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- I.
Formation of Priests and Religious
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- 1)
Recognizing that the proper formation of seminarians is vital for
the future health of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, we ask the Holy
Synod to require that aspirants be trained in Byzantine seminaries,
which must be kept free of all influences of the current
neo-Modernism. Should it prove impossible in some cases to train
seminarians in Byzantine seminaries, then scrupulous care must be
given to the choice of a non-Byzantine seminary which is proven
faithful to the magisterium. (The same considerations should
be given to the education of religious, mutatis mutandis.)
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The
intention of obtaining advanced university degrees, however, should
not be invoked as a reason to prevent seminarians or religious from
receiving formation in Eastern Catholic institutions, especially
considering the current, urgent need for pastors of souls to serve
the faithful, and the deplorable state of so many western
institutions and seminaries.
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- 2)
Given that many aspirants incur significant personal debt from
undergraduate studies before entering seminary, we ask the Holy
Synod to exhort all ordinaries in the United States to bear the cost
of seminary education for native (US) aspirants. (The same
considerations should be given to the education of religious,
mutatis mutandis.)
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- 3)
Recognizing the ‘iconography’ of the sacred priesthood as
a glimpse of the sublime priesthood of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, and in order also to preserve and safeguard the traditional
integrity of sacerdotal orders, we ask the Holy Synod to retain the
male exclusivity of the so-called ‘minor orders’ by
precluding women and/or girls from any order of service or any role
whatsoever in the sanctuary or presbyterium at Divine Liturgy (or
the other Sacred Mysteries).
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It
is deeply lamentable that girls and women appear in official service
in the Western Rite (whether as ‘extraordinary ministers’,
lectors or altar servers). We ask the Holy Synod never to permit
such practices in the Ukrainian Church, and to keep in mind also
that such practices are used by feminist and neo-Modernist
ideologues to agitate for the supposed eventual ‘ordination’
of priestesses.
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- II.
Catechesis of the Faithful, especially Youth
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- 1)
Recognizing that the catechesis of the faithful, especially of
youth, is among the primary sacred duties of parents, pastors and
bishops, and that the Holy Faith and the passing on of it in
integrity must be safeguarded these days especially from
neo-Modernist influences circulating in the Latin Rite and/or from
non-Catholic and secular sources, we ask the Holy Synod to exhort
all authorities in ecclesial offices of education to be on guard
against neo-Modernist influences and errors, and to enjoin all
ordinaries to give just heed to the legitimate appeals of the
faithful, especially in those matters which pertain directly to the
faithful’s duties of state in life, or to their particular
competencies.
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We
ask this especially in light of evidence of deterioration in
catechesis as well as evident neglect in the vigilance required to
safeguard catechesis in our Rite. To cite one serious example: In
the United States a case of public scandal involving, inter alia,
the influence of neo-Modernist and other heterodox errors has
arisen. The scandal has been thoroughly documented for the proper
authorities; however, it has remained uncorrected and unrepaired by
the authorities, without (in this case) even so much as a reply from
the ordinary to the laity’s appeal.
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III.
Liturgy
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- 1)
One English translation of the Divine Liturgy currently in use
exhibits — besides linguistic inaccuracies — the influence
of neo-Modernist errors or ambiguities, and borrows from
theologically defective English translations of Latin Rite texts.
These influences have also arisen in the translations of the Holy
Gospel and Epistles, as well as for the tropars and kondaks. Among
these influences must also be numbered the first signs or stages of
so-called inclusive language. (For example, words such as “Lover
of mankind” are replaced with “Lover of humankind”;
or, words such as “mankind” or “men” are omitted
from the translation altogether, thus requiring new formulations or
expressions.)
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We
ask the Holy Synod to enjoin all ordinaries scrupulously to guard
against any such incursions and to repair, purify and render
authentic (where necessary) all translations used in official public
liturgical prayer.
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- 2)
The use of so-called “extraordinary ministers of the
Eucharist” has become a rather commonplace source of scandal
and abuse in the Western Church. The initiative must be taken to
safeguard the Ukrainian Church from similar abuses. Given the
diminishing numbers of priests in the United States, we ask the Holy
Synod to augment the diaconate (with men only, of course), but to do
so with both the prudence and the precautions called for by the
times, so as to avoid any abuse of the Sacred Mysteries or scandal
to the faithful.
