Ukrainian Greek Catholic Head Addresses American Catholic Bishops

The general session of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is being held on November 14-16, in Baltimore in the United States.

On the first day of its activity, the American bishops were addressed by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav, who is visiting the States. Over 300 bishops from all the eparchies of USA greeted the newly appointed head of UGCC, the Information Department of the UGCC reported.

“It is a great honor for us today to welcome here the head of the largest Eastern Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), who was recently elected head of this church,” said the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, in his greeting address.

The head of the UGCC on behalf of the UGCC expressed his profound gratitude and recognition to the American bishops for their substantial support in the development of the church: “Approximately eight million of our faithful all over the world will always remember the support of the American bishops and lay people for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the hardest times of the persecution thereof by the Soviet regime. In addition, since the emergence of our church from the underground, the USCCB through the National Collection to aid the Church in eastern and central Europe has provided invaluable financial support for our physical and pastoral revival.”

According to the hierarch, the support has already yielded fruit as the church is now in the middle of a revival period: “God is blessing us with vocations. In some of our seminaries, three candidates compete for a place. The average age of our priests is 35 years. It is wonderful to lead such a young and living church.”

In his concluding remarks, Patriarch Sviatoslav expressed his support for the American Bishops: “I would like to express our solidarity with the American bishops who are just about to make a loud statement on the protection of religious freedom in public life. I can say that our church has a special understanding of the importance of religious freedom and consequences of the lack thereof.”

The head of UGCC wished the bishops to remain the moral authority not only at home but all over the world.