Turning the pages back... March 4, 1988 (03/03/02)

Turning the pages back...

March 4, 1988

Fourteen years ago, on March 4, 1988, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution deploring the Soviet government's active persecution of religious believers in Ukraine on the occasion of the Millennium of Christianity in Kyivan-Rus'.

The bill's principal sponsor in the Senate, Dennis DeConcini stated that, "if the Soviet government truly wants to commemorate the Millennium of Christianity, it can legalize the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches and stop persecuting believers of all denominations."

Sen. DeConcini's resolution, S.J. Res. 235, introduced in December 1987, discouraged official U.S. participation in the USSR's planned Millennium ceremonies, "so long as individuals remain harassed and imprisoned for their religious beliefs," and the "Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches remain outlawed."

The resolution further urged President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. delegation to the United Nations to "continue to speak out forcefully against violations of religious liberty throughout the Soviet Union and specifically in Ukraine."

In a letter addressed to the leadership of the U.S. Congress, the Soviets condemned the resolution as "biased."

Nadia Komarnycky-McConnell, chairperson of the Government Relations Committee of the Ukrainian community's National Committee to Commemorate the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, stressed that the Senate action "underscores the primacy of Ukrainian claims to the Millennium of Christianity."

Ms. McConnell further emphasized that the passage of S.J. Res. 235 "adds to the growing international pressure being put on the Kremlin" regarding Ukrainian concerns in general and specifically the legalization of previously banned Ukrainian Churches.

An identical version of the Senate bill, House Joint Resolution 429, was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. William Lipinski and was passed on April 19, 1988.

Source: "Millennium resolution passes Senate," The Ukrainian Weekly, March 13, 1988, Vol. LVI, No. 11.

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