www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Books Fr Casimir Kucharek: Our Faith (Ukrainian Catholic Catechism)

As far as I know, this is the last Ukrainian Catholic catechism that's been published prior to the upcoming "Christ Our Pascha," due out in Ukrainian this week. From the file description:


It can be read online or downloaded here. [archive.org]

Fr. Kucharek was the noted author of The Byzantine-Slav Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and The Sacramental Mysteries: A Byzantine Approach.

Thanks for sharing this resource; it looks valuable. I've noticed some unfortunate typos here and there, though. On p. 148, for example, in discussing devotion to the Theotokos, the section title reads, "The Mother is God in the Liturgy." Obviously that should say, "The Mother of God in the Liturgy" -- hopefully our Protestant friends don't mistakenly take the typo as evidence of idolatry!

Sorry to comment again, but after looking through the section on "The Pope, Successor to Peter," I was struck by how strong some of the language is in favor of what some would call a "Latin" view of the Pope. On p. 168 it is said that "he is bishop, not only of Rome, but of the universal Church. As chief shepherd, he is bishop over all his fellow bishops . . . " Papal infallibility is also clearly taught from pages 173-176. Interesting.

The last version of this was published in 1983, is that correct?

Yes, Fr. Kucharek's (vichnaya pamyat) stuff is pretty latinised.
cf. his photo.

Not too surprising, he was born in 1928 and worked in Saskatchewan

Vatican II in the Canadian UGCC did not even really begin seriously until maybe the 1990s - maybe later in Sask.

So a man of his times - he's no Archimandrite Robert Taft SJ.

Long ago I read his book on Sacraments - very disappointing, but now that I know something of his context, not too surprising. (a far cry from the Instruzzione!)

Yes, Fr. Casimir was a man of his times. When his catechism was published, it was considered a landmark event. His work was considered invaluable at the time.

It's much different nowadays. Today, the new Ukrainian Catholic Catechism Christ our Pascha is being unveiled in Ukraine. I tried to see what the UGCC website is saying about it but the site is currently down. Likely, it has a lot of activity today.

Edited to add: the site is back up. There are a couple of new articles on the Ukrainian language page but not much specific information on the content of the new Catechism yet. Hopefully, we'll see something soon.

Back then there was almost nothing - (re the theology of our Church, latinized or truly Orthodox)
Certainly nothing in English.
(cf. back in the 70s there was almost nothing in English on Orthodoxy - I remember searching the university library and all I could find was Benz; then finally someone put me on to Timothy Ware (now His Eminence Kallistos) (now the shelves are full of books etc. from St. Vlads etc. all in English)

Kucharek's an interesting historical piece to compare with the New Catechism.

Also one can deduce where the mind and theology of the hierarchy was and is now.

Back then most clergy thought we were just ethnic Roman Catholics with a different mass. (some still do!)

Herb,

Or just ethnics with funny hats, who thought we were Catholics.

Many years,

Neil (sorry, I could not resist )

dear Moderator Neil:

OJALA they had "funny hats" - that would be a huge step forward
I remember one protopresbyter telling me that kamilavkas were "exclusively Orthodox".

unless you mean those kopak things (then they are indeed "funny hats" {unless one is a Cantor of a Schul) (maybe they were an ecumenical effort in headgear - ojala).

a Blessed Fast to all.

One of the Sister Servants that followed Bishop Stasiuk to Australia said that they had to do courses to discover what their UGCC church culture was as they had no idea at all, after Vat II.

sorry, not sure I quite understand. Can you say more?

Yes, it does appear to be heavily Latinized.

I hope that the new catechism of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is presently in the works, will be translated into English.