www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News New head of Ukrainian Catholic Church Elected

A Latin bishop once said that, "After you put on the mitre, you'll never eat another bad meal, or hear the truth about yourself, again". Maybe that's the problem.

That really depends on yourself. If you like being told and you rely on the others, then you are not good for leadership. If you are educated to rely on yourself and to easily find out the truth, you can find the truth yourself. It really depends on the person.

If "Fred" were correct, our Church would be severely reduced in numbers!

Father Serge

Fred,

I think you may be confusing prudence and doctrine. It is one thing to disagree with the Pope on doctrinal matters and another thing entirely to disagree with him on matters of prudential judgment. There is no doctrinal reason (from a Catholic point of view) why the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church couldn't be recognized as a patriarchal Church today.

The only reason why Rome has not yet recognized a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic patriarchate is the very strong opposition of Moscow [chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it] and a prudent desire on the part of Rome not to antagonize the Orthodox unnecessarily. This is a prudential, not a doctrinal judgment.

I am pretty sure that His Holiness Benedict XVI knows and sympathizes with all the reasons why the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church wishes to be recognized as a patriarchal Church. Similarly, I am pretty sure that His Beatitude Sviatoslav understands why the Pope feels the need to act with caution and prudence. Hence, there is no need for threats of excommunication.

The New Liturgical Movement blog has pictures [newliturgicalmovement.org] from the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy for the Fourth Sunday of Lent celebrated at the Church of St. Sophia in Rome yesterday by His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

John Sonnen at Orbis Catholicus has even more pictures [orbiscatholicussecundus.blogspot.com].

Enjoy!

http://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/catholics/ugcc/41625/
Patriarch Sviatoslav: Married priesthood not cause of vocation boom

4 April 2011, 15:07 | UGCC

The ordination of married men to the priesthood has not been the major contributing factor to the numerous young vocations in his Eastern Catholic church, said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk to EWTN. The average age of a Ukrainian Catholic priest is 35.

"In our tradition, we do have a married clergy, but a married clergy is not the main reason we have so many young priests," he said, noting that religious orders, which require a vow of consecrated chastity, also have numerous young vocations. "The possibility of being a married priest is not the main cause of an increase or decrease in vocations to the priesthood because this vocation comes from God."

The number one priority for each head of a church is evangelization, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in today's world, said the newly elected patriarch.

<a href="http://risu.org.ua">Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua</a>

Send a memo to the Vatican, please.

Hi,

I have no experience in why this is an important issue to the UGCC and really hadn't thought about it as a matter prudence or doctrine. I'll accept, as you suggest, that this desire is not new news to the Holy Father. It seems (to me) like something is a bit off, to bring it up at their first post enthronement meeting. But maybe this really is the most important issue facing the UGCC. But, this is really secondary to my point.

I have no powers of excommunication other than I could probably do something that would excommunicate myself. So, I cannot threaten what I cannot do.

I wrote because a fellow said "with or without Rome's approval....is our Patriarch." Where does one get the authority to disregard what Rome has not given, or consented to,(use of the title patriarch)and grant the title by himself?
I noticed that several have been doing so.

There is a man who heads the Charismatic Episcopal Church. He calls himself "patriarch." He probably doesn't care what Rome thinks either.

Fred

What is "a bit off" on the issue is that Pope John Paul II promised the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Synod and then never came through.

Father Serge

It is true, of course, that an authentic vocation to the priesthood comes from God. But it is also true that God does not force anyone to follow such a vocation. So it is not necessarily false, let alone foolish, to suggest that the insistence on mandatory celibacy could have something to do with a lack of priests.

Being an archimandrite myself, I have never been married and at my advanced age I am unlikely to get married.

Father Serge

Fred,

it is important to know that even though the Ukrainian Greek Catholics want their head to be recognized as patriarch, and even use the title in the liturgy, they also respect the fact that Rome has not (yet) agreed.

So, for example, the election of His Beatitude Sviatoslav was carried out according to the rules for the election of a major archbishop. In practice, this simply means that the synod waited for the required papal confirmation before the name of the new major archbishop was officially announced.

As for the Ukrainian Greek Catholics wanting to have their own patriarchate, I think this is quite a reasonable request. After all, they are the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and many times the size of some of the existing Eastern Catholic patriarchates. Furthermore, Vatican II recognized the special place of the institution of the patriarchate in the life of the Eastern Churches, in effect saying that it is the norm for an Eastern Church to be governed by a patriarch (see Ecclesiarum Orientalium [vatican.va]).

As Sandro Magister has [chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it] chronicled, [chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it] and as Father Serge has pointed out too, Pope John Paul II wanted to recognize the Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate, but changed his mind because of massive Orthodox protests. I don't know if the late pope's decision was the right one, but it was what he thought was best to do at the moment.

Given all this history I would have been more surprised if His Beatitude Sviatoslav had not raised the question of the patriarchate with the Pope, but I think perhaps some of the headlines (such as this [whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com]) may have been misleading. As this article [risu.org.ua] shows, the meeting between His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and His Beatitude Sviatoslav was about much more than just the patriarchal status of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Regarding the Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate, here is an old favorite. [natcath.org]

To quote Father Taft: "What’s the argument for erecting a patriarchate for the Greek Catholic church in Ukraine?
The argument is that when an Eastern church reaches a certain consistency, unity, size, consolidation and so forth, it’s a normal step. Furthermore, among the Orthodox it’s often been a normal step taken illegally. For example, the Bulgarians were under the Patriarchate of Constantinople, who according to Orthodox practice, imposed upon them a Greek hierarchy, until the Bulgarians had enough and declared their independence, erecting their own patriarchate. Constantinople refused to recognize it, until they finally realized that nothing’s going to change and so they recognized it. Frankly, my advice to the Ukrainians has always been to do the same thing. Just declare the patriarchate and get on with it. Do it, of course, only if you’ve got the bishops unanimously behind it …"

OK - we Ukrainian Greek Catholics have responded favorably to Father Taft's solid recommendation and for quite some time now have been referring to our Major Archbishop as PATRIARCH including in our Divine Liturgies.
Eat your heart out Moscow!

Just thinking out loud here, but might it be a good idea to focus on better relations with Patriarch Philaret? Even if it meant trouble with Moscow?

Does anybody else experience problems with part 5 of the enthronement video. Although the bar shows 23 minutes of video, it keeps stopping at 4:35.