(Radio commentary “The Voice of the Ukrainian Community”, Philadelphia)
Recent unconfirmed reports from Rome about the visit of a ranking cardinal at the residence of Patriarch Joseph Slipyj and his request that His Beatitude should not convoke another synod of the Ukrainian Catholic bishops are indeed disturbing. It is now pretty much established that such a visit did take place and that the visitor was no other than His Eminence Cardinal Phillipe, the recently appointed prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. To be sure, not one of the Ukrainian newspapers reported about this event, and there have been no public comments about it from our episcopate. Secrecy once again seems to shroud vital development within the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and the faithful are once more kept completely in the dark regarding its future. The visit of Cardinal Phillipe, his blatant request (which we hope, His Beatitude has firmly denied), as well as the recent writings of Bishop Sapelak reprinted on someone’s orders in one of our parish bulletins, of Argentina, (criticizing the leadership of our Church and the organized faithful, forecast the difficult times which lie ahead.
After the triumphant tour of His Beatitude around the world a certain feeling of euphoria set in and most faithful sincerely believed that the Ukrainian Catholic Church was finally unified, that all the Ukrainian Catholic bishops now wholeheartedly support the patriarchal quest, and that they are willing to make this perfectly clear to the Holy Father. In addition, there were and for that matter still are reasons to believe, that the Holy Father is now more favorably disposed toward the creation of a Ukrainian Catholic Patriarchate than he has ever been in the past. All this, however, will be of little consequence if the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy does not act in a united manner to achieve its objective and if the Ukrainian Catholic faithful once again yield to a traditional Ukrainian inertia, a state of leaving all church matters to clergy and hierarchy, and confine their religious life to attending mass once a week. The recent events which we have mentioned are an indication that the anti-Ukrainian forces in Rome have not ceased to agitate against our cause, and that the Kremlin is exerting pressure in the right circles to avoid the establishment of a Ukrainian patriarchate despite the favorable attitude of the Pope.
At this stage of our quest it is imperative that our bishops show some of the manly qualities which are desperately needed. They themselves should not tolerate any dissent on this particular issue. While His Beatitude was here, we have heard all of our bishops call him Patriarch and pledge their aid and support to him. From our point of view, it looks like now is the time to make good on those promises and pledges. The bishops themselves should through proper measures silence those among them whose writings are not conducive toward the maintenance of unity of our Church and take the necessary steps to show the Vatican curia that their pledges were not empty talk, and that Ukrainian Churchmen mean what they say.
If this is not done, if the next two months go by without any positive development, than chances are, the history of the recent past will repeat itself and there will be much bitterness and disappointment. The Ukrainian Catholic Church will have taken a giant step backward, and the dark forces in the Vatican and the Kremlin will once more rejoice. Let us hope, that our hierarchy will muster enough courage to avoid such a tragic setback.
