Ukraine's Catholics appeal for legalization of their Church to Supreme Soviet in Moscow (12/27/87)

Ukraine's Catholics appeal for legalization of their Church to Supreme Soviet in Moscow

NEWARK, N.J. - The Daily Telegraph of Great Britain reported on December 23 that Ivan Hel delivered an appeal for the legalization of the Ukrainian Catholic Church to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow.

According to Prolog Research, Mr. Hel was identified in the story as the head of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Believers and the Church in Ukraine, apparently the group once headed by Yosyp Terelia, who emigrated this year to Canada.

Mr. Hel was accompanied by the Rev. Petro Zeleniuk who told foreign correspondents in Moscow that he has reopened a church that had been closed during the Stalin regime and that he celebrates liturgy there for some 400 faithful of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The location of the church was not reported by The Daily Telegraph.

The statement delivered by Mr. Hel was signed by two bishops and 1,543 faithful. It noted that the Ukrainian Catholic Church is an integral part of the spiritual and national heritage of the Ukrainian nation.

Mr. Hel, 50, a national rights advocate who served 17 years of labor camp and exile for disseminating samvydav literature and was freed in mid-January after completing his most recent sentence, is a member of the recently formed Initiative Group for the Release of Ukrainian Prisoners of Conscience.

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