Today, young people have a hard time growing up because so many changes are taking place so rapidly. Some disagree with the policy of their country, others with the values their parents have. However, I feel that the Ukrainian Catholic “young person” has a much harder time growing up than others. I am Ukrainian Catholic and I am tremendously proud of my heritage. I say it is harder for my generation of Ukrainian Catholics not because of the reasons listed above, but because of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church is trying to strip me of my identity as a Ukrainian Catholic. It is advocating the English mass in our Divine Liturgy and, on a whole, is trying to Latinize us. It refuses to give the Ukrainian Catholic Church its rights and privileges as an autonomous Church within the Universal Church – with a Patriarch as its Head. The Roman Catholic Church sends its representatives, men like Cardinal De Furstenberg and Archbishop Mario Brini, to the Ukrainian hierarchy with the hope of either absorbing us into the Roman Rite or making us leave the Church altogether. It is working its schemes through the Eastern Congregation, which, instead of helping the churches belonging to it, only hinders their flourishing and uniqueness.
I must add, unfortunately, that some of our hierarchy and priests—for example, the Redemptorist Fathers in Washington, D. C. and all other priests who defy the decree of the Ukrainian Catholic Synod by introducing the English language into our Divine Liturgy—have already signed their souls over to the Roman Rite. Those who have shall regret it in the future, if they already don’t. I, as a young layperson would like to see these thoughts implanted in their minds: You, dear Fathers and Bishops are only where you are because of the Ukrainian Catholic laypeople. Are you worthy of the trust that the Ukrainian nation put into you, especially as you stand at the “vivtar” and unite in one God and the Ukrainian people?
What is the reason for all this? The answer is very simple: in order for the Vatican to continue their dialogue with the Soviet Union, they are sacrificing the future of my Church – the same Church that in 1596 signed the Union of Brest-Litovsk with Rome in which Rome guaranteed our rights, Now, Rome denies even the validity of that document. Is this what the Church, founded by Jesus Christ, is supposed to do? Can it promise one year and retract in the centuries to come? I hope and pray that it cannot.
The lay people, or rather, young people of today want to preserve their identity as Ukrainian Catholics within the Church. This is something so dear to me that I would not give it up for anything in the world. This is my heritage, language, tradition and future. Our survival depends upon the survival of our Church – we know and realize this – and so does Rome and Moscow.
It is for the preservation of the truths which are so dear in our hearts that we will not perish. The Ukrainian Catholic Church will survive. She will have Her Patriarch and not a Vatican appointed man, but Patriarch Josyf I, a man who I believe will not die (and his death has been awaited by many) until he fulfills the mission God sent him to fulfill – to raise the Ukrainian Catholic Church to the Patriarchate. I firmly believe this because it was him who God “left alone, shepherd of a lost flock, to carry the Cross on his own shoulders.” -Morris L. West-
Irena Yasinsky
Trinity College
Washington, D.C.
