Dear Reader,
Ukraine continues to dominate the news agenda, rightly so. Thousands protested against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and demanded greater action by Western powers at a rally on Saturday in London where the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti offered prayers for peace. Paddy Hudson was there, and has also been to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral in London, which the Prince of Wales visited last week. Ellen Teague reports on a rally on Sunday, also at Trafalgar Square, where Bruce Kent warned against the dangers of nuclear war. With world events so sombre, in the next print edition of The Tablet, Christopher Lamb writes about Ukraine and Pope Francis, and asks whether he has any role in helping to end the war. He has an exclusive interview with Archbishop Gugerotti, who is former apostolic nuncio to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Cafod’s Walk Against Hunger has got me out exercising properly for the first time in years and it feels good to be doing something useful, remembering there are still hungry people who need help, while the world necessarily focuses on Ukraine. There are now 280 people in the Facebook group set up by Cafod, and numbers in the Strava Walk Against Hunger challenge are slowly growing also. “One step at a time,” we will get there. It is not too late to join. More info here.
1. St Peter’s cathedral in Geneva, from where John Calvin preached the Reformation, has hosted its first Catholic Mass in almost five hundred years. Originally a Catholic cathedral when it was founded in the 12th century, it has been Protestant since 1535. About 1500 people attended the Mass, at which Lenten ashes were shared. The cathedral’s last Mass ended in turmoil as priests were chased out and statues thrown after them. The service began with silent prayer for Ukraine. Tom Heneghan reports.
2. An Argentine court has jailed a Catholic bishop for four and a half years for sexual abuse of two seminarians. Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, 58, pleaded not guilty. It is a major blow for Pope Francis, who knew him well and not only appointed him, but also defended him from initial allegations. Ellen Teague reports.
3. “There is a crucifixion, and that’s what Ukraine is enduring right now” said Ukrainian Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia at Ash Wednesday Mass in the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle in Washington DC. Cardinal Wilton Gregory gave the homily; earlier in the day he had been to the White House to impose ashes on President Joe Biden and his sister. Michael Sean Winters reports on ways in which US Catholics are trying to express their solidarity with Ukraine, including restructuring for the country’s estimated $97.4 billion debt. The US Supreme Court has voted to reinstate the death penalty on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers who carried out the 2013 bombing of the Boston marathon, killing three people. The decision comes less than two months after the annual March for Life celebrated the likelihood that Roe V Wade, the 1973 decision which legalised abortion nationwide, would be overturned. Michael Sean Winters.
4. The head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Svetoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halich has asked the world community to close the skies over Kyiv. The President of Ukraine’s Roman Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, said that virtually all Ukraine’s Catholic priests and nuns had opted to remain in the country. He and other bishops have asked the Pope to renew St John Paul II’s dedication of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary. Direct peace appeals have been made unsuccessfully to Patriarch Kirill of Russia. In signs of deepening division within Ukraine’s Moscow-linked Orthodox Church, priests in most eparchies (dioceses) are refusing to remember Patriarch Kirill in parish liturgies. Jonathan Luxmoore has a full report. Church leaders in Ukraine have warned that missionaries and Western clergy could be targeted by attacking forces and branded as Nato spies if Russia occupies the country. CNS reports.
5. Eight bishops from England and Wales have welcomed the UK government’s “resolute defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty and opposition to Russia’s invasion”. The bishops, including Eparch Kenneth Nowakowski, wrote in a letter to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss of the importance of providing humanitarian assistance to those fleeing their homes. The Ukrainian Catholic community is regarded as an important part of the Church in England and Wales. A German bishop has said that “Ukraine’s request for weapons was understandable.” Germany has reversed its post-Second World War policy of not sending weapons to conflict zones. Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim, head of the Justice and Peace Commission in Germany, said that according to canon and international law, Ukraine had a right to defend itself. Christa Pongratz-Lippitt and Michael Sean Winters report.
6. In a blog post, Greg Lewicki writes of the exodus of Ukrainians to Poland, a country which has received over 800,000 refugees in a “Miracle of Solidarity” which has seen helping refugees become a habit throughout Poland.
7. The Westminster diocese has held a meeting where feedback was given on the results of the synod listening process. ACTA, Root and Branch and the National Justice and Peace Network are supporting an upciming event, listening to the voice of young people at St David’s College. Regular communication is central to trust-building for the synodal process, the chair of the steering committee for Ireland’s National Synodal Assembly, Dr Nicola Brady has said. By Sarah Mac Donald.
8. In books, Oliver Letwin reviews Peter Hennessy’s A Duty of Care: Britain Before and After Covid. It is a call for compromise, civility and cooperation– sadly lacking in the Brexit saga – in our public discourse. Hennessy argues for the “motive of benevolence”, for politicians to conceive themselves as being bound by a duty of care to their fellow citizens.
9. Whether it is the demise of the long-running Australian soap opera or the inspirational response of countries such as Poland, neighbours have been much in the news this week. ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Luke 25.29. Neighbours, whether the country next door or ‘someone you can visit in your slippers’, are givers of ‘unstinting generosity to anyone in trouble’. Taken from a review in The Tablet of 23 June 2012. The Tablet’s online archive is available to digital subscribers.
10. Only by owning the truth about ourselves can we become receptive to God, says Fr Alban McCoy OFM Conv in his latest sermon. “We can’t earn God’s love; and we don’t need to. He knows us infinitely better than we will or can ever know ourselves, and still loves us. God sees our sins more clearly than we do: he knows our disordered cravings and failings and in Lent we entrust everything to his healing power and ask for the grace to know our need of God.” “Say No to the Devil – the blood of Ukraine cries out to the Lord of hosts.” An extremely powerful sermon by Templeton Prize winner Tomáš Halík, professor of sociology of religion at Charles University, Prague. Under the communist regime, he was secretly ordained as a priest in Erfurt and was active in in the underground Church while working as a psychotherapist.
(This newsletter was compiled with the help of Stephanie Bennett, Editorial and Marketing Administrator of The Pastoral Review.)
Ruth Gledhill
Church of Scotland
