We have to face the truth humbly, with the acknowledgement of, and repentance for, our sins. When we stop fearing, a new hope returns. Several weeks ago, the Paris Eparchy experienced a seminar conducted by Father Hans Zollner, SJ, about the extent of sexual abuse globally and in the Church and the inadequacy of our response to it. Fr. Hans is one of the main organizers of the meeting on abuse called by Pope Francis in Rome. The stories and statistics of those violated were nauseating. And yet awareness of the truth leads to hope. If we live in illusion, we are condemned to anxiety. We know it’s fake and sooner or later we are going to fall through the floor. Illusions are being stripped away. This is painful, but ultimately the truth generates hope.
I come as one who needs to learn and listen, and I’m more than willing to be taught. I hope that all of us can contribute to the eradication of any violence and abuse. God created us in freedom and calls us to its fullness, which is always accompanied by a call to responsibility. Those structures that do not support God-given freedom and dignity will not last, including ecclesiastical ones. It’s okay if they perish. Some things will fall and disintegrate. It has happened in history: the Roman Empire collapsed, as did many modern colonial empires. The Church has in the past disappeared in certain parts of the world, only to flourish elsewhere. It is the Lord’s Church and He will guide it if we do not get in the way.
As people of faith we have no other choice but to believe that God’s plans for His Church are larger than our imagination, that He with His mighty hand can rescue His faithful and rebuild His Church. For me, that’s not a theological theory or a pious dream: I witnessed it in my life and in my Church.
In the second half of the twentieth century, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was obliterated as a visible, public, legal institution. After two generations of relentless persecution, from 1945 to 1989, it seemed destined to disappear. And yet after unspoken humiliation, those living martyrs and confessors who with humility accepted God’s guidance led the Church out of the catacombs and into a new life. The fire of persecution burned away superfluous or even harmful aspects of the Church’s life while forging the faith of a small remnant. That small band of witnesses was then called to bring the faith to millions. Today, in Ukraine, the Church of 4-5 million faithful has 800 seminarians. Fifty years of war and persecution reduced its 3000 priests in 1939 to 300 aged priests in 1989, but today it has again 3000 priests in or from Ukraine, many of them serving generously in Paris Eparchy and throughout the United States.
As a Church historian and pastor, I find comfort and inspiration in the twentieth-century salvation history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Authenticity in prayer and worship, selfless service, and humility are the only possible ways to live the Gospel convincingly in contemporary society, especially amidst the Church’s present difficulties. True faith and love, prevail, even in unbearable circumstances; so does hope. The three great things of which St. Paul writes bring peace and joy. With God’s help, I hope to testify in Philadelphia and throughout the Archeparchy about the witness of our fathers and mothers in the faith. They endured and prevailed spiritually and morally through the power of God. So can we.