Philadelphia, Pa. In a recent broadcast over “The Voice of the Ukrainian Community”, a weekly radio program on WIBF Radio in Jenkintown, Pa., the officers of the Society for the Patriarchal System in the Ukrainian Catholic Church expressed their opinion regarding the results of their activities at the World Synod of Bishops 1974. The Society had issued a statement (see Za Patriarkhat, October-November, 1974, p. 30), entitled “An Appeal to the Conscience of the World Synod of Bishops 1974,” which was distributed by one of its members to all the participants of the Synod. This statement was subsequently picked up by the international wire services. The Reuters News Agency carried a lengthy account about the statement and many international newspapers, including the influential Neue Zuricher Zeitung of October 23, 1974, reported on it. The Society, received response from the members of the Synod themselves. Jean Cardinal Villot, the Secretary of the Vatican State, acknowledged the reception of the memorandum in a letter to a member of the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy, and asked him to convey his thanks to the secretary of the Society. His Eminence Karol Cardinal Woytyla of Cracow, Poland, sent a letter (dated November 7, 1974) to the Society acknowledging the reception of the memorandum, and so did James Cardinal Knox of Australia in a letter dated November 11, 1974. In addition, according to the officers of the Patriarchal Society, other members of the Synod expressed satisfaction with the letter and promised to make use of its contents in their work.
