№ 6 (46) – June, 2007

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UWC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETS

     The UWC Executive Committee met via teleconference on May 11, 2007. The following items were debated:

• May fundraising;
• elections in Ukraine;
• the annual meeting of the UWC Board of Directors in Donetsk, August 20-21, 2007;
• preparations for the IX Congress in 2008 and
• the 60^th anniversary of Operation “Wisla.”

The following actions were taken:

• to carry May fundraising solicitations in the United States in Svoboda and America;
• to participate in the Ukrainian elections by sponsoring international observers and to seek an opinion from the Central Elections Commission as to eligibility for office by Ukrainian citizens abroad who remain residents of Ukraine;
• to spur the functioning of the UWC By-Laws Committee;
• during the Donetsk meeting to elect a Nominating Committee, to resolve the issue of required signatures at Credential Securities, to arrange a community meeting, to designate a site for the IX Congress, to consider August or November 2008 for the IX Congress and to set up an organizational and program committee for the IX Congress;
• to publish material from the VII and VIII Congresses on CD’s; 
• to meet with the President and the Foreign Minister of Ukraine during the August stay in Ukraine;
• to write to the Holy Father regarding Ukrainian-Polish relations and the anti-Ukrainian displays at the Przemysl Cathedral of St. Teresa;
• to research the feasibility of bringing an action in the European Court of Human Rights on the issue of restitution of the Ukrainian National Home in Przemysl; and
• to develop a policy and job description manual for UWC employees

UWC PURSUES POLISH-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS WITH HOLY SEE

      On May 15, 2007 the UWC forwarded a letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on the subject of Ukrainian-Polish relations. The letter read in part:

     “We write to Your Holiness in a matter of concern involving the Polish Roman Catholic Church and the stirring of ethnic enmity and tension in Poland by that Church.

       The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Teresa and the Barefoot Carmelites in Przemysl, Poland once belonged to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In 1947 Ukrainians were forcibly relocated from Przemysl and other Polish territory to the western regions of Poland. Subsequently, property belonging to the Ukrainian community including its churches was confiscated by the then communist State. The subject Cathedral was included within the confiscatory program. Thereafter the Cathedral was turned over to the Polish Roman Catholic Church.

       Following the demise of the communist People’s Republic of Poland and the formation of the democratic Republic of Poland, the Roman Catholic Church in Poland through the intervention of His Holiness Pope John Paul II seemingly restituted the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for the aforesaid confiscation by transferring to it a lesser in size and inferior in location, but nonetheless significant edifice in the immediate vicinity which now bears the name Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The original Cathedral to this date remains the property of the Polish Roman Catholic Church and the Carmelites.

    Without addressing the issue of appropriate restitution (simply returning the subject property would be most appropriate in our view) which right should be preserved to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian –Polish community, we are addressing a more egregious matter involving the subject Cathedral. Located within the Cathedral are at least three bronze plagues, which dedicate the Cathedral appropriately to the memory of Polish war veterans, but with the additional inscription that they were murdered by bands of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Thus the Cathedral, an ostensibly religious structure, serves as an offensive anti-Ukrainian museum stirring ethnic enmity and tension.

     We are an umbrella organization for Ukrainians residing outside Ukraine founded upon Christian traditions, concerned with the well being of our communities throughout the globe.  Your Holiness’ kind consideration of this matter and spiritual intervention with the Polish Roman Catholic Church would serve to enhance Christian principles in the Polish Church’s relations with its Ukrainian neighbors.”

UWC SENDS GREETINGS TO RUSYN CONGRESS

     On June 1, 2007 the UWC President sent greetings to the World Congress of Rusyns addressed to its Chairman Paul Robert Magocsi. The greetings read in part:

     “Thank you for your kind invitation to the Ninth World Congress of Rusyns. I am reminded of the words of the Rev. Markian Shashkevych to his fellow Ukrainians, “Rus’ka Maty nas rodyla, Rus’ka Maty nas povyla…”

      The ranks of the Ukrainian World Congress are replete with Rusyns not only in ancestry but in name as well. At least three member organizations within the Ukrainian World Congress bear the name Rusyns: Union of Rusyns and Ukrainians in Serbia and Montenegro, Union of Rusyns-Ukrainians in the Slovak Republic and Union of Rusyns and Ukrainians in the Republic of Croatia. Nothing would please me more than if all Rusyn organizations outside Ukraine were a part of the Ukrainian World Congress. Certainly, I would welcome continued dialogue in this regard.

      We in the Ukrainian World Congress regard Rus’ to be the ancient name for what is now called Ukraine, and Rusyns (or Ruthenians in Latin) to be the people who now refer to them as Ukrainians (some with the addendum of “Rusyns” included).  The principal history text of our people is, after all, entitled “History of Ukraine-Rus’”.  I have read your book “Our People” and found that it points to so much in common, i.e. history, culture, religion. Suffice it to say that there is more than unites than divides us. 

     Unfortunately…I cannot be with you at the Congress. Nonetheless I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt greetings and those of the Ukrainian World Congress to all the participants and all the Rusyns of the world. May God bless your efforts. May you prosper and enrich your lives. I wish you well because we are all God’s children, but I wish you more because we Ukrainians are all Rusyns after all.”

 

CORRECTION OF DECEMBER 2006 NEWSLETTER

     The UWC December 2006 Newsletter included an item on the appointment of Oksana Sokolyk Chairperson of the UWC By-Laws Committee. The English language version read correctly:  “The By-Laws of the UWC specifically designate a WFUWO representative to the Committee and, traditionally, although not statutorily, the WFUWO representative chairs the Committee.” However, the translation into Ukrainian implied that the WFUWO representative was designated by the By-Laws committee and that Ms. Sokolyk was illegally appointed Chairperson. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ms. Sokolyk was appointed legally. Her appointment was not mandated by the By-laws but was in accordance with UWC tradition. We apologize to Ms. Sokolyk and the WFUWO.