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On the first Sunday of Lent, Cardinal Dolan traveled downtown to express solidarity with the clergy and parishioners of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church as the homeland of many there struggles to retain its independence.
“We’re neighbors and we’re brothers and sisters,” the cardinal said at the outset of the Divine Liturgy celebrated at 8:30 a.m. that morning.
“When we’re in trouble, we come to visit one another, like the Blessed Mother did to St. Elizabeth,” the cardinal added.
Telling parishioners at the Eastern Rite church on East 7th Street in Lower Manhattan that he loved them very much, the cardinal also said that “I have been praying with you and for you and for your beloved families and people back home in Ukraine.”
The Very Rev. Bernard Panczuk, O.S.B.M., pastor and superior of St. George’s, welcomed the cardinal who greeted parishioners as they entered the church for the March 9 liturgy.
“We’re honored to have you visit St. George Church and our Ukrainian community, especially at this very difficult time in Ukraine’s history,” said Father Panczuk.
Also present was the provincial of the Basilian Fathers, the Very Rev. Phillip Sandrich, O.S.B.M.
Cardinal Dolan said it was not the first time he had visited St. George’s, but the other times were for happy occasions such as the church’s annual Ukrainian Festival held in May.
“Today is somber,” the cardinal said. “The whole world is crying with Ukraine.”
The cardinal, who was recently reappointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches, noted that he had seen much evidence of the country’s “faith, hope and resilience” during his visit to Ukraine last summer for the dedication of the new cathedral in Kiev, appropriately named Resurrection.
“You have a loyal friend in your Latin neighbors,” said the cardinal before he left St. George’s in time to celebrate Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that morning.
“Be not afraid, as Jesus said…God bless you, and God bless Ukraine.”
Oksana Ivasiv, a longtime parishioner of St. George’s, told CNY that she was glad that the entire world is now focused on what is happening in Ukraine. Though the nation won its independence in 1991, the struggle for freedom has never really ended, she said.
Since “Both countries know the truth, it’s easier to achieve what we want,” she said.
On March 17, Pope Francis met privately at the Vatican with the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the day after pro-Russian voters on the Crimean peninsula voted to secede from Ukraine in a referendum the United States and European Union called illegal.
While Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, head of the Eastern-rite church in Ukraine, declined requests for interviews, it was assumed his talk with the pope would include a discussion about the fate of the Ukrainian Catholic priests ministering in Crimea.
Ukrainian Bishop Borys Gudziak of Paris, head of the Ukrainian church's external relations department, issued a statement March 15 saying Father Mykola Kvych, pastor of the Dormition of the Mother of God Parish in Sevastopol, was taken from his church that morning, “seized by two men in uniform and four men in civilian clothing.”
Earlier in the week, Bishop Gudziak said, the church's leadership had urged Father Kvych and the other priests in Crimea to evacuate their wives and children to mainland Ukraine.
"The priests themselves returned to their parishes to be with their faithful in a time of crisis and moral and physical danger," he said.
Several hours after Father Kvych was taken from the church, the Ukrainian Catholic Church's information service reported he had been freed after questioning, which apparently focused on accusations that he had been organizing anti-Russian riots. The next day, however, parishioners helped him leave Crimea.
Catholic News Service contributed to this report.
