ONE Magazine September 2022 by CNEWA

one God • World • Human Family • SeptemberChurch2022 Today TomorrowisPreparingyouthtoleadinplacesofcrisisnow

People, Look East: A Place to Call Home Eastern churches welcome new members text by Laura Ieraci

Forming seminarians in times of war text by Anna Nekrasova-Wilson & Laura Ieraci

A Letter From Ukraine by Archbishop Borys Gudziak

Emerging Generation

DEPARTMENTS

Seeking Christ, Serving Christ

FEATURES

Food scarcity threatens millions in Ethiopia text by Olivia Poust

The Last PerspectivesWord:From the President

t A seminarian during a class lecture at the Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Lviv.

Young Palestinians prepare for leadership text by Judith Sudilovsky with photographs by George Jaraiseh

Closer to the People

Cries of Hunger

14383228206 one CNEWACNEWA1926CNEWA.org CNEWA1926CNEWA

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COVER STORY

Preparing women for religious life in India text by Anubha George with photographs by Sajeendran V.S.

Connections to CNEWA’s world

Front cover, pages 3 (upper left and far right), 6-13, George Jaraiseh; pages 2, 20-22, 25-27, Konstantin Chernichkin; page 3 (top), CNS photo/ Paul Haring; pages 3 (upper right), 28, 30-31, back cover, Oleh Hryb; pages 3 (lower left), 32-37, Sajeendran V.S.; page 3 (lower right), Marta Fuoco; pages 4, 14, Laura Ieraci; page 5, Raghida Skaff; page 17, David Bratnick; page 19, courtesy Pascal Bastien; page 23, courtesy Roman Lysenko; page 24, CNS photo/Voznyak Production; pages 38-39, CNS photo/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah, Reuters; pages 40, 43, courtesy Father Amanuel Yoseph; pages 41, 45 (lower quadrant, bottom right), Petterik Wiggers; pages 42-43, Argaw Fantu; page 45 (upper quadrant, top left and right), John E. Kozar; page 45 (upper quadrant, bottom left and lower quadrant, top and bottom left), Nazik Armenakyan; page 45 (upper quadrant, bottom right), Ilene Perlman; page 45 (lower quadrant, top right), Hanaa Habib.

CNEWA connects you to your brothers and sisters in need. Together, we build up the church, affirm human dignity, alleviate poverty, encourage dialogue — and inspire hope.

CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION Volume 48 NUMBER 3 6

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Chair and Treasurer Peter I. Vaccari, Secretary

All

Back: Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

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1011 First Avenue, New York, NY 10022-4195 1-212-826-1480; www.cnewa.org

Photo Credits

spread

Front: Nadine Bitar-Abu Sahlia reads Scripture at a summer camp for young adult Christians on Star Mountain, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

“We must restore hope to the young people, help the old, be open to the future, love,”

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Founded by the Holy Father, CNEWA shares the love of Christ with the churches and peoples of the East, working for, through and with the Eastern Catholic churches.

ONE is published quarterly. ISSN: 1552-2016 CNEWA

Msgr.

Editorial Office

Association

Publisher Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari

Editorial Staff

— Pope Francis Spread love with a bequest Your gift will help to Build up the church Give aid to the poor Support vocations Affirm human dignity Your generosity today can help change lives tomorrow A bequest also has tax benefits Contact us today to learn more: 1-866-322-4441 (Canada) 1-800-442-6392 (United States) Or email us at cnewa@cnewa.org David Aquije Paul MichaelLauraGrilloIeraciJ.L. La Civita Elias Mallon, S.A., Ph.D. Timothy McCarthy Olivia Poust

Damphousse of Ottawa, chair of CNEWA’s board of directors in Canada, said Ms. Bara’s “proven ability to shepherd numerous teams, while focusing on dialogue and relationships between

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Abin Kuriakose of the SyroMalabar Catholic Church.

Welcome Ms. Bara!

4 CNEWA.ORG/MAGAZINE

To learn more about CNEWA’s initiatives in support of Ukrainians

Connections to CNEWA’s world

More Aid to Ukraine

Adriana Bara has been appointed national director of CNEWA in Canada, starting in October. Ms. Bara holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Montreal. She was the director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism and a theology instructor at Concordia University in Montreal at the time of her Archbishopappointment.Marcel

CNEWA released $2,805,567 in July to support church-led emergency relief initiatives in Ukraine. Thanks to generous donors throughout Canada and the United States, CNEWA has rushed more than $5.5 million in support to aid Ukrainians in six disbursements in 2022: $217,000 on 11 March; $650,000 on 22 March; $800,000 on 20 April; $850,000 on 31 May and its largest amount, $2.8 million, on 22 July. Funds distributed to Ukraine at the end of January for regular programming, totaling $197,500, were redirected toward emergency relief after Russia’s invasion on 24 February.

