SAINTE-ADELE, Quebec (CNS) — Western secularism underlies the worldwide economic crisis and challenges the future of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church told Canada’s bishops.
“The current economic crisis is merely the symptom of a much deeper spiritual and cultural crisis,” Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk told the annual plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Sept. 25. “As Western society rejects old moral structures and values, it finds that its moral GPS has no fixed and stationary points of reference.”
Archbishop Shevchuk said the church must find “new courage” to proclaim the truth of the Gospel to contemporary society to provide “an anchor and compass.”
“We live in societies where virtue and goodness are frequently a veneer for religious intolerance, personal gratification and moral decay,” he said. “Secularism would like us to be closed in a little box of Sunday worship.”
The former Soviet Union used that approach to religion, he said.
“Separation of church and state has become separation of faith values from society, yet our mission is to preach the word of God to all and to be a constant sign of God’s loving presence through social ministry,” he said. “Let us not be afraid of the totalitarianism of political correctness and speak the truth regardless of whom we might offend, whether it is on same-sex marriage or on the genocide of abortion.”
He recalled that, under communism, the church witnessed “in the catacombs” as well in in open defiance to the regime.
“So many martyrs and confessors have suffered for the faith in the last century. Let their example and witness be an inspiration for all of us,” Archbishop Shevchuk said.
Ukraine is experiencing social and economic challenges and has changed dramatically, even in the last five years, he said. The country seems “torn between old influences and new attempts to integrate with the broader European community.”
Contemporary Ukrainian society mistrusts government, politicians and civil institutions, but the church, especially the Ukrainian Catholic Church “holds great moral authority.”
“The majority of Ukrainian citizens do not identify with any of the existing churches, but have a hunger for God and are open to the missionary work of the church,” he said. “In such circumstances the experience of new evangelization, which we are gradually acquiring, may become a precious treasure, which we would hope to share with the entire Catholic Church.”
The Ukrainian Catholic Church is marking the 100th anniversary of the arrival of her first bishop in Canada. Archbishop Shevchuk had presided at a Sept. 9-16 Synod of Bishops for the worldwide Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, and he thanked the Canadian Catholic bishops for their “fraternal spirit of cooperation.”
“My brother bishops here in Canada speak highly of this body and greatly appreciate the support and understanding our church receives throughout Canada,” he said. “This is not the case in other parts of the world.”
“Today there are tens of thousands of migrant workers from Ukraine in several European countries,” he said. “That is why it is so important for us to share in your Canadian experience worldwide, testifying that the presence of the Eastern churches, with their traditions and structures, is not a threat but a richness of the Catholic community, which is unity in diversity.”
By Deborah Gyapong
Catholic News Service
