s degree, he says he wants to support his people and his country in combating antibioticresistant infections. “Most of our patients can’t kill [diseases] because of their resistance to the drugs,” he explains. “Drug resistance tests are not performed in our health facilities because of availability issues and the lack of qualified experts to set up, administer and read the tests. So I want to conduct research to help others.” Success stories such as Berhanu’s are common at Dessie’s Catholic school, run by Capuchin friars since 1931.
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n Ethiopia, most children attend public schools, where the education is free except for uniforms and school materials. Because of the large number of students and lack of facilities, classes are given during half-day shifts, and dropout rates are high — especially after the mandatory grades one through eight. Many students have to work after school or help their parents on their farms; some succumb to addictions, such as smoking or chewing khat, an amphetamine-like leaf widespread in the country. Frehiwot Megersa is an elementary school supervisor in Dessie, a city of some 600,000 people. The energetic woman goes from school to school to monitor teaching and evaluate the overall
quality of education provided. Over the years, she has witnessed how children, mainly girls, drop out at a young age. “Sometimes female students stop attending school to marry early and have a family,” she explains, “but now society is changing its attitude.” Now, she says, more and more girls are continuing with their studies — especially in urban areas. At Kidane Mehret School, girls now represent the majority of enrolled students. And they have grand ambitions: Most want to become doctors, pilots, engineers. The Rev. Matthewos Philipos, a Capuchin priest born in southern Ethiopia, has been running the Catholic school for almost two years. He also celebrates the Divine Liturgy every morning in the parish
church. Sitting behind his large desk in his brown habit and beige baseball cap, he reports with pride that academic performance is improving among the girls. He says the young women are also feeling increasingly comfortable discussing their health issues — a societal taboo and a common reason for absenteeism among girls throughout the country. At the time of its construction, Kidane Mehret School had been built on the outskirts of Dessie, in an area with many low-income families who had been struggling with famine and drought over the years. As the city expanded, the school also grew. Now families from all over town, including some middle- and upper-class families, send their children here.
“The church considers education for children as a way out of poverty — not only financial poverty, but also poverty of knowledge.”
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The
CNEWA Connection t The Rev. Matthewos Philipos has administered Kidane Mehret Catholic School for the past two years. u High school student Tersit Berhanu sits at home with her father and younger sister. y Students walk the grounds of Kidane Mehret.
Catholics constitute a small minority in Ethiopia. Yet the Catholic contribution to education is enormous, especially for the rural poor. Once denied a complete education, Catholic school graduates are attending colleges and universities and upon graduation are actively engaged in building a modern nation in commercial, private and public sectors. CNEWA supports many of the Catholic schools in this diverse country, including Kidane Mehret School in Dessie. To learn how you can be a part of this great work of the church, call: 1-800-442-6392 (United States) or 1-866-322-4441 (Canada). Religious identity does not play a role in the admission process, which is based solely on an entrance examination. About half the children enrolled are Muslim and half are Orthodox Christian, a rough representation of Ethiopia’s demographics. Catholics constitute a small minority — less than 1 percent of the country.
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s the day begins, students dressed in sky blue or green uniforms disembark from school buses and minivans amid the joyful morning bustle. Gradually, they form orderly rows in the middle of the schoolyard, bordered on one side by a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and by an ancient acacia tree on the other. At precisely 8:30, the children start singing the Ethiopian national anthem in unison. a timeless
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protective wall that long shielded the area from invaders. After the song, hundreds of children disperse quietly to their respective classrooms. A total of 1,070 students attend the school, divided into 29 classrooms. With more than 60 children per classroom, overcrowding has become a major challenge. When Fasil Eshetu began working at Kidane Mehret School 24 years ago, there were only 180 students. “The main problem is the shortage of classrooms,” explains the father of two. Mr. Eshetu began his service as a security guard, and has moved up to being the school’s finance administrator. “The government standard is 42 children per classroom,” he says, adding that the school lacks funds to build new facilities.
