BIG: Tucker Carlson in Russia already, to interview President Putin, Musk supports.

We seem to have a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. However, I think that the perversions and apostasy of the West are due to a more subtle form of communism. Certainly, the type military of oppression you describe is appalling and to be utterly condemned, but the Highest Authority has advised us to be more wary of those who will not destroy the body, but the soul. Which is ultimately the most gravely harmful, a murder of innocents or the type of incident becoming typical in the West, such as the recent blasphemous and mocking funeral of a transexual in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York, with the approval of Cardinal Dolan, as reported today by Ann Barnhardt?

 

There is no call for this personal tone.

 

Yes, perversions and apostasy. Cesspools.

 

Your first sentence says it all, although I don't know if "choice" is the most appropriate word for the moment, perhaps that phase has already been overcome...

 

Criticism accepted! Comment removed.

 

What a horrible sacrilege! Thanks for the information.

 

Things like this are why, when faced with assessing the conflict between West and East, I find it very difficult to be loyal to the West, or at least that portion of it and its followers which hubristically control it and claim to represent it in totality. The phrase 'a plague upon both their houses' seems appropriate.

 

Thank you, Basto. You were just being passionate. And thank you for an informative discussion. I have learned quite a bit about the Ukrainian Catholic viewpoint and hope that God will protect them in these history-defining times.

 

The last thing we have is a 'choice', but if we had it wouldn't really be one!

 

No Catholic can be loyal to Western governments with their immoral laws and policies, we must fight against this with all our might and support any Christian leader or movement who can restore our ancient Catholic order. What I find absurd, though, is that so many Catholics are willing to accept as an alternative something or someone who wants to destroy what remains of this ancient Catholic order. This is a curious and frightening phenomenon, truly apocalyptic, it's a "massive Psyop" as referred by the Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei. For me, this is the most unlikely and surprising of all the errors that Russia managed to spread throughout the world...

 

Ten years of Russia’s War against Ukraine Recognized as Genocide: Head of the UGCC

Before the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion and the tenth anniversary of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Pontifical Charitable Foundation “Aid to the Church in Need” (ACN International) hosted a press conference, “2014-2024: Ten Years of War in Ukraine”. The Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, and the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, spoke to about 70 journalists from around the world via video link from Kyiv.


Head of the UGCC at the mass grave in Bucha, April 7, 2022

In the opening statement, the Executive President of Church in Need, Ms. Regina Lynch, pointed out: “With the rising number of conflicts and riots across the world at this time, there is a real danger that Ukraine could be forgotten as the world’s attention diverts from one crisis to another,” she said. “We at ACN are determined to prevent this from happening.”

Voice of the Church from Ukraine

“I have a couple of good news from Ukraine,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav began, “The first is that we are alive, and as a Church, we are trying to bring hope to our people amidst suffering, destruction, and death. The second is that international humanitarian solidarity is active and enables us to save so many lives in Ukraine.”

The Head of the UGCC expressed his gratitude to friends from the “Aid to the Church in Need” fund for their visits to Ukraine and comprehensive support, as well as for emphasizing that the war in Ukraine began ten years ago with the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Donbas by Russia.

The Apostolic Nuncio emphasized that this war is “not just a theory.” He said that he often meets with families of prisoners, both military and civilian. Some have been in captivity for seven years, and some more. “How often we remember the two captured priests from Berdiansk — Ivan Levytsky and Bohdan Geleta! We do not know where they are or their situation,” added the archbishop.

The nuncio also emphasized that in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Kherson regions, “almost all schools have been closed for four years”: first because of the pandemic, now because of the war. Children are studying online, and in some places, kindergartens and schools are being equipped in underground premises.

In such circumstances, the Church in Ukraine “acts as a single body,” said Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas, emphasizing that the people are central to its ministry in the war.

Children of war

Answering journalists’ questions about the mission of Pope Francis’ special envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that one of its priorities is the return of abducted Ukrainian children. He emphasized that “children in Ukraine are the most vulnerable part” of Ukrainian society, which has been severely traumatized, especially during the last two years of Russian aggression. More than 500 children have been officially recognized as dead, more than 1,200 have been injured, and many of them have lost limbs and need prosthetics.

“If we consolidate our efforts at various levels — diplomatic, humanitarian, even with the help of journalists from different countries — more Ukrainian children will be saved and return to their homes from Russia,” the Patriarch expressed hope.

UGCC in the occupied territories

Today, “there is not a single Catholic priest in the Russian-occupied territory,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav. Moreover, a few weeks ago in Donetsk, where people gathered for prayer even without a priest, the occupiers closed the church. In the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia last year, the leader of the occupation authorities banned the activities of the UGCC and confiscated church property.

“It is becoming increasingly challenging for our people to practice their faith,” stated the Head of the Church.

War crimes must be condemned

The Head of the UGCC cautioned against Russia’s ten-year war against Ukraine, which aims to “destroy the existence of an entire nation.”

“We can testify that what is happening now in Ukraine is genocide,” said the Patriarch. “The state authorities [of Russia — ed.] decided to eliminate the existence of an entire nation. In Ukraine, people are being killed for being Ukrainians.”

His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized the importance of recognizing Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. He thanked those organizations that come to Ukraine to investigate them.

“Condemning these war crimes is of the utmost importance. If we do not, they will persist and affect other nations and other parts of the world. Recognizing such atrocities as genocide means stopping them,” stated the Patriarch. “We, Ukrainians, need to be heard so that the world can see our pain and the aggressor can be stopped.”

Do you have any doubt?

His Beatitude Sviatoslav invited those who have doubts about the scale of Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine to “come and see.”

“Visit the people who are wounded or the families of the victims,” he said. “Come and see, come and touch the human wounds.”

