18 September 2012, 08:40 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Should the Church have secrets?

The announcement that the upcoming Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church would be held in secret once again raises the question of whether secrecy in the Church is a good thing or not. In fact, one of the themes of the journalism conference to be held in Lviv on October 20 is “transparency” in the Church.

20 August 2012, 17:47 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Cloister Clash

In principle, traditionally Orthodox church buildings could be transferred to any of Ukraine’s three Orthodox Churches. But in practice only the UOC-MP is likely to benefit. Many see this as a dangerous concession to a Church which, after all, is tied to a foreign center often hostile to Ukrainian interests and closely tied to the Putin regime.

23 Jule 2012, 10:07 | Interview | 

We see this appointment as the whole UGCC striving to be more noticeable in the United Europe

On Saturday, July 21, Pope Benedict XVI nominated Fr. Dr. Borys Gudziak as a bishop. This news came suddenly but was long expected as talk of the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) becoming a bishop had been going on for several years. According to the press service of the Vatican, the bishop-nominee will become the Apostolic Exarch for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in France, Switzerland and the Benelux countries. Currently Fr. Gudziak is outside Ukraine. Below is a conversation with vice rectors of UCU Taras Dobko and Myroslav Marynovych.

19 Jule 2012, 16:01 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Mere Politics

Recently the prominent historian Iaroslav Hrytsak, who specializes in modern Ukrainian political history, called for a renewal of the Left (“Pro potrebu novoi livytsi,” gazeta.ua, 15 June 2012). Since the old Left has joined the “party of power,” he reasons, while the opposition does not present a clear alternative, there is no genuine Left left.

19 June 2012, 14:30 | Comments | 

The Zaporizhya Church Bomb and its Victims

The crime was disturbingly strange: a bomb planted in a church, an elderly nun killed, with two out of the three suspects - former sacristans supposedly with a grudge against the church superior. The other elements of the story are depressingly familiar.

18 June 2012, 08:51 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Different Rules For Different Rites

Catholic News Service has reported that during an ad limina visit of fourteen Eastern Catholic bishops from the United States on May 15, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Eastern Churches, urged them to promote a celibate priesthood

20 May 2012, 15:18 | Andrew Sorokowski's column

Pride and Propaganda

On March 30, 2012 Party of Regions deputy Vadym Kolesnychenko introduced a bill in the Ukrainian parliament prohibiting homosexual “propaganda” aimed at minors.

11 May 2012, 15:27 | Analysis | 

“Besides heaven, this is the only place where I would want to be.” The Witness of the Greek Catholic Priest-Martyr of Majdanek Blessed Omelian Kovch

Fr. Omelian Kovch died 25 March 1944, three months before the liberation of the Majdanek camp 23 July 1944. Some 80,000 people were killed in the camp over 34 months including about 59,000 Jews. Blessed Omelian Kovch was for many prisoners their pastor. Today he bears the title “Pastor of Majdanek.” 9 January 1999 The Jewish Council of Ukraine proclaimed him a “Righteous of Ukraine.”

22 April 2012, 11:09 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Questioning “FEMEN”

On Tuesday, April 10 – in the midst of the Eastern Christian Holy Week leading up to Easter – five members of the women’s group FEMEN suspended a seven-meter-long banner reading “Stop” from the belfry of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The messagesignified their opposition to draft law No. 10170, which would overturn Ukraine’s rather permissive law on abortion and substitute a more restrictive one. The letter “t” in the English word “Stop” was written in the form of an Eastern Christian cross.

24 March 2012, 17:01 | Analysis | 

Religion, the Diaspora, and the U.S. Presidential Election

Among the many forms of public discourse in the U.S. is the bumper sticker. In a mobile society rich in automobiles but poor in opportunities for reasoned discussion, one way that people express their views on politics, religion, and even philosophy is the message or symbol that they display on the backs of their cars, on or near the rear bumper.

22 March 2012, 09:20 | Viktor Yelenskyi's column | 

Research & Branding Fake

The reasons of the rather unique “research focus” become clear very quickly – as soon as the survey authors begin asking questions about ownership, which they have carefully saved to the end.

20 March 2012, 09:54 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Was the Church a source of fascism?

According to one report, in his March 1 talk about Stepan Bandera at the German embassy in Kyiv, Polish-born German historian Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe placed special emphasis on the “active and direct participation of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in support of the OUN-UPA, precisely as a movement with a pro-fascist ideology.” He even called it “a source of Ukrainian fascism.” Could this be so?

20 February 2012, 16:45 | Analysis | 

Overview of church-state relations in Ukraine in 2011

The year 2011 in Ukraine was rich in events in the area of church-state relations. In the development of relations between the state and the denominations, this year was dynamic, complex, somewhat contradictory, but ultimately positive.

18 February 2012, 09:39 | Andrew Sorokowski's column | 

Beyond Identity

Ever since the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (1962-1965), the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church has been concerned with restoring its “Eastern” identity – or more properly, its Kyivan-Byzantine identity. The Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches (1964) called upon Eastern Catholics to “preserve their legitimateliturgical rite and their established way of life,” to“attain to an ever greater knowledge and a more exact use of them” and, if needed, “take steps to return to their ancestral traditions”