“Yesterday I had to refuse two girls who were begging me to attend our school,” Father Matthewos says with regret. Wooden benches built for two now have to be shared by three students. For lower grades, this is not a big problem, but high school students are cramped. And yet the number of students wishing to enroll is growing every year. This is mainly due to the school’s results — last year, 100 percent of 12th grade students were admitted to university. The school offers teachers better pay than government schools — attracting a high-quality faculty and incentivizing its performance. Teachers have to take an entrance examination and undergo a threemonth trial before being hired. Such strict policies are also popular with parents; students are not allowed to leave the compound during school hours, and are required to take a moral education class. To sustain a model of full-day classes and higher-level teaching, the school requires a monthly fee of 75 birr (less than $3), as well as an additional 320 birr (about $10) for the very popular Saturday tutorial classes. But most families in Dessie cannot afford this fee, as many children coming from very low socioeconomic backgrounds. Poverty is exacerbated by recurring drought and farmers’ dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Corruption is also a threat to the town’s development.
“Without the Catholic community, I wouldn’t be here today.”
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“Everything is becoming very expensive,” reports Tsegay Berhanu, the school’s unit leader. “For example, ten years ago the value of teff [the grain used to make Ethiopian bread], was less than 1,000 birr [about $30]. Do you know how much is it now? 3,400 birr [more than $100]. But salaries are not increasing, so people are suffering,” he adds. Malnourished children are still a common sight in Dessie’s streets, and families struggle to purchase adequate clothing, let alone school supplies. To provide opportunities to disadvantaged students, the school,
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supported by the local Catholic church, the Eparchy of Bahir-Dar, offers free education, uniforms and school material to 271 students. “The church considers education for children as a way out of poverty — not only financial poverty, but also poverty of knowledge,” says Argaw Fantu, CNEWA’s regional director for Ethiopia. As with similar Catholic schools throughout Ethiopia, he adds, Kidane Mehret is not a school for the wealthy.
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ersit Berhanu smiles timidly as she sits down beside her father, Berhanu, in their living room. The family of six shares
a one-bedroom house with a small garden. Berhanu lost his sight and is unable to work to support his family. “I am a beggar,” he says bluntly, with a voice full of regret. Every morning, he makes his way to the main bus station to ask for help to feed his children. Tersit’s mother, Mekeya, never finished her education and is grateful for the opportunity given to her daughter. She struggles to find daily labor to earn an income. Primary school students line up to pray according to their religious backgrounds before walking to class.
“I am very happy for her. I didn’t get such a chance,” she says. “If she manages her life, I will be very proud of her.” Tersit hopes to work as an accountant in a bank. The 17-yearold currently attends the ninth grade, and has to pass a regional examination next year to enter preparatory class for university. “It’s nice to be together as a large group,” she says when asked about the high number of students who qualify for the examination from Kidane Mehret. “But sometimes I am not able to achieve the results I want,” she adds. “The teacher doesn’t have time to correct the work of those who finish the exercises last. So I have to be fast.” To complete her homework, she takes an old, small table into the living room — the only place in the house with chairs and sufficient lighting. The rest of the time, the table has to stay outside because of limited space. Berhanu admires his daughter’s resilience despite the challenges she is facing. “It is difficult for me to provide food for the family. But Tersit never refuses what we give her for lunch, even if it is just some bread. She never complains.” Youth such as Tersit typically do not have a computer at home. But Ethiopia’s education and administration are accelerating digitalization; many students first use a keyboard in the school’s technology room. Kidane Mehret is one of the only elementary schools in Dessie to offer computer classes. Here again, the school falls victim to its own success: Around seven students share one computer as they learn to type and compose spreadsheets. This will be important for their life after school — especially in university, where research papers and other assignments will be completed on computers. This year,
We’re helping give them the keys to success #WeAreCNEWA
for the first time, the entrance examination to university will be taken digitally. But even the facility’s high school lacks computers. “Now is the time of technology,” says vice principal Shiferaw Mohammed. “Students have to know how to use the technology. According to the standards, there should be one computer per student.” Despite these shortcomings, students are not dropping out. And every year, a greater number passes the university entrance examination. Former students at Kidane Mehret School have become health workers, or even renowned scientists, such as Israel Abebe, who helped launch Ethiopia’s first satellite into space last year. Another former student, Azarias Reda, is the chief data officer of the U.S. Republican Party. But others still struggle. Youth unemployment rates in Ethiopia are surging by the year. Thousands of young engineers are without a job. “Most students are living in their family home after completing their education,” says Tsegay Berhanu. “Most students, even if they
complete a degree in engineering, are here [just] roaming in the town. We are very much afraid of this.” The students, he adds, are not unaware of the challenges facing even those who succeed in their education. “Our students are afraid,” he says. Yet, Mr. Berhanu has hope. “You cannot stop learning because there is no job. You must learn to live in this global world,” he says. “There might be a time of change, where educated students will get a job. So we will teach them, and students will learn.” Maria Gerth-Niculescu is a freelance journalist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has worked for France 24 and Deutsche Welle.