Christian churches and other religious communities, uniquely positions her to lead CNEWA Canada at this moment in its CNEWAhistory.”

ONE Receives 44 Awards

CNEWA President Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari made a pastoral visit to Chicago 18-19 July. He was accompanied by Noel Selegzi, development director, Haimdat Sawh, development officer, Laura Ieraci, assistant editor of ONE, and two members of CNEWA’s associate board in Chicago, Maria Kokor of the

On 18 July, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral welcomed the CNEWA delegation, whose members learned about the parish history. They met with refugees who fled the war in Ukraine and together prayed a moleben, or prayer service, composed for times of war. During the dinner that followed, the new arrivals shared their experience of Russia’s invasion and their journey to the United States.

Msgr. Peter Vaccari, left, speaks with Syro-Malabar Father Joby Joseph and Leah Bromberg of the Lumen Christi Institute at a gathering of Eastern Christian leaders in Chicago in July.

The next day, Msgr. Vaccari had a breakfast meeting with the SyroMalabar Catholic bishops and met with Eastern Christian leaders in the Chicago area, clergy and lay, at the Lumen Christi Institute on the University of Chicago campus. At least seven Eastern churches from different jurisdictions were represented. He gave a 30-minute presentation on CNEWA’s mission, followed by discussion and a social.

under siege, visit Newcampaigns/ukrainecnewa.org/NationalDirector

CNEWA’s media efforts, including ONE magazine, its website and blog, as well as individual team

CNEWA in Chicago

President Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari said Ms. Bara has “years of active dialogue among separated communities, enhancing relationships by addressing challenges and conflicts, while deepening bonds of trust to promote collaboration for the common good.”

Lebanese worldwide commemorated the second anniversary of the Beirut port blast on 4 August, from which the country has yet to recover economically, politically and CNEWAsocially.continues

Mark your calendars and contact info@cnewa.org at 800-842-6392 for more information. You will not want to miss a thing!

For more information, check out the CNEWA blog or email info@

In June, CNEWA president Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari launched a monthly series, “Connections With Msgr. Peter.”

Markcnewa.orgYourCalendars

There is even more on the web

Twocnewa.orgYearsPost-Blast

Read our exclusive online coverage on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia at cnewa.org

Visit cnewa.org for daily updates

And find videos, stories from the field and breaking news at cnewa.org/blog

Medical staff at the Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut gather at a nursing station.

The live conversations are intended for donors and friends of CNEWA to learn more about the mission of the papal agency and to receive updates about its work among the Eastern churches throughout the Middle

more about CNEWA’s campaign for Lebanon: org/campaigns/lebanoncnewa. .

The final quarter of 2022 promises to be an exciting period as CNEWA kicks off a countdown to mark its centennial in March 2026.

members, received a total of 44 awards by the Catholic Media Association on 7 July. This recordbreaking year for the agency coincided with the return of the CMA’s in-person media conference, which was not held for the previous two years due to COVID-19. Congratulations to all our contributors. They give all they have to raise awareness of the role of ordinary men and women, all motivated by love, to do extraordinary things in some of the worst of circumstances. Read about it at

East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern AudiencesEurope.cantune

Connections With Msgr. Peter

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 5

On 13 October, an art exhibit featuring the work of women artists will be held in Pelham, New York; the proceeds will support CNEWA’s work in Ukraine. On 1 November, a photography exhibit at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, a program of the Archdiocese of New York, will focus on the faces of CNEWA’s world, all in preparation of CNEWA’s first gala dinner, honoring New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan as its chair, on 13 December in Manhattan

in on Facebook Live or YouTube. Recordings of past Connections are available on CNEWA’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

its post-blast relief efforts in Lebanon — as directed by the Holy See, which charged this papal agency to coordinate worldwide Catholic aid in support of Catholic hospitals and schools — most recently distributing four grants totaling $1.859 million to support health care centers and Learnschools.

