Cardinal Husar Discusses Establishment of Greek Catholic
Patriarchate at Kyiv Conference
 "Eucharistic
communion with the Roman Catholic Church. can become. a great
gift for the Ukrainian Church ," said Cardinal Lubomyr Husar,
head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). He stated
this during a conference "The Patriarchate of the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church in the Ecclesiastical, Historical and
Social Perspective," conducted by Lviv's Ukrainian Catholic
University (UCU) in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv on 19 May 2004.
The conference, dedicated to the move of the UGCC's administrative
center to Kyiv on 13 April, was organized to discuss the
establishment of the patriarchate of the UGCC.
"Returning the center of the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitanate
to Kyiv, the UGCC brings along the unique experience of eucharistic
communion with the Christian West and openness to Christian
Europe. Relying on this experience, the UGCC is convinced
that eucharistic communion with the Roman Catholic Church
as 'the rule of faith' can become an epitome of belonging
to the 'ecumenical Orthodoxy' of the undivided Christianity
of the first century, and also a great gift for the Ukrainian
Church," said Cardinal Husar.
Among the participants at the conference
were Father Myron Bendyk, rector of Holy Trinity Catechetical
Institute in Drohobych, Lviv region; Dr. Oleh Turij, director
of the Institute of Church History at UCU; and Prof. Myroslav
Marynovych , d
irector of UCU 's Institute of Religion and Society.
In Ukraine and throughout the world, the idea of the UGCC
patriarchate has sometimes been mistakenly interpreted as something
harmful to internal mutual understanding in Ukraine ," said
Prof. Marynovych. "However, there exists a perspective within
which this idea not only causes no damage to Ukrainian interests,
but, on the contrary, unveils potential possibilities for a
true, in-depth harmonization of Ukrainian religious processes."
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