The Archdiocese of Perth was recently delighted to welcome another dignitary from the Ukrainian Catholic Church, with the Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), Father Bohdan Prach, recently making Perth one of the final stops of his Australian visit.
Fr Prach was visiting Australia to attend the 25th General Assembly of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, hosted at Melbourne’s Australian Catholic University, from 13 to 17 July 2015.
Given the coincidence of his visit to Perth with the first anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, Fr Prach spoke of the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s response to an escalating and recently under-reported situation of conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
As he dwelled on his Church’s efforts to raise awareness about the conflict, an unmistakable tone of heartache and sense of urgency seeped through in Fr Prach’s voice.
“We are very worried about the conflict in Ukraine, particularly in this moment when we remember the tragedy of MH17,” said Fr Prach in Ukrainian, with translations in English by UCU’s International Relations Coordinator, Olha Zarichynska, and priest of Perth’s Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Fr Wolodymyr Kalinecki.
Fr Prach emphasised that a strong sense of unity between all Churches, Christian and non-Christian, is being forged in Ukraine and is currently working under the banner of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations (AUCCRO).
By uniting efforts, Fr Prach hopes that the voice of the Church will be amplified and heard on a national and international scale.
He went on to say that AUCCRO has issued foreign statements and resorted to social media, including Facebook, to give its message more visibility and hopefully reach influential people with decision-making capabilities
“Unfortunately,” Fr Prach lamented, “our messages do not reach all the people who make important decisions.”
While the idea of political messages from religious institutions falling on deaf ears may not come as such a surprise in Australia, Fr Prach explains that the Ukrainian Catholic Church has a certain political sway in Ukraine that is linked to the support it offered during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
The Ukrainian revolution of February 2014 took place after a series of violent events involving protesters, riot police and unknown shooters in the capital of Kiev resulted in the ousting of the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.
“Ever since the 2014 revolution, the Church in Ukraine has more support and authority,” Fr Prach said.
“This authority was gained through the counselling and support it offered to those protesting for the right to have their voices heard.
“Tragically, 100 people were shot in those protests when the Yanukovych government called out riot police against the students. The Church was there, with the people and in the midst of a hail of bullets, to offer counsel and support those in need.”
As statements against Russian military aggression continue to be issued by the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, and Church leaders, Fr Prach prays that peace and dignity may soon be restored to the people of Ukraine.
For the time being, however, there seems nothing left to do but to pray for the least amount of casualties possible as the high level of tension in Eastern Ukraine shows no signs of easing.
Fr Bohdan Prach has been the Rector of UCU since 2013 and is Professor of Church History at the same university.
He studied at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland) and earned a PhD in History from the latter.
UCU is an open academic community living the Eastern Christian tradition and forming leaders to serve with professional excellence in Ukraine and internationally – for the glory of God, the common good, and the dignity of the human person.
Last year, the global head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, visited Australia in order to meet with Catholic bishops, Church leaders, parishioners and politicians of the dioceses of Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church is the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches, which are in full communion of faith and acceptance of the authority of the Pope.
It retains its distinctive liturgical rites, laws, customs and traditional devotion and is geographically widespread, with faithful in over a dozen countries on four continents.