Social Problems of Ukraine and the Response of the UGCC to the Challenges of the Times

Mr. Marynovych, a well-known dissident in Soviet times and founding member of Amnesty International in Ukraine, is now a leading ecumenist and scholar on the Ukrainian social and religious scene. Report for a conference at the Papal Gregorian University. Rome, 25 May, 2001

It is difficult to view the social problems of present-day Ukraine with rose-colored glasses. Sociologists call this a complex crisis situation, which cannot be reduced simply to a political or economic problem. I will list only a few of the many signs of this crisis in order to focus our analysis:

— transformation of legitimate and just government structures into corrupt "sinful structures;" these structures are used by those in power and by the directors of the administrative monopolies for their own purposes, depriving the people of adequate means of existence and weakening their fundamental freedoms, which are formally guaranteed by the Constitution

— the lack of a highly moral and professional national elite; this was caused in the past by systematic communist repression and today it makes it difficult to find qualified directors in the fields of economy and government and for the local organs of government

— underdevelopment of civil society, which limits society's possibility to organize itself; this leads to such uncivil reactions to injustice as passivity and resignation, forced emigration and suicide, hopelessness and fear.

The social crisis has affected the population so severely because the old Communist methods of social protection are today practically dismantled and new methods are still undeveloped. Consequently, social ministry has a great priority in the Church's activity. How is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) responding to the challenges of the times? From the very beginning we must note that in no way is the Church starting from zero, but from what is, for the moment, an impossible dilemma.

On the one hand, the Church is obviously not able to satisfy all the demands of the present historical moment. It needs time to renew its own structures after the long period of communist persecution; it must stabilize and improve the formation of its clergy, and carefully clean out the neglected springs of Tradition. On the other hand, society cannot wait while the Church is renewing its functions and structures. Society needs a good example from the Church and help from the Church on all fronts, today, or, more accurately, yesterday.

So the Church must do all this at the same time, and this sometimes means that the Church will not do this as perfectly or as thoroughly as it would like. The practical efforts of the Church are focused in various directions, in particular: 1) direct charitable and pastoral help for those in need, 2) drawing the attention of society (and especially those in positions of authority) to the most severe social problems by issuing pastoral letters dealing with these themes, 3) developing the network of educational institutions and instructional programs. Each of these directions will be briefly illustrated. First of all, from the very moment of its legalization at the end of the 1980s, the UGCC has worked to restore its network of charitable organizations. Here are some of the charitable organizations affiliated with the Church: Caritas, the St. Volodomyr Fund, Faith and Light, the Malteser Cross and "Miloserdia,"(Mercy), a charitable organization operating in various deaneries and eparchies.

A significant part of the aid which these charitable organizations provide comes from Catholic charitable organizations in the West, though I must mention that the contributions from local donors are also significant. In the first half of the 1990s the internal strength of the Ukrainian Churches was spent on conflicts between denominations and this limited the Churches' ability actively to help those in need. Today, regardless of many difficulties, the situation between the Churches has improved, which allows the Churches to given greater attention to the social sphere. But ecumenical co-operation in these activities is minimal. The memories of faithful leaving one Church for another are still all too fresh: the time for common charitable endeavors has not yet arrived. The UGCC is planning a special session of its sobor (council) in the summer of 2002: this gathering will be dedicated to social questions, suggestions of possible ways out of the present crisis and to defense of the human person. This will allow the Church to generalize its experience, which is still confined to the parochial or eparchial level, and to fine-tune the concept of its social mission in the new social and political conditions. In this way the work of re-thinking the conceptual foundations of the Church's work in this sphere, which has been going on for a number of years, will be completed.

To date the UGCC has prepared and disseminated 3 such conceptual documents: the Concept of Theological Education, the Catechetical Manual and the Ecumenical Position of the UGCC. Secondly, the UGCC is aware that the government could play an especially significant role in making the crisis worse or, with a more hopeful view, solving the problems which are causing the crisis. Therefore, the UGCC has revived the practice of issuing letters to the faithful in which it explains the positions of the Church regarding the most pressing problems of social and political life. Among these letters were the following: The Episcopate comments on the Electoral Process (December 1997- parliamentary elections; November 1999- presidential elections); The Episcopate on Social Questions (September 1999); The Episcopate on Late Payment of Salaries (October 2000); His Beatitude Patriarch Lubomyr Cardinal Husar's letter, "Do not allow anarchy," (March 2001) in reaction to political problems in Ukraine.

Ukrainian society positively responds to pastoral letters like these. Aware of the great range of tasks which face the Church, tasks which the clergy alone are not able to perform, the UGCC is trying to get the laity actively involved: in particular, in September 1998 a special session of the council was held on the theme "The Place and Role of the Laity in the Church." It is, however, too early to speak about great progress in this direction. The general membership of the laity is still not involved in the practical social work of the Church and this, to a significant degree, lessens the ability of Ukrainian society to organize and help itself. Among other objective and subjective factors which hinder lay activity is the lack of religious education among the laity. This leads us to the third area of work for the Church, education. As the Church is involved with society it encounters not only the problem of secularism, that is, life away from God and the Church, but also the consequences of militant communist atheism, which are evident in distorted ideas about religious faith and the nature and work of the Church.

This severely limits the Church's ability to influence social processes. In fact, just and honest exchanges between the religious and secular sectors of society can be assured only when the false stereotypes of propaganda have been revealed, stereotypes which were current during the times of communist totalitarianism. This goal can be achieved primarily through educational methods, the most important of which are listed here:

— general and non-denominational religious education of the nation, especially introducing a Christian Ethics curriculum into schools; it is important that the Orthodox Churches of Ukraine be encouraged to co-operate in this mutually beneficial work-- for example, in creating a single program for the Christian Ethics courses and in together lobbying government structures to include this subject in educational programs in the schools;

— active religious education for all who desire it on the most basic parish level; in general, the renewal of parish life should become a subject for discussion at many eparchial meetings;

— creation of specialized catechetical institutions (for example, the Catechetical Institute of the Lviv Theological Academy, the Cathechetical Institute in Drohobych, the Theological/Catechetical Institute in Ivano-Frankivsk) in which catechists and teachers are prepared for further work in society;

— higher theological education, especially on the base of the Lviv Theological Academy.

In summary, all post-communist societies are experiencing the same problems: renewing the understanding of the real essence and value of the human person, recognizing the true significance of freedom, providing the conditions for worthy and civilized human life in society. The cumulative influence of the Ukrainian Churches on social processes, even the influence of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, is still not great, however, the positive influence which they do have must be recognized.