Bishop Stanislaw Shyrokoradiuk, vicar general of the Kyiv and Zhytomyr diocese of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), said that presidential decrees on the transfer of religious buildings to churches are not being enforced in Ukraine. Bishop Shyrokoradiuk, who is also director general of the religious mission “Caritas,” made this announcement at a press conference on 8 November 2002.
He asserted that, despite promises from the Ukrainian government, the RCC still hasn’t received a number of its legitimate cathedrals, in particular, the cathedrals of St. Alexander and St. Nicholas in Kyiv, as well as other cathedrals in Bila Tserkva and Uman, both in the Kyiv region. According to the bishop, talks about the return of religious buildings do not really correspond to the reality. When “the Soviet regime was collapsing,” many people were just “seizing churches and waging wars for every building,” stressed Bishop Shyrokoradiuk. “The official authorities begin solving the problem” only if the conflicts became serious, the bishop continued. Concerning the relations between churches, Bishop Shyrokoradiuk said “the RCC doesn’t have such problems in Ukraine as Catholics are facing in Russia.” Today, the RCC has seven eparchies in Ukraine, in which more than ten bishops and 460 priests serve. In addition, the RCC also conducts active social service. Over the last seven years, it has opened four rehabilitation centers for children, in which over 2,700 children receive treatment annually. Several homes for senior citizens and two orphanages have also been opened. Source: www.i-news.org