On April 6, in a low-turnout (32 percent) non-binding referendum, the Dutch people strongly voted against (61-38 percent) ratifying an EU economic association agreement with Ukraine, even though the other 27 EU member states ratified the agreement. The Dutch government has said it will honor the results by reviewing the agreement to “look for a … Read more
I recently argued that the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC—one of two Greco-Catholic churches in Ukraine) is struggling with nationalist and secular influences. Unfortunately, it appears His Beatitude, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk’s valiant efforts to steer his Church between the internal Charybdis of nationalism and the external Scylla of western secularism and unabashed Russian aggression may … Read more
Today, an historic meeting between Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and Pope Francis takes place in Havana, Cuba. The Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (UGCC), largely at the center of the tensions between the ROC and Rome, at times finds herself struggling against nationalist and secular influences. While certainly not as widespread as the … Read more
Recently, there was a positive development during an interview with Bishop Borys Gudziak (President of the Ukrainian Catholic University—UCU) by Crux regarding the issue of “decentralization,” which was proposed in a favorable light by the Holy Father during the recent Synod on the Family. Bishop Gudziak echoed the position of the Head of the Ukrainian … Read more
We at the Ukrainian Catholic University were surprised and disappointed by Dr. Alexander Sich’s recent article in Crisis Magazine. The Ukrainian Catholic University proudly teaches and promotes Church doctrine on the integrity of the family and the theology of the body, including its teachings on abortion, marital fidelity, birth control, and the sacred nature of … Read more
You cannot please both God and the world at the same time. They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions. ∼ Saint John Vianney A fellow I know well in L’viv, who works with western European sponsors of projects aimed at improving local legal and civic management, shared with … Read more
Almost exactly a year ago, Bohdan Solchanyk, a lecturer on modern history at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), was murdered by a government sniper in Kiev as hundreds of thousands of people protested the almost unimaginable corruption and cynicism of former president Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian puppet regime. About a week later, the head … Read more
This coming Sunday, May 25, Pope Francis is scheduled to meet the Eastern Orthodox Church’s Ecumenical Patriarch (EP) Bartholomew at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in order to commemorate the golden jubilee of the historic meeting between their respective predecessors, Paul VI and Athenagoras. According to the EP’s official website for the … Read more