WATCH FOR MORE ABOUT CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA AND AN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO ONLINE AT: cnewa.org/blog
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from CNEWA’s world
An Ancient Church, A New Ukraine by Anna Nekrasova
Editors’ note: Some 30 years ago, dramatic changes were unfolding in the U.S.S.R. that would affect the lives of tens of millions of Soviet citizens, and the lives of their immediate neighbors. As the Soviet Union crumbled, socioeconomic and political forces redrew the map of a massive portion of the globe.The impact was especially pronounced in Ukraine, where Christians who had worshiped in secret climbed out from the shadows and faced the world openly. For three decades, CNEWA has watched this remarkable drama
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unfold, and has accompanied and supported our partners in the region to help Christianity once again take root and grow — walking with the local churches, planning with them, praying with them, helping them to rebuild. We have documented these events in the pages of this magazine and on our blog, bringing to our readers and benefactors the inspiring accounts of new life and hope from Ukraine to Armenia as well as the stories of people still recovering from the often violent instability of the post-Soviet world. The unwavering faith of the people
has been powerful and humbling to behold — and reminded us of something that Msgr. John E. Kozar has said often: “Pentecost isn’t over … it continues today.” In this edition of ONE, we bear witness to that — bringing together for the first time some of the most important voices and key players in this remarkable story in the life of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, to tell the history that was made and the future that is still waiting to be lived among the committed and courageous people of that community of faith.
Faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church visit the Marian Spiritual Center in the village of Zarvanytsia in western Ukraine.
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hree decades ago, the Greek Catholic Church in Soviet Ukraine — at the time the largest outlawed faith community in the world — emerged from the catacombs, heralding the collapse of the Soviet Union and the birth of an independent Ukrainian state. Two years later, in 1991, Ukraine achieved its sovereignty and the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Myroslav Ivan Cardinal Lubachivsky, returned to Ukraine from his long exile in the West. Ukrainian society has since sought to throw off the yoke of its
Soviet past in favor of more Western principles. This transformational odyssey, however, remains a struggle socially, politically and culturally. “The collapse of the Soviet Union marked the beginning of a new era, not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe,” says the current head of the church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of KyivHalych. “We are just beginning to comprehend the ecumenical, social and international consequences of this event,” he adds, including “the legalization of the church and its entry back into society.” As Greek Catholics — bishops, priests, religious and laity — emerged from their hiding after more than four decades of suppression, he continues, we had to explain “who Greek Catholics were, why we were Catholics, what our mission was, and what role this church could play in Ukrainian society.” This process grew more complicated. After the state recognized the legal identity of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, local governments began to return to the church those properties the Soviet government had transferred to the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate when liquidating the Greek Catholic Church in 1946. Threatened with the loss of parish communities, priestly vocations and income, the Moscow Patriarchate reacted to these property transfers with hostility, fearing the loss of Kyiv itself, which many Russians consider the “mother of all Russian cities.” Thus, even the restitution of humble village churches threatened to nullify high level Catholic-Orthodox advances in dialogue after hundreds of years of antipathy.
