He came to see his people and his people responded. The Eparchy of New Westminster was abuzz Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 with the visit of their shepherd, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. The eparchy celebrated with a moleben (a prayer service), the blessing of a newly christened eparchial house, and Divine Liturgies (Mass) in Vancouver and Kelowna.
Before the man known to the Ukrainian faithful as His Beatitude settled into his official functions, he sat down with The B.C. Catholic for an exclusive interview.The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church discussed the reemergence of the church after its liquidation by the Soviets, its current struggles and successes, Orientalium Ecclesiarum, and the possibility of elevation to patriarchate status.
Archbishop Shevchuk was travelling with Metropolitan Ihor Vozniak, CSsR, of Lviv; Bishop Peter Stasiuk, CSsR, of Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania; and Bishop Daniel Kozlinksky of Argentina. Their accommodations were at the Bishop Jerome Chimy Eparchial Centre in New Westminster.
After being greeted by Eparch Ken Nowakowski of New Westminster and several Ukrainian faithful, Archbishop Shevchuk blessed the dazzling new eparchial centre in New Westminster. Several special guests were on hand, including Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, Ukrainian Catholic priests, and civil leaders Mayor Wayne Wright of New Westminster, NDP MLA Dawn Black, and NDP MP Fin Donnelly.
Later that evening Major Archbishop Shevchuk led a moleben at Holy Eucharist Cathedral. Parishioners welcomed him with bread and salt, a Ukrainian tradition.
After the moleben Major Archbishop Shevchuk attended a reception in the cathedral's basement, where he was presented with gifts.
The next day Major Archbishop Shevchuk celebrated Divine Liturgy at Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary (St. Mary's) Church in Vancouver.
In attendance were Archbishop Miller and priests from the Ukrainian eparchy and the Archdiocese of Vancouver, as well as other Orthodox leaders and an Anglican. The major archbishop has made it one of his goals as the Ukrainian Catholic leader to dialogue with Orthodox Christians.
From the Lower Mainland Archbishop Shevchuk set off on a four-day whirlwind tour of B.C., finishing his visit to the Eparchy.
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"Head East, careless reporter!" (Catholic World Report)
September 02, 2012 11:57 ESTBy Carl E. OlsonThe Vancouver Sun has a most curious pieceabout the recent visit of Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to British Columbia. For whatever reason, the reporter failed rather badly at getting the facts straight about some essential subjects:
Patriarch Shevchuk, 42, is back to Vancouver as the youngest “Catholic” bishop in the world, says his Canadian colleague, Ken Nowakowski, the Ukrainian-Catholic bishop for B.C. and Yukon.
Eventhough the Ukrainian Catholic Church follows Eastern Orthodox rituals and has an arms-length relationship with the Vatican, Shevchuk’s election as Ukrainian patriarch, or main archbishop, was confirmed last year by Pope Benedict XVI.
Wha....? Why the scare quotes around "Catholic"? The Patriarch is just as Catholic as the Pope. Why is that difficult to grasp? And the bit about the Ukrainian Catholic Church following "Eastern Orthodox rituals" is strange; this bit, from further on in the piece, is even worse:
Ukrainian Catholics do not follow the so-called Latin rite, but tend to blend Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Their church services generally adhere to what is called the Byzantine rite.
Come again? Anyone who has ever been to a Ukrainian Catholic parish knows there is no "blending" of "Roman Catholicism" and "Eastern Orthodoxy", but simply Catholicism of the Byzantine or Greek variety (or"rite", if you prefer), which, again, is just as Catholic as the Catholicism of the Western or Latin variety. Here's a handy little chart to help with the basic breakdown. As my pastor, Fr. Richard Janowicz said about the quote: "What kind of tending, and what kind of blending? And 'generally adhere to what is called...' GENERALLY? What do they adhere to the rest of the time?"
Fr. Janowicz also took exception to this paragraph:
An official reason for the patriarch’s visit is to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival on Canadian soil of the country’s first Ukrainian Catholic Bishop, Nykyta Budka. A fierce advocate of independence from the Vatican, Budka spent 15 years in Canada before returning to Ukraine in 1927. He died of starvation in a gulag after Soviet forces imprisoned nearly all Ukrainian Catholic bishops followingthe Second World War.
He notes that Bp. Budka's Wikipedia entry(accessible even in Canada!) states that the Bishop was "appointed the Bishop for Canada on July 15, 1912, and consecrated on October 14 that year. In Canada, he became known as a strident defender of the autonomy of the Ukrainian church from the Latin hierarchy, and a fierce opponent of missionary actives amongst Ukrainian Canadian by Russian Orthodox and Protestant churches, and of secularism." Fr. Janowiz writes:
Just as in the US, the Canadian Latin bishops were not always helpful or friendly to the Greek Catholics, and in fact, sometimes opposed them altogether. This has absolutely nothing to do with "independence from the Vatican"....which is the reporter's slant.
Of course, any time there is conflict within the Catholic Church—which is all of the time, for two thousand years and counting—thedefault angle for many reporters is the dread "Vatican" versus Take Your Pick of Heroic Persons (Even If They Haven't Volunteered).
To be fair, the reporter's confusion is one shared by many Catholics. As Christopher Warner wrote in his August 17th Catholic World Report essay, "Both Lungs", far too many Catholics know little or nothing about Eastern Christianity, both Catholic and Orthodox:
BlessedJohn Paul II called for the Church to breathe with “both lungs,” incorporatingthe rich traditions of both the East and West. In 2011, Pope Benedict’s generalintention for the month of November was “that the Eastern Catholic Churches andtheir venerable traditions may be known and esteemed as a spiritual treasurefor the whole Church.” Most Roman Catholics, however,have yet to discover how this can be practically achieved.
Warner's piece is the first of several pieces about Eastern Christianity that CWR will be publishing in the months to come. The goalis not just educational, as important as that is, but is aimed at a deeper understanding and appreciation of the real catholicity of the Church, which in turn results in a deeper, richer faith in Christ. Warner expressed this very well:
Because Eastern Catholics are a minority, they mustfaithfully preserve their tradition and not be tempted to “Latinize” theirpractices. Roman Catholics, on the other hand, should seek out some amount ofliturgical and intellectual exposure to the Christian East for spiritual andcultural enrichment.
As John Paul the Great knew, inthe current war against secularism, both lungs are necessary in order toprovide enough “oxygen” for the spiritual battle raging in today’s world. TheEastern perspective expands the arsenal of the Western Church’s theology andprayer life. So, on the one hand, breathing with both lungs reinforces theChurch Militant, but it is also an invitation to broaden one’s horizon througha beautiful encounter with Christ, who is new every morning. ...
The East complements the Westernneed to act upon the world with missionary zeal by being more singularlyfocused on the liturgical and interior spiritual life of Christianity than itsRoman counterpart.
Christians, East and the West, areall called to holiness and believe the same truths, but the Eastern “feminine” view is different than the analogous masculineperspective. The Eastern Church offers a different vocabulary, a unique lens onthe Catholic faith through a liturgical encounter with God.
Do read his entire essay. Along similar lines, see my January 2006 This Rock article, "The Rite Not To Be Roman".
 About the Author Carl E. Olson is editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. |
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