IN THE PRESS: Cardinal Husar's visit to Canada earns headlines (03/16/03)

IN THE PRESS: Cardinal Husar's visit to Canada earns headlines

PARSIPPANY, N.J. During his pastoral visit to Canada in February, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar was featured in several articles in the news media, among them a Winnipeg newspaper and a national Catholic news service.

The Winnipeg Free Press, in its February 11 issue focused on the Ukrainian Catholic Church primate's comments on the looming war in Iraq.

Lindor Reynolds wrote: "We are on the brink of war and helpless as individuals to prevent it, the spiritual leader of the world's Ukrainian Catholic Church said yesterday, adding that prayer, faith and mutual respect are the only hope for a world rent by conflict."

The journalist went on to quote the cardinal as saying: "I feel personally there is nothing much most of us can do immediately. ... We don't have this power. There is something we can do. Ask what I can do today to diminish injustice in that circle in which I live. I think the sum total of it would change the world."

The Winnipeg Free Press also reported that the purpose of Cardinal Husar's visit to Canada was "to unify those who are far from Ukraine," and cited the hierarch's comment: "We are very concerned to maintain the unity of the Church, that those who are Ukrainian Catholic do not feel they are forgotten. We are trying to make them feel we are all one."

Referring to the reality of the post-September 11 world, the newspaper wrote that Cardinal Husar sees more people returning to their churches and examining their faith: "There is a certain tendency because of all the dangers facing us that people are taking faith more seriously. I think there is much more interest in mainstream religion. There has been secularization against God, it has left people without answers. I would not say they are flocking back to church. They have lost their bearings and they need to be welcomed back."

While in Winnipeg, the newspaper reported, Cardinal Husar visited Ss. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral, Holy Family Nursing Home, St. Joseph's Parish, Holy Eucharist Parish Center and Immaculate Heart of Mary School. He also had a personal meeting with the province's lieutenant governor, Peter Liba, and visited with a group of aboriginal children.

The Canadian Catholic News report filed during the week of February 24 focused on Cardinal Husar's February 12 appearance before an audience in Ottawa at St. Paul University, where he spoke of ecumenism.

"Some Orthodox brethren say we should not exist at all," CCN correspondent Art Babych quoted him as saying. The "East [Orthodox Church] does not know the West [Latin Church] and the West does not know East," he said. "It's a tragic fact, but a reality," said Cardinal Husar. "We have to begin to realize this general frustration in our ecumenical community because we are not getting anywhere."

Because the Ukrainian Catholic Church is loyal to Rome yet follows the Eastern rite, Cardinal Husar said he believes it has an important role to play as mediator between East and West. "We see ourselves at a geographic point where the two traditions meet," he said in an interview with CCN at the offices of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on February 13. "It is expected of us to be mediators because we touch both realities."

The news service also reported the Ukrainian Catholic primate's comments on a patriarchate for his Church. "A patriarchate is the normal way of doing Church business in the Eastern tradition," Cardinal Husar was quoted as saying. "It is something like a country that has everything that it needs, but in order to function normally it needs the recognition of other countries as an independent state." The cardinal has been lobbying Rome to make his Church a patriarchate for some time and he said the pope understands the situation.

"Being a patriarchate doesn't mean prestige, but simply living in a very normal situation and being able to contact others at their own level," the cardinal said. The Vatican, however, fears that elevating the Church to a patriarchate would increase tensions with the Eastern Orthodox Church, CCN explained.

| Home Page |