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he Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church belongs to the family of Catholic and
Orthodox churches that descend from the baptism of the Eastern Slavic peoples into the Byzantine form of Christianity in the year 988 in the city of Kyiv. These Eastern Slavs, known collectively as the Rus’, had formed a loose confederation of principalities — with Kyiv at its center — that had reached its zenith in the 11th and 12th centuries. But even as the Rus’ deferred to the grand prince of Kyiv and the metropolitan archbishop “of Kyiv and all the Rus’,” their princes vied with one another for power and control of the trade routes that linked the Baltic and Black seas. The power and wealth of these Rusyn cities grew, however, at the expense of Kyivan Rus’, exposing the realm’s weaknesses to more powerful neighbors, such as the Lithuanians and Poles. None were as fierce as the Mongols, however, who overran Kyivan Rus’ in the 1230’s and in the year 1240 laid waste to Kyiv, killing or enslaving most of its inhabitants. The “Mongol Yoke” — as the scribes of the time described the vassalage of the Rus’ by the Mongols — endured for more than 200 years. Ultimately, it had significant ramifications for the Eastern Slavs of Kyivan Rus’, as it divided them into four peoples — modern Belorussians, Carpatho-Rusyns, Russians and Ukrainians — and into multiple Catholic and Orthodox jurisdictions of the one church as founded in Kyiv in its Byzantine form.
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hrough much of its history, the Greek Catholic Church has played an important role in civil society, particularly in the historic Rusyn areas of Halych and Volhynia, which were later annexed by the Lithuanians and Poles after the collapse of Kyivan Rus’. “It was a church that often performed the functions of the state
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“You cannot teach the faith, it can only be passed on.” In this undated photo from the late Soviet era, Greek Catholics attend a secret liturgy in Ukraine.
for a stateless people,” says the major archbishop, “Rusyns who lived on their own territory, but were subject to foreign rule.” Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, who now shepherds the Ukrainian Greek Catholic community in the United Kingdom, recalls those early days of the church’s rebirth in the 1990’s, when he served Cardinal Lubachivsky as his chief of staff in Lviv. It is important to have buildings and structures, he says, but that “buildings without a well-formed community, without well-formed and educated people, are going to remain empty buildings.” “One of the challenges of a church coming from the underground is probably not that different from the early church
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of the apostles. Did they have church files? Did they have a bank account? How did that all work?” he asks. The cardinal gathered around him highly skilled men and women to form a curia. This body would develop systems to form church members in accordance with the tenets of the faith; document sacramental usage; and nurture religious and lay vocations in service to the church — and for the common good of a newly independent nation. The curia also introduced volunteerism on a broad scale, an uncommon concept at the time in Ukraine; established guidelines for the distribution of humanitarian assistance; and developed best practices necessary for financial transparency and accurate programmatic reporting. By setting high standards, these initiatives of the revived Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church assisted the Ukrainian state, too. As head of Caritas Ukraine, the social service charity of the Catholic churches in Ukraine, Bishop Nowakowski and his team worked with governmental and nongovernmental entities to develop guidelines regulating charities in Ukraine. The bishop points out that the Catholic Church in the West was especially helpful. In addition to its support for humanitarian aid and the development of monastic and religious life, he says, “I have to emphasize the great role of our benefactors in the West, whether in Canada or the United States, Europe or Australia, who really helped us with funds to support the curia and its administrative functions. “It is always difficult to raise funds for administrative expenses,” he adds.