Young Palestinians prepare for leadership

text by Judith Sudilovsky with photographs by George Jaraiseh

GenerationEmerging

LEADERSHIPCHURCHFORMING

Christian young adults at The Youth of Jesus’ Homeland summer program on Star Mountain, near Ramallah.

Ms. Nazzal expresses the precise objectives of Myriam Jaraiseh, the coordinator of the workshop held in Bethlehem: to help create opportunities where there were none, to motivate students and to build capacity and leadership. Ms. Jaraiseh, 38, came to her position through a program developed by CNEWA that prepares young Christians for leadership in Christian institutions throughout the HolyCNEWA’sLand. investment in Ms. Jaraiseh’s education — she received a scholarship for a graduate degree in sustainable development —

“This may be one of the most important things we can do to help Christians, not as humanitarian aid but as empowerment.”

barrier from the Palestinian West Bank. Given its location, Israeli officials do not permit the school to expand. Since every room is needed for classroom space, the school does not have an actual library. Instead, Ms. Nazzal manages a set of cupboards that stores the school’s modest collection.

The Salesian Sisters School lies just outside the Palestinian town of Beit Jala along Israel’s separation

It is the final day of the librarian workshop at the Pontifical Mission Educational and Cultural Center in Bethlehem. For those already certified school librarians, the workshop was a refresher, bringing them up to date with the latest technology, ideas and methods. But for Eman Nazzal, an Arabic and math teacher at the Salesian Sisters School in the West Bank’s Cremisan Valley, the workshop gave her a whole toolkit of new ideas.

“I am working on making our ‘library’ better,” says Ms. Nazzal. “Here, they gave me ideas of activities to help the students enjoy reading. I have new information. If we can [build up] our library in the future, I can help benefit the children.”

To support this important mission, call 1-866-322-4441 (Canada) or 1-800-442-6392 (United States).

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 9

Reverend Mitri Raheb, founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University, reads amid the stacks of the university library. Bottom opposite, Myriam Jaraiseh, in green, coordinates the library workshop at the Pontifical Mission Educational and Cultural Center in Bethlehem.

Preparing young people to lead the Holy Land’s many Christian social service institutions is a priority of CNEWA’s Pontifical Mission office in Jerusalem. Although Christians are a minority in Palestine, church-run efforts provide health care, education and social services for the most vulnerable for more than a third of the population. By empowering young Christians, these works will grow and flourish with strong, compassionate leadership, and strengthen the Christian presence in the land of its birth.

It is not easy being a Christian in the Holy Land, says Ms. Jaraiseh. The situation is complex and wrought with political difficulties and challenges, and many of her family members and Christian friends have left in search of better opportunities abroad.

“So, the impression Muslim and Christian students get in our schools is that we [Christians] are a result of the Crusades or a result of the missionary activities of the 18th and 19th centuries, which is not true.“It feels like Christians have lost the connection between Jesus, his mission and the holy places, the first Christian community and the continuing Christian presence since the first century until today,” he continues.

The survey results reveal that some 300 church-related institutions provide health care, education and social services to about 2.5 million people in Palestine — Christian and Muslim — representing a third of the population. While the Christian community is only 1.5 percent of the population in Palestine, these church-related institutions combined form the third-largest employer in Gaza and the West Bank, providing almost 10,000 jobs.

The CNEWA Connection

has given her the tools to lead, enabling her to empower others. She is one of the program’s success stories.“Ibecame more confident and I have more to share and serve my community,” she says, adding that she chose to study “something new that could help build our [Christian] institutions.” Her knowledge base broadened as well.

Hazboun, who directs CNEWA’s efforts in Palestine and Israel.

But the mother of one is determined to stay in Bethlehem and she feels supported in her decision by the local church and Pontifical Mission, which has been on the ground in the Holy Land since it was founded as an outreach of CNEWA in the Middle East in 1949.“They are giving you hope, that ‘Yes, you can make it, you can go and make a difference. We are investing in your soul to give you a feeling of belonging,’ ” she says.

he new program, called “Preparing the Next Generation of Christian Leadership,” took about four years to develop. Its content and design drew heavily on a comprehensive survey conducted at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic by CNEWA-Pontifical Mission and the ecumenical Christian Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, says Joseph

And yet, the survey also indicates a poor sense of belonging and rootedness in the Holy Land among young Christians — results that were disconcerting to Mr. Hazboun and“So,others.we started digging for the reasons,” he says. “One is that the Christians don’t know where they come from.”

