Lviv's Catholics remember Pope John Paul II with special ceremonies (04/17/05)

Lviv's Catholics remember Pope John Paul II with special ceremonies

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

LVIV - Unable to travel to Vatican City for Pope John Paul Il's funeral, Lviv's Catholics held their own ceremony to commemorate their spiritual leader.

The night before the April 8 funeral, more than 5,000 people honored the pope by retracing the path he took when visiting Ukraine's bastion of Catholicism more than three years ago.

For four hours, the faithful held candles and walked from St. George Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral to six other sites, concluding at the Nativity of the Mother of God Church in Sykhiv, a Lviv suburb, where they met hundreds already praying and took part in a panakhyda.

"I wasn't at the Youth Rally [in 2001] because I wasn't in Lviv at the time," said Solomiya Hnativ, 19, a student at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv. "In my soul, there was a need to pay my respects and compensate for the fact that I wasn't there. This was a person who was an idol for us,"

The UCU rectorate organized the march at the urgings of student leaders and others who wanted to commemorate the pope's life, said Father Michael Kwiatkowski, vice-rector of UCU.

Ukrainian Catholics could not travel to Rome because of the European Union's Schengen visa restrictions, which denies immediate entry to citizens of European nations outside the 15-nation Schengen zone.

"The feeling was that the city of Lviv wanted to bid farewell to the pope in some special way," Father Kwiatkowski said. "Ukrainian Catholic University provided the event."

Students posted fliers throughout the city, and word of mouth spread quickly.

The spirit of the march was not one of sorrow or mourning, but an uplifting experience, participants said.

After leaving St. George's, marchers visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady, the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, the Virgin Mary statue in the city center, the main UCU building under construction on Stryiska Street, the almost-completed Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Seminary on Naukova Street and finally the Nativity of the Mother of God Church.

At each destination a bishop or clergyman gave a brief message.

It was during his 2001 visit that the pope blessed the cornerstone of the Stryiska Street building. Perhaps no other Lviv structure is as synonymous with Pope John Paul II, however, as the Nativity of the Mother of God Church.

The immense structure, designed by Ukrainian Canadian architect Radoslav Zuk, had only been complete for nine months by the time the pope held a Youth Rally there on June 26, 2001.

Ukraine's Catholics clearly remember the event for many reasons, including the holy father's exhortation to young people to not flee Ukraine for the "illusions of an easy life abroad," but to stay and help build their country.

Occurring during a lengthy downpour that created an exceptionally muddy field, the Youth Rally was also the memorable occasion when Pope John Paul II, 81 years old at the time, interrupted a homily he was delivering and broke out in song.

For more than a minute, the pope sang several stanzas of a Polish folk song, "Rain do not fall, do not fall, but return to the forest and the mountains, from the heavens from which you came." His ad lib delighted the drenched and chilly crowd.

When the faithful retracing the pontiff's path reached Sykhiv, the tone turned decidedly quiet and reflective. Bishop Ihor Vozniak led a panakhyda service during which the faithful prayed and worshipped.

Afterwards, the bishops led a special Stations of the Cross service composed by St. Bartholomew of Constantinople in a Ukrainian translation.

A youth choir also sang during a slide show of the pope's visit.

When the formal commemoration concluded at 11 p.m., hundreds of mourners decided to remain, silently praying and reflecting on the pontiff's life late into the night as the slide show was repeated.

"It was suggested that they place their candles wherever they were standing," Father Kwiatkowski said. "They were like candles sprinkled across the field, like stars in the night. The atmosphere that was created was very beautiful."

Today, a 10-foot tall bronze statue atop a brick foundation stands where the pope had been years ago. It depicts a younger, confident Pope John Paul II holding a bishop's staff in his left hand.

The Sykhiv church's pastor, Father Orest Fredyna, said the Lviv City Council supports a measure to name the square in front of the church in honor of Pope John Paul II, and he's hoping enough national deputies will do so as well. Pora activists are helping with the effort, he said.

On the day of the pope's funeral, parishioners planted trees to begin creating a park which Father Fredyna hopes will become a peaceful, quiet place for rest, prayer and reflection.

The pope's visit had a colossal effect on Nativity of the Mother of God Church, which has become a spiritual beacon even for Ukrainians who are not from Catholic backgrounds or Ukrainian-speaking, he explained.

"During a divine liturgy, one of my friends overheard two young Russian-speaking men enter the church and say, 'The pope truly was a great man. Look at how nicely they held a mass in his honor,' " said Father Fredyna, mentioning that former residents of the Chornobyl zone have been resettled in the church's neighborhood.

"I am happy that, even though we consider ourselves patriots, all kinds of people come to our church," he said

The church has also become a popular destination for tourists in Lviv, particularly Poles, Father Fredyna added.

Those Ukrainian Catholic Church leaders who did manage to travel to the pope's funeral were Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Bishop Yulian Voronovskyi of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy, Bishop Milan Sashik of the Mukachiv Eparchy, Bishop Volodymyr Vityshyn of the Kolomyia-Chernivtsi Eparchy and Holy Spirit Seminary Vice-Rector Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

Two Ukrainian Catholic bishops permanently stationed in Rome also attended: Bishop Ivan Choma, Cardinal Husar's official representative in Rome, and Auxiliary Bishop of Lviv Hlib Lonchyna.

Cardinal Marian Jaworski, head of the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ukraine, also attended the funeral.

Archbishop Stephen Soroka of the Philadelphia Archeparchy, metropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, also traveled to Rome.

"It was not so much an atmosphere of mourning, but more of love," Bishop Voronovskyi said of the funeral.

Cardinal Husar also participated in a special memorial service after the funeral mass conducted by the heads of various Eastern Catholic Churches.

Globally, the Ukrainian Catholic Church held panakhyda ceremonies on the morning after the pope's death and, as per Church tradition, on the ninth day after his death. Memorial services will also be offered on the 40th day after death.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Husar will remain in Rome, participating with 114 other cardinals in the conclave to select the next pope, said Father Ihor Yatsiv.

If the selection process is less than a month long, the cardinal will remain in Rome until the first ceremonial mass led by the newly selected pope, he said. If it takes longer, the cardinal will travel between Lviv and Rome.

The magnitude of Pope John Paul II's influence on the Ukrainian Catholic Church hasn't been entirely understood yet, said the Rev. Dr. Mykhailo Dymyd, director of the Institute of Canon Law at UCU.

However, it's worth considering the pope's last statement to the Ukrainian Catholic Church on June 2004, he said. The permanent Synod visited Rome and the pope informed it that the status of patriarchate that the Ukrainian Catholic Church wants blessed by the pope already exists.

The pope said he was still waiting and hoping for inspiration from the Holy Ghost to impart the blessing, the Rev. Dr. Dymyd noted.

Throughout his more than 26-year tenure, the pope supported the Ukrainian Catholic Church's aspirations to establish a Kyiv Patriarchate that would unite the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches in communion with Rome, he said.

"He gave us the courage to become a synod," the Rev. Dr. Dymyd said. "Before, we were afraid. He helped our Church not to be afraid of its deep traditions and not to be satisfied with its current status."

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