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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Kyiv - Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, is on a pastoral visit in Ukraine from March 6 to 10, 2010. Accompanying him are Father James McCann, head of the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Patrick Mark, executive director of the collection. The purpose of the visit is to deepen the cooperation between the church in America and Ukraine.
First the honored guests visited Lviv, where they visited the Ukrainian Catholic University, the construction site of the new university campus on Stryiska Street, and the seminary of the Holy Spirit of the Lviv Archeparchy of the UGCC. The meeting with the seminarians began with liturgical singing. Impressed by the singing, the perfect harmony of masculine voices, Cardinal McCarrick said that he envies the Catholic Churches of the Eastern rite: “you have something we do not. And in the Ukrainian church, singing is completely blessed. It is possible to hear at your divine services how angels sing. I pray that you become angels of God. It does not mean to lose your earthliness. Simply an angel in the Gospel who brings the Gospel. Therefore your role in the Church is to be those angels who carry salvation in the world.” Continuing conversation with the students of the seminary the guest noticed that there are two aspects of theological studies – to study and to be able to teach others. “To get to know God, but not to know how to spread the Good News to the people is a failure in ministering. And to know how to teach but not to believe is also a failure. Because then one can say to the preacher that I do not hear what you are saying because you do not live what you preach. To understand the Gospel and learn to share this with others is pastoral theology. You shall live what you preach,” said the cardinal.
Cardinal McCarrick called seminarians to study every day and to the end of days. McCarrick noted that although he has been a priest for 52 years, he still strives to gain new knowledge. It gives force to respond daily to the challenge of living by the law of God, to hear the voice of the Lord. And actually this priest’s challenge will help young priests become the prophets of the Ukrainian Church. “I promise to pray for you and ask you to pray for me, so that we may all be angels called by the Lord,” concluded Cardinal McCarrick.
In Lviv the cardinal also plans to take part in the annual Great Lent procession of the Road to the Cross. On Monday, March 8, the guests will travel to Kyiv.
Information Department of the UGCC
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CWNews.com - Polish Catholic leaders have opened ecumenical talks with the Russian Orthodox Church in a bid to improve the historically strained relations between the two countries. A joint statement released by representatives of the two faiths after an introductory session said that their work was a "labor of reconciliation."
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CWNews.com - In the seven years since the Iraq War was launched, 2,000 Christians have been murdered and 600,000 have fled Iraq, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. 44% of Iraqi refugees are Christians, and many of the 600,000 Christians who remain are internally displaced persons who have had to flee their homes.
“The life of Christians in this nation does not appear to be among the priorities,” said Chaldean Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni on the eve of the March 7 parliamentary elections. “We are victims of fanaticism and general instability, which leaves a free hand to those who want to use violence to intimidate. The causes are many and varied, but the end seems clear: continually reduce the Christian presence in Iraq, marginalize it, and deprive it of any rights.”
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RISU.ORG.UA - KYIV – Youth Orthodox Brotherhoods of Ukraine addressed the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate with a request “for fatherly support in the church-wide celebration of the 1150th anniversary of the campaign of Prince Askold of Kyiv against Constantinople in 860 and his conversion to the holy Orthodox faith as a result.” RISU’s Ukrainian-language web site posted this story on March 4, 2010.
“Unfortunately, the memory of the initial first Baptism of Rus’ by Askold, which took place 128 years earlier than Volodymyr’s Baptism, was ignored for a long time for political reasons. Therefore, the revival and due marking of this historic event and the first Kyivan Orthodox martyr Prince Askold (Christian name Mykolai) becomes one of the most important steps in the spiritual revival of Ukraine,” says the address, as reported by the Orthodox youth portal Pritvor.
According to the document, on the initiative of Professor M. Maksymovych, in 1866, with the blessing of the Synod of the Russian Empire, the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ by Prince Askold was celebrated.
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According to the Information Department of the UGCC, Bishop Stephan invited one of the bishops who minister in central and eastern Ukraine in order to acquaint the faithful of Toronto’s eparchy with life of the UGCC in this part of Ukraine. In addition, Bishop Vasyl’ during meetings with the faithful of the UGCC in Canada will present the needs of the Church in eastern Ukraine, and will describe pastoral ministry of priests
Among others, the program will include a showing of photo and video materials about the life of parishes of central and eastern Ukraine. “So that the people who will be interested to help will be able to see the real condition of our communities in these parts of Ukraine,” remarked Bishop Vasyl.
“I have hope that people who are interested in helping the development of our communities will come forward. Besides, I hope warm connections between parishes in Eastern Ukraine and in the Toronto Eparchy will form, which will lead to permanent cooperation,” concluded the auxiliary bishop of the Donetsk-Kharkiv Exarchate.
Background information
Today on the territory of the Kyivan Archeparchy and three exarchates – Donetsk-Kharkiv, Odesa-Crimean, and Luts’k – are registered 180 parochial communities. Here minister 146 priests and 26 deacons. The number of faithful who regularly take part in the divine services is about 35 thousand.
More detailed information about the UGCC in eastern Ukraine can be viewed here:
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CWNews.com - At his Angelus audience on Sunday, February 28, Pope Benedict XVI repeated his plea for the safety of Christians in Iraq. The Pope also offers his prayerful condolences to Chilean earthquake victims and encouraged international donors to help the survivors.
"With great sadness did I learn the tragic news of the killing of a number of Christians in the city of Mosul, and with great concern have I followed other episodes of violence committed against defenseless people of various religious confessions in the martyred land of Iraq," the Pope said. He issued an appeal to Iraqi government leaders to "make every effort to restore security to the population, in particular to the most vulnerable religious minorities," and asked other world leaders to help Iraq establish "a future of reconciliation and peace."
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