A conference held in September 2019 on the Palestinian school curriculum, also used in Christian schools, confirmed suspicions that the history of Palestine before Islam is absent, he points out. However, it teaches about the Crusades and the missionary activities in the 18th and 19th centuries, when religious congregations came to the region to provide services to the people.

“It feels like Christians have lost the connection between Jesus, his mission and the holy places.”

al-Kalima University’s graduate program in the administration of cultural institutions received official accreditation from the Palestinian Ministry of Education in June and is set to begin with its first cohort of 20 students in September, says the Reverend Mitri Raheb, university

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 11

“We feel so isolated,” he adds. “We have to start working on awareness and advocacy strategies in order to strengthen the Christian presence.”Onestrategy is to create an online platform for Christians in the Old City that promotes local employment opportunities. Another is to provide career guidance and scholarships in underserved fields, such as renovation engineering and real estate development, which would enable the Christian community to resolve its housing shortage, he says.

The two-year master’s degree offers courses in management, leadership, fundraising and cultural studies, including classes on what distinguishes a Christian institution from other service providers. Its aim is to prepare young Christians for middle management positions in Christian institutions in the Holy Land.“Many organizations are working as they have since the beginning, with no innovation, no new programs, no working strategy. So, this is why we started thinking about what is the best thing we can do right now to help Christianity, not only to survive, but to thrive in the Holy Land,” says Reverend Raheb.The unemployment rate in the West Bank is 27 percent, he points out, but among adults in their 20s and 30s, it is 45 percent.

Dar

It does not help that Christian religious education in schools concentrates only on dogma and the sacraments, he adds, and little on the historic context of the church in the Holy Land and the unbroken presence of the local church since the time of Jesus.

founder and president. Funding from CNEWA will cover partial scholarships.“Thisisa huge step,” says the renowned theologian and pastor.

At left, Joseph Hazboun at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Top right, Nadine Bitar-Abu Sahlia leads a summer camp for Christian young adults near Ramallah.

His work has involved grouping the various Christian communities into regions and analyzing each region for its unique political, social, cultural and religious issues.

In response to these concerns, and the lack of skills among young Christians to take on leadership positions in the community, CNEWA created the multi-faceted program, “Preparing the Next Generation of Christian Leadership.” It includes graduate studies for young Christian leaders at Dar al-Kalima University, a revitalization of the Arab Catholic Scouts, and support for Christian leaders in Gaza and youth programs fostering committed Christian leadership.Thelocal Christian community, although proud of what it has contributed to Palestinian society, must now take a step back and look inward to help build itself up, says Usama Salman, program manager of the strategic planning and research department of CNEWA’s Jerusalem office.

For example, Jerusalem, where Christians number 9,000 at most, has a significant lack of housing in the Old City for Christian families, who encounter a myriad of discouraging challenges that some observers believe are concerted efforts to force Palestinians out. Many Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem are not aware of the indigenous Christian community there, he says.

“Local Christian people are skilled people. We need to use the intelligence of the local Christian population,” he says.

According to the Lutheran pastor, the new program, however, is already generating interest among young

“We take our youth to museums and the holy places, show them our roots and identity here. They think they can go to another land, but they will not belong to that land,” heThesays.Catholic Scouts also learn about important Palestinians, including Christian poet and nationalist Khalil Sakakini.

George Antone directs the Caritas Medical Center in Gaza, which provides care for locals of all ages.

“Young people end up without much hope, living day by day and frustrated, often migrating, depending on where they find opportunities,” he says.

“ThisChristians.maybe one of the most important things we can do to help Christians, not as humanitarian aid but as empowerment,” he says.

“It is a challenge, and our goal is to build Christian Scout leaders, to gather and know each other, to provide opportunities for sports, camping trips and hiking,” says Mr.ThroughHabash. his own example of spiritual commitment and volunteerism, he says, he also hopes to teach his scouts about responsibility, commitment and the importance of contributing to the community. Mr. Habash, who grew up in Scouting, now brings his son to the meetings.

Elias Habash, 42, a new troop leader, says the impact of the Catholic Scouts in the Christian Quarter of the Old City is crucial, as there are very few venues where young Christians can meet and socialize.Based on the survey results, however, CNEWA decided to pivot its support of the Catholic Scouts, going beyond the the Scouts’ local longstanding programs to focus instead on the promotion of traditional Scouting values, such as leadership, volunteerism, community service, respect for the other and working together, says Mr.InHazboun.addition, the Scouts will help to strengthen young people’s Christian identity and sense of belonging and teach about the Christian contribution to the Middle East and the Holy Land.

