Into the Light: Conversations with Sviatoslav Shevchuk

A word from our friend and fellow parishioner, John Burger

Friends, I have good news to share. Yesterday, I signed a contract with Our Sunday Visitor publishing. My book, Into the Light: Conversations with Sviatoslav Shevchuk, will be published in 2023. I am grateful to God for this development, and grateful to all who have helped bring this project to this point.

Into the Light is a book-length interview with His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head and father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest Eastern Catholic Church in communion with Rome. The first part of the book details His Beatitude’s dramatic story of growing up and studying for the priesthood in the underground Church, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was illegal. The rest of the book delves into His Beatitude’s thoughts and analyses of issues facing the Church and the larger society today, including secularism, how the digital revolution is affecting young people, the challenges of ecumenism, the need for community and authentic witness, and the value of Catholic Social Teaching for society.

Let me just say that this is a book not just for Ukrainians, not just for Ukrainian Greek Catholics, and not just for Eastern Christians, though I trust those communities will be interested in reading it. I do believe that His Beatitude’s life story, witness, and teachings will have resonance for many people, especially those searching for wisdom in an increasingly fractured and confusing world.