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he collapse of the Soviet Union gave impetus to “the liberation of the person in that new space that began to exist,” says Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, adding that to “become free is not so easy. “You can gain external freedom where and when the external shackles have fallen, and we have started to build a new democratic society,” he continues. But responsibility-related freedom, he stresses, is not just an external legal reality. “Freedom is a spiritual aspect of a person’s life. Ukraine is still in the process of healing its wounds and at the stage of maturation.” Father Oleksa Petriv, who leads the church’s external relations efforts in Ukraine, notes that “one of the most difficult challenges facing Ukrainian society is paternalism” — that is, the belief that only the state can take care of society and solve society’s problems. “The hope is that a good man, no matter what his position — secretary of the Communist Party, governor, local administrator or president — will come and arrange everything,” he explains. Such submission to the state undermines the innate dignity of every human being, stripping them of the will and the ability to work, crushing initiative and thus, he says, reducing individuals to mere consumers. This suppression of the spirit lies at the core of much of society’s ills, the priest adds. Overcoming such negative phenomena in Ukraine has intensified since the beginning of the Maidan Movement in 2013, when thousands of students and advocates gathered in a square in the center of Kyiv and called for closer ties to the West. The protestors — who urged the then president and his government to listen to the people, condemned violence and the divisions in
society, and insisted on dialogue and calls for justice — were met instead with a hail of bullets on 18 February 2014. Snipers injured more than a 1,000 protestors and killed a hundred or more. A few days afterward, the Ukrainian president fled to Moscow. “Events are moving rapidly in Ukraine,” Archbishop Borys Gudziak recalled in the pages of this magazine in 2014. As president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv at the time, he had participated in the Maidan events. “The Ukrainian
nation has matured considerably in the last half year, leaving behind entrenched fear and moving toward claiming its God-given dignity,” he added. “The movement that has mobilized millions has at its foundation the fundamental desire for people to live in dignity, claiming it and protecting it, even at the ultimate price: one’s own life. Ukrainian Greek Catholics celebrate the return of their faith to public life in the early 1990’s. Ende ma nit fuga. Ipiet harchit eos ut et odita aceptam necus con cone simus, sintet licid quatus.
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“Together Ukrainians gathered in Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square] grasping for something transcendental — in fact, for something fundamentally spiritual,” added the archbishop, who is now the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia.
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oving away from the Soviet way of thinking has been a long and difficult journey; so, too, the rethinking of Ukraine’s national
Synod of Bishops in 2001, the church appealed to priests who work directly with church communities to take interest in the civil responsibilities of their parishioners and to cooperate with local governments in this area. Today, Greek Catholic priests charge their parishioners to be aware and active not only in their own parish communities, but also in their local communities. This is a stark change from the Soviet era, when most Ukrainians survived by “living carefully.”
Ende ma nit fuga. Ipiet harchit eos ut et odita aceptam necus con cone simus, sintet licid quatus.
and recognition in the history of Ukrainian society,” he concludes. One of the most helpful tools in the church’s wheelhouse, according to Father Oleksa Petriv, is “the depth of the sermon. “By the power of the word, in the sermon the priest encourages his flock to think about it in the context of the faith and the church,” he says, adding that those priests who only “pray behind the pulpit and only baptize and bury are relics of the Soviet era.” Priests are now actively involved in the life of the community life, he says, attending village assemblies, offering counsel and reminding people how important it is to think about the future, urging them to become active members of their communities and to take action. Father Volodymyr Malchyn, who now heads the church’s communications and fundraising efforts, believes that everyone exists not only to realize their own talents and grow personally, but to work for the common good, expressing his belief that “only in this way can one be happy.”
H identity. For centuries, Ukraine has been subjugated by competing states, bridged Eastern and Western cultures, and has witnessed its church subjugated and divided. Now, as Ukrainians grow in self-awareness and self-confidence, the Greek Catholic Church is better poised to play an important role in the development of a mature civil society. The church advocates that members of the laity and clergy should participate in public life, and that such efforts are an integral part of the Christian vocation. In its
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As Archbishop Gudziak notes, familiar proverbs such as “better to have your house at the edge of the village,” “don’t get too involved,” “initiative is punishable” and “we wanted things to work out, but they turned out as always” expressed fear. As Ukrainian society moves forward, especially since the events of Maidan, there has been a “collective renunciation of fear and the proclamation of identity, solidarity and self-determination, virtually unprecedented in scope
alf an hour northeast of Kyiv, near the village of Kniazhychi (population 5,202), lies Three Holy Hierarchs Seminary. Established in 2010 by the previous major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, Cardinal Liubomyr Huzar, the new seminary replaces one that once prepared men for the priesthood until its closure by the Russian Tsarist government after the dissolution of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. z A Greek Catholic priest stands by the chapel tent during protests in the Maidan in late 2013. u Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop Borys Gudziak addresses a crowd on the Maidan, 11 December 2013.
