Metropolitan Kirill Sends Cardinal Walter Kasper a Letter Condemning Proselyte Activity of Greek Catholics in the South of Ukraine

On 3 March 2005, the Religious Informational Service of Ukraine (RISU) published a statement of the chapter of the Lvov province of the Redemptorists of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church held on 23-25 February 2005 in Kiev, in which it was said that missionary work in traditionally Orthodox regions in the South of Ukraine in Zaporozhe region and in Odessa would be a main priority in the activity of the Order.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, sent a letter to Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in which he expressed his concerns about missionary plans of the Greek Catholics and pointed to the proselyte character of such work. The copy of the letter was sent to Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. The full text of the letter is stated below.

His Eminence Walter Cardinal KASPER

President

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity

Your Eminence,

It is with deep regret that I learned about the statement of the chapter of the Lvov province of the Redemptorists of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church concerning missionary policy of the Order in Ukraine in future. The statement that the Redemptorists intend to increase their presence in the traditionally Orthodox South of Ukraine in Berdiansk (the Zaporozhe region) and in Odessa causes our serious concern.

In particular, the statement says that work with the disabled and the youth will be a priority. Thus, it is not a question of pastoral care for the Greek Catholics, who live in the above-mentioned regions, but of the intention to convert people who have never belonged to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Russian Orthodox Church unambiguously interprets such an activity as proselytism, which damages our relations.

I suppose that such a position may become a new source of tension in the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church and may eliminate some positive tendencies in the development of these relations.

I send the copy of this letter to His Eminence Ignace Moussa Cardinal Daoud, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Yours truly,

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad

Chairman

Department for External Church Relations

Moscow
Patriarchate

See also:

• Religious situation in Ukraine