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- 3)
Given the observance of ‘presanctified liturgy’, we ask
the Holy Synod to recognize the ancient, customary prerogative of
the faithful to assist at the Sacrifice of Divine Liturgy daily in
their parishes throughout the entire year, without interruption.
(Confer the attached letter from Father
Constantine Belisarius, a Melkite priest, to his Eparch, dated
August 15, 1997.)
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- 4)
We ask the Holy Synod to encourage and invite the faithful to
restore the observance of all Holy Days which Eastern Catholics have
traditionally observed and to discontinue the western trend to
reduce the number of Holy Days.
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- 5)
Questions, disagreements and some confusion have arisen in parishes
over the postures which the faithful may assume during the
liturgical seasons at specific times of the Divine Liturgy. Among
the most common examples of such have to do with the choice between
kneeling or standing at the words of Consecration (and thereafter)
during Pascha. At stake is, in part, the legitimate freedom of the
faithful to express themselves in accord especially with the habits
of custom (but also with personal pious devotion). The faithful in
North America have, as the habit of custom for centuries, knelt at
said times. However, disputes have arisen in not a few cases on
account of changes to the contrary being introduced.
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We
ask the Holy Synod to safeguard the legitimate freedom of the
faithful to maintain the pious practice of kneeling during those
parts of the Divine Liturgy which the habit of custom has
established (including during Pascha). (Cf. §28
in Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the
Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. “As can. 1507
specifies, custom is the fruit of the continuous and uncontested
practice of the local community, precious because it is rooted in
the life of the people.”)
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- IV.
The Call of the Faithful to Holiness
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- 1)
Due especially to the universal, public scandals which arise from
immodest, modern fashions (particularly in the west), we ask the
Holy Synod to exhort and direct the laity to dress modestly and
decently at all times and especially at Divine Liturgy. Such
exhortation will require delicate, but also diligent and repeated
appeals to the faithful from pastors. Compliance with the practical
norms of modesty may be left to the prudent exercise of the pastor,
with his ultimate prerogative to deny reception of the Sacred
Mysteries, especially the Holy Eucharist, to those who approach the
Holy of Holies immodestly attired. (The
attachment “On Modesty”, citing the testimony of the
Blessed Mother of God, of Saint John Chrysostom and of the Holy See,
is of no little benefit in explaning the importance of the practice
of modesty in dress. Certainly the widespread immodesty in public
attire has provoked many other sexual immoralities in our day.)
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- 2)
Given that Ukrainian Catholic spouses in the United States tend to
give families of very few children to the Church, and given the
scandalous prevalence of the use of contraception among so many
married couples in the west, we beg the Holy Synod to exhort
Ukrainian Catholic spouses in the United States to observe
diligently and faithfully all the sacred duties and pious practices
of chaste wedlock.
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- 3)
In the United States there are increasing certain irreverent habits
among the faithful, particularly at Divine Liturgy — even such
practices as boisterous conversation in the presence of the
Eucharist. We ask the Holy Synod to enjoin the faithful to deport
themselves in churches and other holy places with the reverence due
the Eucharistic Lord and/or called for by the particular place.
This includes silence and reserve before the Holy of Holies
especially, and could also extend to the recovery of the practice of
separating the faithful, so that women take their place on the side
of the Theotokos and men on the other. (The theological
reasons for so doing should also be given the faithful.)
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- 4)
Parents must be exhorted by pastors to provide adequate formation
and Christian education to their children, especially as regards the
preparation for receiving Holy Communion after First Confession. We
ask the Holy Synod to exhort parents to bring their children to
First Confession soon after they attain the use of reason. Such
preparation requires that pastors remind parents to withhold
children from Holy Communion upon the onset of the age of reason
(assuming that the children have received Holy Communion during
their early years of innocence).
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- 5)
Of course, among the best examples of due reverence to the Holy
Eucharist is for parents to instruct their children by their own
example of frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Confession. To
reverse the current decline in the recourse to this Holy Mystery
among Ukrainian Catholics in North America, we ask the Holy Synod to
exhort pastors to preach regularly to the faithful on the benefits
of and needs for frequent sacramental confession of sins to a
priest, including the need for the confession of
deadly sins before approaching the Holy Eucharist. (Cf.
Instruction, op.cit., §90: “... the more individual
aspect of the sacrament of Penance, traditional in the Eastern
Churches, is to be maintained, encouraged and eventually recuperated
where it has not been sufficiently practiced.”)
