New Cardinal-designate Bishop Mykola Bychok has told Australian Bishops he remains “a servant of Christ and his flock that has been entrusted to my care.”

The visit of new Cardinal-designate Bishop Mykola Bychok and the Ukrainian clergy to Perth also included a meeting with 97-year-old Redemptorist priest Fr Thomas McFall, the oldest Redemptorist in Australia.

Cardinal-designate Mykola Bychok, a Redemptorist, will be the youngest cardinal in the Catholic Church, and only the eighth cardinal in both the history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and of Australia.

The tour by delegates from the ACBC of war-torn Ukraine at the invitation of Ukrainian Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR took place from 8 to 11 August and was an important opportunity to witness first-hand the human experience of the damage and destruction.

Ukrainian Catholics will now no longer celebrate Christmas on 7 January but join Roman Catholics on 25 December. The move follows resolutions ­promulgated by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk on 6 February.

Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR has last month given an update on the situation in Ukraine during the plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, requesting that bishops hold a special collection to “support refugees and people in Ukraine during this winter, which will be the most challenging for our country for decades of independence”.

The first full day of proceedings of the Second Assembly concluded with a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral, celebrated according to the Ukrainian Rite by Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsr.

Ukrainian Catholic Church Bishop Mykola Bychok has last week released his 2022 Easter Message, highlighting the need to witness the resurrection of Christ more than ever.