“For me there is a lot of excitement, too,” he adds. “Imagine the energy that will come out of this program when we have all these young leaders studying together, spending two years together — and the ecumenical benefit that will come from this. And it will lead Christian organizations in the future [and] will create bonds of friendship that will be really important for the future of the church in the Holy Land.”

It is a Thursday afternoon, and the Scouts are holding a marching band practice. The band performs in parades on Christian holidays. These parades are important because they allow Christians to feel like they have a presence in their towns.

he faint sound of bagpipes and drums travels up the stairs from the basement of the Arab Catholic Scout Group building in Jerusalem’s Old City.

“He lived here in the Christian Quarter and had an effect on the

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Meet some of the Holy

“The moment they have the full understanding of their faith, they are automatically rooted in their land,” she says about the young people, and they feel the importance and purpose of their presence here.“If you understand the message of Christ and if you understand the mission he wanted us to do — which he started and asked us to continue — and if you understand that this land is the only place on Earth where you can read biblical text and say, ‘Here Jesus was born, here Jesus was crucified, here Jesus resurrected, from here our faith started,’ you see that is a huge thing.”

Of course, it is not the Word of God that needs to be changed, she clarifies, but rather the ways in which young adults are invited to experience and engage with the Word of God, in an atmosphere that is nonjudgmental, loving and welcoming.Ms.Bitar-Abu

Judith Sudilovsky is an awardwinning veteran journalist covering Israel and Palestine for Catholic News Service and other publications, including ONE magazine. Land’s young

“Youth ministry comes to fill this important longing of our youth to hear the Word of God,” she says at the start of a summer camp session for young adult Christians on Star Mountain, near the West Bank city of “Unfortunately,Ramallah. in our parishes we get used to the same techniques and we think we don’t have to hear the Word of God anymore. We don’t have a renewal of faith, so it becomes dull.

Sahlia recalls the words of Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who continually tells Christians in the Holy Land to stop referring to themselves as a minority.

emerging

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As a Christian and the father of three girls, he sees the importance of remaining in Gaza and supporting the Christian community through his work, as well as through his social and spiritual activities. Currently, he is the director of the Caritas Medical Center and a lecturer at the Pontifical Mission Thomas Aquinas Center. Previously, he worked for Holy Family Latin Parish and CNEWA.Itisnecessary “to explain why [Christians] should stay in Gaza as the salt in this land, and to ensure families their children are really having faith formation through their church,” he says.

Antone, 41, is the sole person from his family of origin still living in Gaza. His retired parents and five siblings all left and live abroad.

Arabic language,” says Mr. Habash. “We can be like him and have an Geffect.”eorge

leaders in an exclusive video at cnewa.orgcnewa.org/oneHelptheChristiancommunityintheHolyLandgrow I cnewa.ca u

“We as Christians living in the Gaza Strip might lose our lives, but we will never lose our faith,” he continues. “Catholic institutions in general and CNEWA-Pontifical Mission in particular are [providing] many projects to strengthen our existence in Gaza, strengthening our identity and sense of belonging among the youth. We are the salt that helps the whole community, Christians and MuslimsNadinetogether.”Bitar-Abu Sahlia, 32, was recently elected general secretary of The Youth of Jesus’ Homeland, a project of Christian Youth in Palestine, sponsored by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

“At this point, we need something new for the Word of God to come and change our souls.”

Ms. Bitar-Abu Sahlia plays a leading role in strengthening the spiritual life of young Christians in the Holy Land, under the chaplaincy of the Reverend Bashar Fawadleh. CNEWA supports the group, which also works to foster commitment to the church among young people.

BY LAURA IERACI

A Place to Call Home

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Eastern churches welcome new members

Father Loya founded the parish of the Annunciation in Chicago’s southwest suburbs 22 years ago. In his 40 years as a priest of the 12-state Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, Father Loya has seen a growing trend of people, who were neither born into Eastern Catholicism nor of Eastern or Central European heritage, join his church. Many previously attended Protestant churches or had no religious affiliation at all, he says.

He met his wife while in high school. A member of the Church of the Nazarene, she was searching for answers to her questions of faith. She explored Catholicism seriously, but she could not seem to settle on joining the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Kemner took her to St. Luke’s one Pentecost. She was 19.