In the new facility’s first year only 13 men had enrolled; today, nearly 75 students, from eastern and western Ukraine, are preparing for the priesthood. “You cannot teach the faith, it can be only passed on,” says Roman Kichula, a 20-year-old seminarian in his fourth year of studies, as he serves lunch in the seminary refectory. He believes God calls all to serve, but in different ways. His own father is a priest in northeastern Ukraine, but he decided to study at the seminary on his own.
“One of the main missions of this seminary is to give the opportunity for the new generation, born after the 1990’s, to study in the conditions in which they will serve,” says the rector, the Rev. Petro Zhuk. Before Three Holy Hierarchs opened, Ukrainian Greek Catholics interested in priesthood studied in western Ukraine, where the life and position of the Greek Catholic Church differs dramatically from its life and position in central or eastern parts of the country.
“The challenges here [in central Ukraine] are different,” continues the rector. Communities are smaller and ministry takes place under less than customary conditions, such as home liturgies. But, he adds, this is where and how “young men discern their vocations to the priesthood; they see how priests serve and understand that they are called not only to build churches, but to build a community to unite it.” When construction of the seminary began, the villagers were skeptical. Father Petro recalls
“Ukraine is still in the process of healing its wounds.”
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“It helps to build in Ukraine what we call civil society, where everyone feels connected.” people questioning the need for a seminary: “ ‘Let’s build a pool for the village; that will improve our infrastructure.’ “That illustrated the gulf created by the Soviet system that left the church on the margins of society” he says. Over time, this attitude has changed among the locals through the work of the seminary community. As they prayed, they began to take an active role locally, socially and environmentally. Moreover, they appealed to the local authorities and offered to partner with them to help people in need. Steeped in knowledge of and experience with Catholic social teaching — primarily through
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Caritas — they grew to understand the seminary community could not only help the village address its problems, but also give the local authorities the opportunity to help them solve them. Seminarians interact with the residents in a number of ways, engaging them spiritually in catechesis and Bible readings and discussions, as well as engaging local residents in solving practical issues in the village together. They clean forests, recreation areas and abandoned cemeteries. Together with the village council, they maintain statistics on low-income families and those with special needs, visiting them and collecting financial assistance for them,
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk is enthroned as head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Kyiv on 27 March 2011.
utilizing local resources. Thus, the seminary community teaches the local community to care for each other, to be in solidarity and to be considerate of one another. “The priest not only plays the role of spiritual leader, but also becomes the central figure in the building of civil society,” says Father Petro Zhuk, “a society that develops, a society that cares for its children, for its sick, infirm, a society that cares for its environment. “It helps to build in Ukraine what we call civil society, where everyone
feels connected and responsible for these processes — not standing aside, but taking an active part.”
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n building up a modern nation, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church participates with other national institutions in the National Transformation of Ukraine Forum, where the major archbishop is a member of the supervisory board. Church representatives participate in various initiatives in the lawmaking process, joining in working groups and commissions of various reforms efforts, such as constitutional, judicial, educational, pension and land use. An important component of the church’s activities is to inform and educate citizens of these reforms, explaining their essence. “In fact, all socially important state reforms are not without our involvement,” says Father Oleksa Petriv. The church has established a network of training centers for financial literacy, an initiative that will be introduced to the curriculum of Ukraine’s schools next year. Children in western Ukraine, meanwhile, have begun studying the “Fundamentals of Christian Ethics,” which was introduced by local regional councils on the advice of the churches of Ukraine, including the Greek Catholic Church. Among the major challenges facing Ukraine today is corruption, and the church has set up an initiative to counter corruption, heightening awareness of the problem among the clergy through conferences and seminars that in turn activate the laity to counteract it. “The world has yet to come up with a perfect state mechanism to fight corruption … but the center of corrupt decision-making is located right between our ears,” says Father Oleksa Petriv. Forming consciences is the church’s primary means of combating corruption, explaining
