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Last Updated: 12 April 2013

(risu.org.ua) Dublin - Bishop Hlib (Lonchyna), bishop of the eparchy of the Holy Family based in London, visited the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ireland on April 7th, serving the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Blessed Nicholas Czarnecki of Dublin. Celebrating with the bishop was Father Basil Kornitskyy, pastor of the Church community in Dublin.

After the service the tombstone of Serge Keleher, who for may years provided pastoral care for the faithful in Ireland, was blessed.

According to the Information Department of the UGCC next year's Ukrainian community will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its presence in Ireland. On the occasion of this event is scheduled to release a memorial book.

Link to article: Українські греко-католики готуються відзначити 15-річчя своєї присутності в Ірландії

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Last Updated: 12 April 2013

economist.com | Apr 12th 2013, 15:42 by A.C. | LVIV

Excerpt:

METROPOLITAN Hilarion of Volokolamsk, a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, recently expressed  hope that the new pope, Francis, will continue the policy of rapprochement with the Orthodox Church and will not support, what he calls the expansion of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics. “The union is the most painful topic in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, in relations between the Orthodox and the Catholics. If the pope will support the union, then, of course, it will bring no good," he said

The metropolitan is worried: it is said that the new pope has an affinity for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). So much so that one Russian commentator claimed that in Francis, “we have a Ukrainian pope”. This may worsen relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Church Greek Catholics.

Click here to read article at the Economist's website: The new pope and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

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Last Updated: 12 April 2013

CWN - The Chaldean Catholic bishop of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, described the devastation wrought by war as rebels advance on the city.

“One lives day by day,” says Bishop Antoine Audo, a native of Aleppo. “I have the impression that people are more and more exhausted. They have all become poor and everyone is always looking for something to eat for himself and his family. In the streets of Aleppo you can see the people that run endlessly with bags in their hand, trying to find a bit of bread.”

“The anarchy of the war allows you to perceive in even stronger terms the greatness of human dignity, just when it seems so humiliated,” he added. “In all this, many seek God and ask him for peace of heart, in prayer.”

More than 300 Christian families recently fled an Aleppo district following its takeover by rebels.

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CWN - Stones and gasoline bombs were thrown at the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo as Christians and Muslims clashed following a funeral. One person was killed and over 80 were injured in the violence.

“The minute the Christians loaded the coffins into cars after the service, a group of bearded radicals threw rocks at us,” said a church worker.

“The police just stood by watching, doing nothing,” he added. “They protected the radicals who were hiding behind a line of officers in the street outside the cathedral.”

Pope Tawadros (Theodoros) II, the church’s leader since November, condemned the violence, and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said that an attack on the cathedral “is like an attack on me personally.”

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9 April 2013, 12:53 | Interchurch relations | risu.org.ua | On 8 April, the delegation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) led by its Head, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) held two important meetings in the Holy Land, with the Apostolic Nuncio in Israel, Giuseppe Lazzarotto and Patriarch Fouad Twal  of the Roman Catholic Church of Jerusalem.

According to the Information Department of UGCC, the meeting with Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto was held in the office of the Apostolic Nunciature in Jerusalem.

“First of all, we discussed with the Nuncio the question of assistance in the pastoral care for our emigrants in the Holy Land, as approximately a million emigrants from the former Soviet Union have come to Israel and become citizens here in the last twenty years since the collapse of the USSR. Most of them were elderly people who need to be cared for today. And these people are probably looked after exactly by our women,” noted Patriarch Sviatoslav.

The Apostolic Nuncio noted that the phenomenon of emigration to Israel requires constant monitoring and study. Most of the emigrants coming here have no work permit. Therefore, under the Israeli law, they are not always protected in their rights, especially, if they state that they are Christians.

“Therefore, I asked Apostolic Nuncio for necessary assistance to be able to receive sufficient information for our Church and then develop the necessary monitoring program and strategy of pastoral care for our faithful here, in the state of Israel,” said the Head of UGCC.

Another meeting was held with Patriarch Fouad Twal  of the Roman Catholic Church of Jerusalem who is also the Head of the Conference of Bishops of Israel and provides pastoral care for the Christians of Jordan.

According to the Head of UGCC, Patriarch Fouad Twal welcomed the delegation of UGCC and said that it is probably the first time for a Catholic Church of the Eastern Rite to come to Jerusalem and visit the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Latin Rite in particular.

“The trip of our delegation is primarily a pilgrimage conducted by us on occasion of the 1025^th anniversary of Baptism of Rus-Ukraine. More than a century ago, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi organized a similar pilgrimage to the Holy Land for pilgrims from Galicia. We would like to repeat the way of Metropolitan Andrey in some way. In addition to our delegation, several groups of pilgrims are visiting the Holy Land,” said the Head of UGCC to Patriarch Fouad Twal.

“The Patriarch was very grateful that UGCC sends pilgrims to the Holy Land in such numbers and that we have renewed the pilgrimage conducted long ago by Metropolitan Andrey. For to give a chance to a modern Christian to touch the roots of the Church life here is one of the means to make his or her faith really living and active. I responded that we could not do without visiting the Church of Jerusalem as we celebrated our jubilee 1025^th anniversary of Baptism,” said the Head of UGCC. 

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CWN - Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II has berated Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for his government’s failure to protect the country’s Christian minority.

The Coptic leader said that Morsi had promised to protect St. Mark’s cathedral in Cairo, “but in reality he did not.” The cathedral was attacks by Islamic radicals, in which 80 people were injured, during the past weekend. Christians said that police declined to intervene as worshippers were pelted with rocks. Pope Tawadros said that the incident “comes under the category of negligence and poor assessment of events.”

Pope Tawadros, who became the leader of Egypt’s Copts in November, has issued frequent warnings about the rise of Islamic sectarian influence. His predecessor, the late Pope Shenouda III, had maintained friendly relations with the previous government led by President Hosni Mubaraka. Since Mubarak’s ouster, the incidence of violence against the Christian minority has increased markedly.