On June 19, 1971, the Ukrainian Catholic laity of the United States held a convention. The convention, hosted by the Ukrainian National Home in New York City and sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of the Patriarchal System in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, was attended by 8б0 delegates, alternates, and observers who represented most of the Ukrainian Catholic parishes in the East and in the Midwest of the United States. The convention unanimously adopted the following resolutions:
– to send a petition to His Holiness Pope Paul VI, urging the Pontiff to make possible for His Beatitude, the Archbishop Major Joseph Cardinal Slipyj, the visitation of his flock on the American continent;
– to urge the Ukrainian bishops in the United States to adhere to the decrees of the Fourth Archepiscopal Synod and to support the Archbishop Major Joseph Cardinal Slipyj in his struggle for the patriarchal system in the Ukrainian Catholic Church;
– to urge the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy to take all the necessary steps for the convocation of the Fifth Archepiscopal Synod scheduled for 1971;
– to express reverence and admiration for the 79 Ukrainian Catholic priests of the American Ukrainian Church province who have manifested their courage and signed a petition to the Metropolitan Ambrose Senyshyn of Philadelphia, requesting that he adhere to the decrees of the Fourth Archepiscopal Synod.
The delegates also resolved:
- to demand the resignation of the Metropolitan Ambrose Senyshyn of Philadelphia;
- to put into effect a moral and financial boycott of the Metropolitan;
- to initiate the canonical process, required to invalidate the consecration of Msgrs. John Stock and Basil Losten;
- to protest the unbidden intrusion by the Congregation for the Eastern Rite Churches into the internal affairs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church;
- to protest the recent Vatican-Moscow rapprochement, achieved by the Vatican at the expense of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
The convention adjourned with the firm intent to take all the appropriate measures to safeguard the unity and integrity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The Convention unanimously resolved to work for the establishment of the Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church with His Beatitude Joseph Cardinal Slipyj as her first Patriarch.
For the Public Relations Department of the Society:
Eva Piddubcheshen
Leo D. Rudnytzky