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that corruption is a sin as well as a criminal act and urging people to think about the consequences of this in a spiritual way when confronted with such temptations. A corrupt individual, spiritual directors emphasize, is not only the one who offers the bribe, but the one who accepts it as well. In recent years, issues of war, the conditions of prisoners and religious oppression have dominated Ukrainian society. Much attention is paid to these matters at working meetings of The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. One of the most influential and respected institutions in Ukraine, the council began in 1996, and represents more than 90 percent of believers in Ukraine. The council is an effective tool to consolidate the efforts of churches and other religious communities in their common concern for the wellbeing of all Ukrainians, especially those most in need. Through the council’s activities, religious communities demonstrate that, despite dogmatic and jurisdictional divisions, they can work together for the sake of the common good and to ensure fundamental principles, such as human rights and freedom. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk says there is a thirst for
church unity in Ukrainian society. People expect Christians to “share in common witness and action.” During the events on the Maidan in late 2013 and early 2014, people of different denominations prayed in one “ecumenical tent” and invited members of all denominations and religious communities to join them. The war in the east, pitting Russian-backed separatists against the state, has also become a catalyst for the search for unity among Christians. “At the front, the bullet does not differentiate whether you are Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. Everyone looks in the same eyes of death. And they feel themselves as Christians and believe in one and the same God,” the church leader says. As for denominational hierarchical structures, he thinks they have not yet caught up with public hunger for unity. The global Christian community has achieved more in this direction than Christians in Ukraine. “There is no official ecumenical dialogue in Ukraine today. We are trying to start it somehow,” he says, but “on the part of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, we try not to quarrel with anyone and work with everyone. We want to cooperate for
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the good of the Ukrainian people with everyone who wants such cooperation.” Dialogue, he continues, is an essential tool to help prevent and resolve misunderstandings. And the most important goal, according to the head of the Greek Catholic Church, is to preserve religious peace in Ukraine, which is a matter of national security, too.
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eaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — bishops, priests, religious and lay — question how to retain tradition and yet remain relevant in the modern world. First of all, the major archbishop explains, the church must understand and address not only modern man’s needs, doubts and wounds, but how modern man is different from man in the 1990’s. “To be contemporary,” he says, we as church need to provide pastoral care for the people of today. And that means — as the basic components of any society are community and family — that family life is central for the church today. And one of the main tools of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to help keep families strong is a program of marriage encounters. Marriage encounters first began as a movement in Poland more than 41 years ago, and later in Ukraine by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. Initially charged with teaching catechism for children, the sisters realized this was not enough; as the children returned to their families, parents were unable or unwilling to talk to each other and live according to Christian principles. And so three-day retreats for married couples began to be held in the bosom of the church. Martha and Andriy Svystun, who are marriage encounter animators in Kyiv, have been involved in this pastoral movement for more than
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17 of their 22 years of marriage. They both cite dialogue as the charism of their work: “everything our community teaches is how to conduct this dialogue to help make you feel loved, both at the time of your family’s beginnings, and 20, 30 and 40 years after that,” Martha Svystun says. This dialogue is based on four basic principles: first, “share more than argue … listen more than to speak … understand more than judge, and the last is to forgive,” she says. Helping and inspiring others helps the Svystuns as a couple, strengthening their marriage. Since its beginnings, more than 500 couples have attended marriage encounter weekends in Kyiv, and the movement in Ukraine alone includes more than 2,500 active couples. Last year, the Kyiv community launched a series of premarital meetings to help young couples get to know themselves better in preparation for their future. “We help our children create the field of love on which they grow,” says Mrs. Svystun. “This will help them in the future with families they create.” According to her husband, everything in society begins with the family, but the family as an institution is now in crisis. He recalls the words of the major archbishop, who once said that in the “times of the underground, the family saved the church. Now it is the duty of the church to pay attention to the family.”
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owadays, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church recognizes that it is both a local and a global church. It is concerned with both Ukrainian national issues, and communicates with the worldwide family of Christians. No longer confined to Central Europe, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church includes
more than five million believers spread throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. Of its 33 eparchies and exarchates, 18 are located outside Ukraine, making this church the largest Eastern church in full communion with the bishop of Rome. “Today our church is local and global, Ukrainian and international, traditional and modern,” concludes Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. A sister of the Order of St. Basil the Great plays with kindergarteners in Lviv.
