Pope Paul VI Favorable Stand Toward Synod of Ukrainian Bishops. Congregation Forbids Them to Attend it. Metropolitan Hermaniuk Bears Brunt of Resentment of Ukrainian Catholic Laity.
May 12, 1976, The clash between the Vatican and the Ukrainian Catholic Church has entered a new phase. There now seems to be a conflict between the inclination of Pope Paul VI and the Congregation for Eastern Catholic Church. This has thrown the Ukrainian Catholic bishops into a complete quandary.
On Saturday, March 20, Pope Paul VI received in a half-hour private audience the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan of Winnipeg, Maxim Hermaniuk. He presented to the Holy Father the urgency of holding in Rome a Synod of the bishops of the Particular Ukrainian Catholic Church under the leadership of its Primate, His Beatitude Josyf, and the necessity of the participants of this Synod being received in private audience by the Holy Father. According to Metropolitan Hermaniuk, the Ukrainian bishops during their audience with the Pope would request him to issue a statement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the liquidation of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in its homeland by the communist regime and they would touch upon the questions of a Ukrainian Patriarchate and a married clergy.
The Metropolitan reported that the Holy Father took a positive stand toward the proposals he presented and assured him of his fatherly concern for the persecuted Ukrainian Church and the suffering Ukrainian nation. He bestowed his apostolic blessing upon the entire Ukrainian nation.
After his audience with the Pope, Metropolitan Hermaniuk conferred with acclaimed Patriarch Josyf Slipyj and urged him to convoke a Synod of Ukrainian Catholic Bishops in Rome because the Pontiff was in favor of such an assemblage. The Patriarch expressed his reservations toward such a step but in the end agreed to comply with the Archbishop’s suggestion. He proceeded to call a session of only the Permanent Synod for May 8 to which the following prelates were invited: Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk of Winnipeg, Bishop Nil Savaryn of Edmonton, Bishop Isidore Boretsky of Toronto, Bishop Ivan Prashko of Australia, and ailing Metropolitan Ambrose Senyshen of Philadelphia was to be represented by his Auxiliary Bishop Basil Losten.
The Sacred Congregation for Eastern Catholic Churches was quick to take action against the convocation of the synod. The Ukrainian bishops were informed by the Apostolic Delegates in their respective countries, first by phone and then by letter, that they did not have the permission of the Congregation to attend the scheduled Synod because it has no canonical basis.
Surprised at this turn of events, Metropolitan Hermaniuk telephoned to Cardinal Paul Philippe, the Prefect of the Congregation, for an explanation of this development. The directive to the Ukrainian bishops not to attend the Synod was repeated. Metropolitan Hermaniuk was told that «Cardinal Philippe has asked Cardinal Slipyj to postpone the scheduled Synod.»
Bishop Boretsky has stated that « no such notice had been received from Patriarch Josyf.» In fact, Bishop Prashko of Australia was in Rome awaiting the arrival of the other invitees to the delayed Synod. The Toronto bishop is in constant telephone contact with Metropolitan Hermaniuk seeking further developments in this matter. He, himself, is not ready to go to Rome without Metropolitan Hermaniuk but has cautioned him about the adverse consequences from the Ukrainian Catholic laity if the Canadian Prelates do not attend at least a belated session of the Synod.
Metropolitan Hermaniuk is in constant contact with the Congregation seeking a resolution to the embarrassing situation as a result of the difference between the attitude of the Pope and the action taken by the Congregation. His prestige among the faithful of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has taken a sharp nose dive. He is being severely attacked on two grounds first of all for his fail first of all for his failure to go to Rome to attend Synod on the originally set date for in administrative matters in the Particular Ukrainian Catholic Church his first obedience is due the Patriarch; and secondly, for his reluctance to ignore the directives of the Congregation in the face of the favorable stand of the Pope on this matter during the March20 audience. The Metropolitan has received hundreds of protesting telegrams from both the clergy and laity in the Unites States and Canada. Archpriest Yaroslav Shust of Bridgeport, Conn., wired «Go to Rome to the Synod called by our Patriarch or resign.» The greatly revered nun of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great in Astoria, L. I., Mother Marie, telegraphed: Fulfill your obligations. Recognize our Patriarch and attend the Synod. Otherwise go serve your Latin masters. There is no room in the Ukrainian Catholic Church for traitors.» Joseph Hirniak, the founder of the Ukrainian Theater in the United States residing in New York, wired «If you toe the Congregation line and fail to attend the Synod called by our Patriarch, you will go down in history as the greatest traitor of the Ukrainian Nation in our era.» The medical profession had its spokesmen, Dr. Ostap Baran of New York City in his own behalf and the behalf of his friends wired: «Don’t allow the Eastern Congregation to enslave our Church or to limit your personal will and the will of other Ukrainian bishops. Please help our Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj to preserve the rights of our Ukrainian Church. I believe that the spirit and the relics of our Holy Josaphat Kuncewych in Rome will help us to save our Church because he died for these rights. Our Ukrainian Nation believes that Moscow’s devil will not conquer the ideals of Holy Josaphat through the hands of the Eastern Congregation.» Dr. Roman Chrucky appealed to Metropolitan to attend the Synod or to resign. Some telegrams were sharper than others but all demanded that Metropolitan Hermaniuk lead the Ukrainian bishops of Canada to Rome or to resign from the position archbishop.
