Torch journalist, Leo Lollini, sat down with Father Janowicz of Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Torch: I would like to start off the interview just with some general community questions. Try and find out as much as possible about kind of stances and how the community is doing over in Springfield, and then if we have time, I’d also like to ask some more geopolitical religious questions about the Ukrainian Church and the Russian Church, if that’s okay.
Father Janowicz: Okay.
Torch: How many parishioners does your Church have?
Father Janowicz: Probably about 120 people.
Torch: How do the parishioners still have connections to Ukraine?
Father Janowicz: We have a couple of parishioners that are directly from there. There’s a small group of people who have connections because of ancestry, because some of them have been in the United States for several generations. And there’s many people who have some kind of connection to friends, people who are in Ukraine, people they’ve met over the years, people they correspond with.
Torch: And a personal question, what connection do you have with Ukraine?
Father Janowicz: Well, because I’m a Ukrainian Greek priest. I was over there four years ago and three and a half years ago. And so I got to meet many people over there, And there are people who have been here in Oregon studying or teaching at the University of Oregon on an exchange program. So they would often come to Church here. So there’s a connection with those people as well. So I got to meet many new people and also visit with some people that we knew from before when I was there. So it’s a connection.
Torch: What kind of support has the Church been giving and receiving?
Father Janowicz: Well, number one, prayer. We believe in the power of prayer. So we pray for peace in Ukraine and for the health and the safety of all the people of Ukraine. Secondly, we’ve been collecting donations. So far it’s over $91,000 have been collected, and we’re sending those to our churches in Ukraine, and they’re on the ground then distributing most of those funds to people because some of the funds are going to larger organizations that are doing refugee work in Poland.
Torch: Does the Church have a stance towards the invasion? Have you guys given out any sort of statements, and also do the people, the Church communicate, or is their general feeling of the invasion of Ukraine heard or given out?
Father Janowicz: I don’t think there’s any question that everybody, almost everybody in the world understands this is an unjust aggression and an invasion by a foreign power contrary to the freedom of the state of Ukraine. And so that’s our position.
Torch:Is there anything you’d like Eugenenians to know? Is there anything that can be done to help your Church and Ukraine overall?
Father Janowicz: Well, one thing, and a lot of people have very kindly sent donations, which is extraordinarily helpful. Our American dollars go a long way in Eastern Europe to helping people. So their money actually is worth more than they may think if they were spending it here. So those financial contributions are really helpful. Secondly, pray for the people of Ukraine. We appreciate the many people who said they are praying for our people, for our nation there. Thirdly, contact the government, email the White House, email your state senators representatives and tell them the US needs to do more for Ukraine. If we don’t do more, then there’s going to be, I think, very sad consequences, certainly more loss of life. Ukraine may prevail in the end, but how many lives do we want to have that sacrificed for that cause? The more help that Ukraine gets, the more lives saved. Zelensky said that many times, and he’s absolutely right, of course.
Torch: What are the relationships between the Ukrainian Church and the Russian Church?
Father Janowicz: Well, it depends which group you’re talking about. So there’s two major Orthodox groups in Ukraine. There’s the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was established or recognized several years ago. Then there’s the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that is under the Patriarchate of Moscow. So those two groups are, of course, not in Communion with each other. Moscow Patriarch would like to control all of the Orthodox churches in Ukraine. They do not recognize the churches that are self-governing in Ukraine under the Ukrainian Metropolitan Archbishop. So that’s the situation there for our group. About 10% of Ukrainian people belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which our Parish is a member of. And so we have very good relations with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but not as good relations with the group that’s controlled by Moscow.
Torch: Do you know the positions of these churches on the war?
Father Janowicz: Of course, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukraine Metropolitan and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, both are in agreement. This is a terrible, horrible situation brought upon Ukraine by the Russian government and people and totally abhorrent to the free world and the nature of the democracy and the freedom of people to govern themselves. And of course, in the group that’s the Orthodox churches that are controlled by Moscow, some are ardent supporters of this war. Others are just basically keeping quiet.
Torch: Last question is, what is the Ukrainian relationship with the Vatican and what do you think of the Pope’s position on the war?
Father Janowicz: Well, the Pope has taken a strong position, I think, on the illegality of this invasion and the horror that’s gone, as everybody has seen in the news over these past several weeks, the terrible atrocities that were committed by the Russian Army and armed forces. People never saw this kind of warfare being put on their screens day after day and filling the internet. So it just shows how brutal and how vicious some people are in war and this is not a war that’s being fought like people usually think wars are fought. It’s being fought in order to try and destroy the Ukrainian nation and have it taken back under the arm of Moscow as it was during the Soviet Union time and also to destroy the churches that are not under the Moscow patriarchy. That’s another goal. Would be another goal, I’m sure of Putin.
The church’s website can be accessed here. Donations can be sent through this link.
