Local Ukrainian community closely watches mother country turmoil
By Erick Rommel
Head Staff Writer
Members of the local Ukrainian community are closely watch ing events in Ukraine because what happens there will have a direct effect on their family and friends.
“Many parishioners in both of my parishes have family over there,” said Father Andriy Rabiy, pastor of the Byzantine Rite parishes of St. Michael, Manville, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, New Brunswick. “Many are recent immigrants and have immediate family over there. They are concerned about it very much.”
Members of the Byzantine Rite are part of the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church. Eastern Rite Catholics are part of the Roman Catholic Church, with different liturgical rites, Ecclesiastical traditions and ordering of Christian life. The Second Vatican Council decreed they were “distinguished by their venerable antiquity,” with an evident tradition “which has come from the Apostles through the Fathers and which is part of the divinely revealed, undivided heritage of the Universal Church.”
Ukrainians living in the United States are doing more than watching the news on television. “Some of the parishioners took part in protests in New York City and Washington, ” Father Rabiy said. “I know quite a few of them participated in the protest at the United Nations.”
The community is also collecting money to support the thousands of protestors who are standing in Independence Square in Kiev as a sign of protest against the disputed election of Viktor Yanukovych, a candidate with close ties to Russia.
“They are all unified on the issue,” explained Father Rabiy.“The protests are a sign of support and solidarity with people who demand their freedom.”
The Ukrainian community is also aware that protests in the home country could lead to violence.“There’s always the fear that it might happen,” said Father Rabiy, who says many in his parish are concerned the police or military may try to disperse groups of protestors.“The hopes are that it is going to be resolved in a peaceful way.”
The eventual outcome of the election will have an effect for many years. “Economically [Ukraine] would suffer if Yanukovych would win,” Father Rabiy explained. “Politically, it may become more isolated and much closer to Russia, and that would not be a good thing.”
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law