UCU Vice-Rector Comments On Cardinal’s Statement About Political Situation

On 30 September 2002, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), released a statement suggesting the church mediate in the dialogue between state authorities and opposition leaders in Ukraine. Cardinal Husar believes that constructive and honest dialogue is the best way to solve the conflict. Prof. Myroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector of External Affairs at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv (UCU), commented on the cardinal’s statement in an interview for the BBC.
Prof. Marynovych said that the statement was motivated by the church’s serious concern about the situation in Ukraine and its impact on Ukraine’s reputation in the world. Prof. Marynovych emphasized that the statement should not be regarded as the church interfering in politics, but as an attempt to create an atmosphere for constructive dialogue in Ukrainian society. “Now the representatives of the authorities and the opposition should have their say,” noted Prof. Marynovych. He also compared the initiative of Cardinal Husar with the mediation of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland in the 1980s, when crucial decisions of state importance were made there. Concerning the possible correlation between Cardinal Husar’s statement and the increasing social role of the UGCC, Prof. Marynovych noted that the church has traditionally expressed its opinions on urgent social issues. He mentioned that society always listened to the voice of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptysky before World War II. Source: www.bbc.co.uk/ukrainian