New modes of pastoral care

According to the Head of the UGCC, in times of war, the Church is looking for new ways of pastoral care, including for people “who are grieving, who are in distress, and those who have lost their dearest family members.” His Beatitude Sviatoslav called it “the pastoral care of grief.”

“The future of Ukraine, the future of the Church, relies on how we can respond to this dire need of people in Ukraine to overcome the trauma of war,” he said.

“The Ukrainian family is subjected to constant torture today,” he emphasized, adding that in 2023, more than 180 thousand marriages and about 120 thousand divorces were registered in Ukraine. “This is the highest number of divorces in the history of independent Ukraine… And the greatest pastoral challenge for me, for our priests, for the Church,” the Primate stated.

What help do Ukrainians need today?

His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that about 7 million Ukrainians are “facing a food crisis” as the war continues, and the “first euphoria” of humanitarian aid from a number of organizations has diminished.

Apart from food, people need housing. According to the Head of the UGCC, parishes in the East, South, and Center of Ukraine play a central role in receiving and accommodating internally displaced persons who “try to settle in the nearest relatively peaceful city.”

At the same time, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is working to refresh the training of clergy and monastics to provide “psychological, physical, and spiritual support” to the population. The Patriarch added that teachers, volunteers, and other professionals also expressed interest in such training.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav also spoke about the rehabilitation centers that are currently underway in Ukraine, such as Unbroken in Lviv, where young Ukrainians receive rehabilitation and prosthetics. He remarked that there is an increasing demand for more centers of this kind.

Reference

The Pontifical Charitable Foundation “Aid to the Church in Need” (ACN International) provides assistance to persecuted churches in more than 145 countries. In Ukraine, it cooperates with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches. Founded in 1947 to support victims of World War II, the organization implements more than 5,000 projects a year.

Since Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, ACN has provided more than $15 million in aid to clergy, monastics, and seminarians, supported initiatives aimed at healing the wounds of war and helping refugees, and more.

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Source:
https://ugcc.ua/en/data/ten-years-o...-recognized-as-genocide-head-of-the-ugcc-914/

 

I have been following your discussion. It's very interesting and is helpful in understanding the issues at stake for the Ukraine. I think we are all experiencing exile from our true home at the moment. There is no comfort for faithful catholics anywhere in the west. We survive in pockets. Our Lady's request that we form or join prayer groups is an important way of surviving and this forum provides a sort of home to many who are experiencing isolation. In our parishes we are generally in a minority so it is good to have these discussions here and tease out the issues.

 

Yes, that is true, but also as a living Church we must be united in Christ and that includes united with our suffering Ukrainian Catholic brothers (millions of faithful and their priests and bishops). I have difficulty in understanding how we can remain in a state of grace while supporting, even slightly, what the murderous dictator is doing to our Ukrainian brothers. Unless, of course, we don't know what he is doing to them, but don't we really know? This is not a matter for discussion, this belongs to the most intimate domain of each one of us and our confessors who could even be a Ukrainian Catholic priest!

And this in no way means that some of the things the murderous dictator says are not right or that we support the West's wicked laws.

 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...ks-cathedral-for-trans-activist-sparks-outcry

Cardinal Dolan did not approve it. In fact, he ordered a Mass of Reparation. The article in this link tells about the outcry against the trans funeral. I don’t think the celebrant at the funeral Mass was even aware the deceased was trans.

 

I don't understand why Orthodox Christians are viewed differently than Catholics?

I firmly believe in the Catholic Church as the only correct one that fully inherits the legacy of Peter, but the Orthodox, just like all other Protestant churches, are Christians, followers of Christ who, most often, have left the whole due to various political and historical conflicts within the Church itself or conflicts between rulers and the state .
These are our brothers and sisters in Christ, their baptism is the same as ours, if they join the Catholic Church their baptism is authentic and does not need to be repeated.

At the moment, there are not many countries where Catholics are the majority, in Europe they are Italy, Poland, Portugal, Croatia and Ireland. All the others are now far below 50% by declaration, and in the matter of religion, if there are any, even 5% at best.
There are 2.6 billion Christians in the world, and Catholics make up only half of that number.

Of course, it is in everyone's interest to return to a united Church, but no one should be excluded for that reason, least of all other Christians. In the end, politics and religion should be separated, but we must not separate ourselves from religion in such a way that we diminish the values of other peoples and religions because they do not belong to us, nor to our religion and to the Catholic Church. In this way, we become the Pharisees of Jesus' time, whom the Lord himself often reprimanded precisely because they lost the man from the plan, and followed vain laws. God sees in the foreground man, how to help and love man, and that is the mission in the first place of every Catholic. Everything else comes after that, and all the sacraments and our faith are precisely because they give us the strength to transmit these laws of love to others and to serve others as Christ served.
And he helped believers and unbelievers, sinners, Romans, prostitutes, customs officials... All of them were welcomed by Jesus and he saw in all of them children of God.

 

It is a dogma of faith that the Roman Catholic church is the only way of salvation; salvation may occur through invincible ignorance, but this does not nullify the commandment to preach the gospel to all people; and no government on earth, however conservative, has the authority to restrict the missionary activity of the true church of Christ. Christ is the word of God incarnate and must not be subject to any worldly power on earth, no matter how conservative it may be, just like the Jews of the first century, who wanted to prevent free Catholic preaching.

 

ACTS 5:14-42

14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.

25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

 

Amen! I was going to post something similar. Also, don’t forget Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

 

YES!!!!!

 

I was baptized Orthodox and converted to Catholicism when I was 15. Huge difference in the two religions. The schism is centuries old, the chasm to reconciliation is deep. The Roman Catholic Church is the way of salvation.