“We are not just an exclusive church for Ukrainians only,” adds Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski. “We have many members who are of various ethnic backgrounds.” Populism, which is trending in Ukraine and in many countries around the world, grows as politicians promise instant and easy change, says the Rev. Volodymyr Malchyn. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, however, understands that positive change cannot be imposed nor can it be rushed. He notes the church advocates the necessity of
democratic principles so the church may assist in building a healthy civil Ukraine that also allows its Christians to embody Christian values. Father Oleksa Petriv compares the church to the keel of a ship that holds the course for society: “In these storms today, the church, with its timeless dogmas, helps us to withstand our tumultuous times. “The storms will pass and the ocean will calm down, but the direction of motion remains unchanged.”
Anna Nekrasova is a Kyiv-based journalist and producer from Ukraine, working with international media such as USA TODAY, Die Zeit and The Wall Street Journal.
LOOK FOR MORE ON UKRAINE BY ANNA NEKRASOVA, ALONG WITH A VIDEO FROM THE FIELD, AT: cnewa.org/blog
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Ende ma nit fuga. Ipiet harchit eos ut et odita aceptam necus con cone simus, sintet licid quatus.
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Focus
on the world of CNEWA
“The cross to us is more than just a symbol. It is a signpost that points to the Resurrection, the means of our salvation.”
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hile changing channels on television, and being confronted by a myriad of religious broadcasters representing a broad spectrum of approaches in theology or preaching styles — some of the “fire and brimstone” variety, and others of the “everything is beautiful” approach — I wonder how confusing this must be to our Catholic public. Maybe our own clergy sometimes have added to the confusion.
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Some preachers seem to accent only the cross and Good Friday, while others fix only on the glory of the Resurrection and “Alleluia!” Which is it? Are we a church that only identifies with Christ on the cross or are we an “Alleluia” Easter people? The poor and the suffering in world of CNEWA have taught that the answer is both. We are sum total of what happened
the me the on
Good Friday, when Jesus suffered and died for all of us, and we are a people transformed by his complete victory on Easter, when he conquered sin and death for all of us by his Resurrection. In the same way, the people we serve are both bearers of the cross, people of hardship and suffering, but also proclaimers of his Resurrection, people who live continually in hope.
t Coptic children in Upper Egypt display their crosses, received at baptism. p Msgr. Kozar and Syro-Malankara Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas Aerath help lay the cornerstone for a church in a remote village in India.
Friday and brings them to the fullness of Christ’s victory at Easter.
I do not use this phrase lightly, but I strongly feel the poor whom we serve are the true Easter people. They hold up the cross, but always connect it with Easter and the victory of our Lord. Whether they are people in flight — those being forced from their homeland yet again — or others who are excluded from having any rights or privileges, they are people filled with hope. And hope rules their day — a hope that takes them beyond Good
I recall personal examples from my travels. There were those in parts of Iraq who proudly adorned their humble homes with crosses at the risk of being singled out by ISIS; there were the little children in Egypt who proudly showed me their tattooed crosses inked on their wrists. There were the faithful Christians kissing a cross that was sewn into my vestment following Holy Mass, and biblical reenactments done by children, highlighting Christ on the cross, and handpainted crosses affixed to the wall on “temporary” worship sites. I remember catechumens making a profound sign of the cross as a proud gesture of welcome. I will carry these and countless other memories in my heart for the rest of my life. They remind me of something so beautiful and true about all who call ourselves “Christian”: The cross
to us is more than just a symbol. It is a signpost that points to the Resurrection, the means of our salvation. Your support of CNEWA with prayer and financial gifts, and the accompaniment that CNEWA offers the Eastern Catholic churches, sustains all those we serve in hope. You help to make them strong bearers of the cross and proclaimers of the Good News. They do not want our sympathy; rather, they invite us to share with them in the victory of the cross. Thank you for making this, and so much more, possible. May God bless you. Happy Easter.
Msgr. John. E. Kozar
MSGR. KOZAR HAS MORE THOUGHTS ON THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF EASTER IN A VIDEO ONLINE. FOR MORE JUST VISIT:
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cnewa.org/blog
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