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- 6)
We ask the Holy Synod to retain and encourage wholesome popular
devotions (whether originated in East or West). For example, the
more western devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (encouraged as it
was by the Servant of God Andrew Sheptytsky) could be retained and
cultivated under titles not disruptive to Eastern Christian piety,
viz. Lord Only Lover of Mankind or Sweetest Lord Jesus.
We ask the Synod to recall that the Synod of 1940 exhorted the
faithful to practice this devotion — the same Synod which
prepared the Ukrainian nation for decades of persecution and
martyrdom. This is not to say that such devotions such as the
Akathist should not be introduced where absent. (Cf.
Instruction, op. cit., §38: “But since these
devotions are by now much diffused in the Eastern Catholic Churches
and, in fact, feed and comfort their faithful, it would be seriously
imprudent and a sign of pastoral insensitivity to believe that they
must simply be eradicated.”)
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- 7)
Furthermore, we ask the Holy Synod to encourage the universal
devotion of the Holy Rosary and especially the already widespread,
indispensable devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and the consequent
First Five Saturdays, especially considering the relevance of
Russia’s conversion to Ukrainian Catholics. Such devotion
could be cultivated under the title of Our Lady of Tenderness,
Our Lady of Hrushiv or some other suitable Eastern title.
We ask also that the recitation of the ‘Jesus Prayer’ be
recovered among our people, since the Holy Rosary and the Jesus
Prayer represent an authentic inculturation of the holy
liturgy of the Church among the faithful. (Cf.
Instruction, op. cit., §28 &
38.)
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- 8)
In reparation for sin and for progress in virtue, we ask the Holy
Synod to encourage and invite the faithful to observe the
traditional fasts and abstinences, including the former Eucharistic
fast.
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- 9)
We ask the Holy Synod to exhort women to restore the practice of
covering their heads at the Divine Liturgy and during the other
Sacred Mysteries, in accord with the charge of the Apostle. (See
I Corinthians 11.)
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- V.
‘Reality Check’ or Assessment of the Current Situation
in the US
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- Our
parishes are ‘graying’ and dwindling with the passing of
aging parishioners. Many, many of the children of our aging
Ukrainian faithful are attending Latin parishes, or no church at
all. As the Holy Synod must surely know, very few Ukrainian
Catholic spouses, sad to admit, are nowadays giving families of many
children to our Church.
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- In
the United States the Ukrainian Church is no longer a ‘church
of immigrants’. In the US, at least, a significant and
increasing contributor to the rejuvenation of our parishes is
already coming from non-Ukrainians, i.e., converts and former Latin
Rite Catholics seeking to lead lives imbued by authentic
Catholicism.
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- With
an already shrinking base of financial support in many parishes, it
becomes all the more important for the future of the Church in North
America not to alienate practicing Catholics by misapplication of
the Instruction.
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- Though
there have arisen and may yet arise still more disagreements about
the application of the Holy See’s Instruction, Catholics
are obliged to behave according to the ancient maxim of truth and
charity: In what is necessary, unity; in what is doubtful,
freedom; and in all things, charity.
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- Above
all, the integrity of the Faith and unity must be preserved.
Varying opinions about the application of the Instruction
notwithstanding, it is the Faith which is necessary and which
principally unites the Catholic people of all the churches or rites.
As the Second Vatican Council has declared:
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That
Church, Holy and Catholic, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is
made up of the faithful who are organically united in the Holy
Spirit through the same faith, the same sacraments and the
same government and who, combining into various groups held together
by a hierarchy, form separate churches or rites.
(Orientalium Ecclesiarum, § 2)
VI.
Plea for a ‘Commission of Recourse’
Now
that the Congregation for the Eastern Churches has issued the
Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code
of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the faithful are expecting
and have already encountered not a few changes or calls for changes
of traditional practices and long-standing popular devotions. These
changes and rumors of changes have already brought, some of them,
unsettling consequences, even alarm among the faithful.
In
light of the often excessive and unsettling trends brought about by
the aggiornamento in the Church at large for the past 30
years (especially as regards liturgical reform), we ask the Holy
Synod to establish in L’viv a Commission of Recourse for
the purpose of addressing the legitimate interests and appeals of
the clergy and laity, and/or for correcting potential abuses or
disputes not settled by the local ordinary, which arise as a
consequence of the application of the Holy See’s Instruction
in the United States and elsewhere.
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