North Americans pervade Ukraine
trip
In the eyes of most observers, the big winners from John
Pauls Ukraine trip were the nations 6 million Greek Catholics. The
most persecuted church of the 20th century got a chance to tell its story to
the world and flex its muscle in a region that has long been an Orthodox
stronghold.
A fair bit of credit for their victory must go to the United
States and Canada. Americans were highly visible during the papal visit. The
spokesperson and a chief organizer for the trip was a priest from Saskatchewan,
Fr. Kenneth Nowakowski, who works as the head of Caritas, the churchs
charitable aid agency, in Ukraine. Like several Americans in the country,
Nowakowski has Ukrainian ancestry.
Nowakowski won a reputation among reporters who covered the trip
for honesty and efficiency. In a refreshing twist, he refrained from inflating
estimates of crowd size at papal events.
Another American who occupies a key role in Ukraine is Fr. Borys
Gudziak, rector of the Lviv Theological Academy, slated to become the
countrys first Catholic university. At least two other faculty members
are Americans.
The highest official of the Greek Catholic church, Patriarch
Lubomyr Husar, holds American citizenship.
Like many Ukranian Catholics, Husar took refuge in North America
during the Soviet era. Some in the émigré community returned
after the country regained independence in 1991; others have given the Greek
Catholic church financial support.
During the Lviv leg of the papal trip, the citys
Sputnik Hotel was dominated by two groups: the Vatican press corps and a
delegation of Ukrainian-Americans from Parma, Ohio.
Americans largely ran the press operation. On loan for the event
were Mercy Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, a communications officer for the U.S.
bishops conference, and Paulist Fr. Ron Roberson, an expert on Eastern
churches for the U.S. bishops.
Several other bishops conference personnel were present,
including Msgr. George Sarauskas, who runs the Office to Aid the Catholic
Church in Central and Eastern Europe. Sarauskas told NCR that the U.S.
bishops have funneled some $8 million to $9 million to Ukraine since the Greek
Catholic church emerged from the underground. Germany, he said, is the only
nation that has given more.
U.S. Catholics on average give about $2.5 million annually to the
Ukrainian church, Sarauskas estimated.
Several American bishops were on hand to lend support. They
included Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit, Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis
and Bishop John Meyer of Peoria, Ill.
At a celebratory dinner in Lvivs Grand Hotel June 27,
Nowakowski was given an ovation by a table full of U.S. bishops
conference personnel.
Sources told NCR that this pipeline of support from the
United States, both financial and human, is part of what Orthodox leaders mean
when they object to proselytism from the West. They complain about
the deep pockets of the Catholic side in competition for adherents.
Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, a Greek Catholic priest and scholar based in
Toronto, said the Orthodox must understand that such aid is part of Catholic
identity.
Does being in communion mean that sometimes we help each
other? he said. You bet it does.
-- John L. Allen Jr.
National Catholic Reporter, July 13,
2001
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