I just received this in the mail. I wanted to share this. Silouan

EASTERN-RITE CATHOLICS FORCED UNDERGROUND IN RUSSIA

MOSCOW, Jan. 29, 01 (CWNews.com/Keston) - All Eastern-rite
Catholic parishes in Russia are underground, Bishop Yulian
Gbur of the Ukrainian Catholic Church said in Lviv,
Ukraine, in September 2000.

When the Moscow community attempted to register, the bishop
maintained, they were told by officials-- in line with the
1997 law on religion-- that this was impossible without the
supporting signature of their Catholic bishop. Since the
Eastern-rite Catholic exarchate in Russia is under a
Vatican- imposed mandate, he said, the hierarch in question
is the head of the apostolic administration of European
Russia, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz. "He refused to
sign," Bishop Gbur said, "saying it would be viewed as
proselytism by the Moscow Patriarchate, and the
consequences would be bad for the Catholic Church." Most of
the Catholic parishes under the Archbishop's administration
are Latin-rite churches.

Ukrainian Catholic priest Father Sergi Golovanov confirmed
this was indeed the situation in western Russia: "We are
not allowed to exist in western Russia." Thanks to his web
site on the Eastern-rite Catholic Church in Russia, said
Father Golovanov, he frequently receives messages from
Eastern-rite Catholics all over European Russia who lament
that when they try to form official parishes, "they are
told they cannot exist, or there will be bad relations with
the Moscow Patriarchate."

"It is currently easier to be a Greek Catholic Russian in
Munich or Paris than here, where we have become victims of
this policy," he said.

In an official 2000 directory of the Catholic Church in
Russia, the Moscow community of Eastern-rite Catholics is
referred to not as a parish, but a "pastoral point." The
community's priest, Father Andrei Udovenko, confirmed it
has the status of a religious group under the 1997 law on
religion. (The only legal rights of a religious group are
to worship on premises provided by its members and to teach
its own followers.) When asked if Archbishop Kondrusiewicz
had refused to sign registration papers, Father Udovenko
simply replied that the archbishop had suggested it would
be better to wait before trying to obtain legal status.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz was not available for comment, but
the chancellor of the apostolic administration, Father Igor
Kovalevsky, confirmed that there were no Eastern-rite
Catholic groups in the administration. The Moscow
community-- which he stressed was not a parish-- existed
within the Latin-rite structure, said Father Kovalevsky,
and was quite content not to be registered: "At the moment
everyone is happy with the status quo so there is no reason
to change it."

Dear Silouan,

This is my first posting on this wonderful forum!

I am a student of Eastern spirituality of Ukrainian background. My great-uncle was Metropolitan Volodymyr Sterniuk, the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan.

This media release causes me great concern indeed for a number of reasons.

What is the Vatican saying here? Is it saying that Eastern Catholics in Russia need to keep a low profile for now? If so, why don't they keep with registered Roman Catholic parishes there? Why do they go "underground?"

Orthodox-Catholic relations are an important issue. But it seems to me that there are aspects to ecumenism that smack of unprincipled behaviour. Am I being uncharitable in thinking that? What do other participants in this Forum feel about this media release?

In Christ,

Alex

Alex,

Needless to say, this is a very, very, difficult situation and I am sure all parties in the Catholic Church are doing their best under severe restrictions.

Kurt

A sad catch-22 for those Russians who have chosen to leave the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) for the Catholic communion but I have to give Archbishop Kondrusiewicz and his clergy credit for bending over backwards not to act aggressively toward the Orthodox. A step in the right direction. Far different from Polish activity (Abp K is an ethnic Pole from Byelorussia) in Russia a century ago, when obnoxious treatment of the Russian Orthodox Church was common (cf. Fr Cyril Korolevsky, a Catholic, in Metropolitan Andrew).

Still, to give the other side credit, I understand Catholicism has to accept such conversions, albeit quietly, and after that such people have a right (if you can call it that) to be served, and not forced to be Roman.

Fr Sergij (nice name, that ) has his own site, in Russian, which explains he is a Ukrainian Catholic priest, ordained for that Church: <A HREF="http://www.omskcity.com/~golovanov/">Fr Sergij’s site</a>. I think Fr Andrej was MP once, and that like the Russian Catholics a century ago, these people pretty much convinced themselves to switch and weren’t solicited. A splinter group of intelligencija. (The Polish-solicited converts 100 years ago very unquietly became Roman.)

Still, it’s troubling to see on the Web (on the <a href="http://www.stmichaelruscath.org/freshnews.htm">news page</a> of the St Michael’s Russian Catholic Church <a href="http://www.stmichaelruscath.org/">site</a>) a photo of Fr Sergij wearing a Roman ‘tab’ shirt, standing on the steps of a Roman cathedral somewhere in Russia for a ‘Eucharistic Congress’. Insidious latinization? Stuff like that understandably scares the Orthodox — as it should.

<A HREF="http://oldworldrus.com">Old World Rus’</A>

[This message has been edited by Rusnak (edited 02-01-2001).]