After celebrating Divine Liturgy in Homer Glen, Father Loya drives 182 miles one way to Muscatine, Iowa, to celebrate with a fledgling Byzantine Catholic mission.

While in college, they married and had their first son baptized at St. Luke’s. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Kemner submitted his official request to transfer his church of ascription to the Byzantine Church, too — a process more commonly called change of rite. It was important, he says, that his entire family belong to and worship in the same tradition.

he Reverend Thomas J. Loya spends a portion of his homily each Sunday explaining the nuts and bolts of Christianity in the Byzantine“Remember,tradition.wedo not satisfy a Sunday obligation in the Byzantine Church, that is not our spirituality,” he reminded his parishioners one Sunday last July.

PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 15 EASTLOOKPEOPLE,

“I was just, like, ‘This is where I want to be,’ ” she recalls. “I fell very much in love with the Byzantine Catholic Church and this little parish.”Nine months later, she was received into the Byzantine Catholic Church.“Ibelieve I have a better understanding of who Jesus is and I feel a lot more comfortable answering my children’s questions” about faith, she says.

Donna Tang, left, and Maryanna Pushkarovich join a procession for the feast of the Dormition in Whiting, Indiana.

The shift these past two decades has been dramatic, says Father Loya.

“Where we would have had maybe 80 percent of the people in our congregations with an Eastern Christian background and 20 percent who did not, now that is shifting to the point where it’s pretty much“Thereversed.”shiftwas gradual at first, but now it has accelerated. The majority of our parishes now are sustained or populated by people who do not have that Eastern Christian or ethnic background,” he says.

An evangelical outreach of the eparchy, the mission currently has seven registered families — none of them with Eastern European ethnic or religious heritage — most of whom have been received into the Christian faith according to the rites of the Byzantine tradition. Up to 40 people attend its biweekly liturgies, some of whom drive more than two hours to get there, says Adam Kemner, who established the outreach with his wife, Lynsey, in 2014.Mr. Kemner learned about the Byzantine Catholic Church as a teen. His parents wanted to teach him about the diversity within Catholicism, attending St. Luke Byzantine Catholic Church in Sugar Creek, Missouri, up the hill from their Roman Catholic parish. While they attended the Divine Liturgy at St. Luke’s only once a month, it quickly became his “preferred place.”“Once I got my own wheels, I would go a little more frequently,” he says. “Basically, if I wasn’t scheduled to serve Mass at my parish, I was at St. Luke’s.”

A work opportunity eventually led the Kemners to Iowa, where no organized Eastern Catholic faith community existed at the time, so they prayed at a local Greek OrthodoxHowever,church.aprovidential meeting with the Reverend Sergio Ayala, then a deacon of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church working in Iowa, planted a seed. Deacon Ayala was willing to assist the Kemners in getting a Byzantine Catholic faith community off the ground, finding a church for worship, and accompanying the community in its growth. Mr. Kemner contacted Bishop John Kudrick, then-bishop of Parma, who agreed that a rotation of priests could start ministering to the faithful in Iowa.

OFFICIAL

“What we do is we immerse ourselves … in the mystery of the Holy Trinity and how that is experienced,” he continued. “We live life completely as gift, gratitude andThewonderment.”Sundayhomily is Father Loya’s primary opportunity to teach his growing congregation at Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glen, Illinois, about following Jesus Christ in the Byzantine tradition. Rooted in the church of Constantinople, once the court church of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine rite is the most prominent of the Eastern Christian traditions that also include the Armenian, Coptic, Geez and Syriac rites.

The Byzantine Catholic Church in the United States — with its origins in Transcarpathia, a mountainous region located in present-day eastern Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and western Ukraine — is one of 23 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the bishop of Rome.

While Father Beyrouti was born in Lebanon and is of Middle Eastern heritage, Bishop Nicholas Samra of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts, which includes parishes throughout the United States, says more than half of his clergy is currently not of Middle Eastern descent.

The vision for the Melkite Church to evangelize among all people in North America was cast by the first eparch of Newton, Archbishop Joseph Tawil.

“Most of my classmates were either Egyptian or Lebanese and I was immersed in a totally different face of Christianity I had never encountered,” says Dr. Bastien, a French Canadian Roman Catholic, who would join his Eastern Christian classmates at vespers regularly.

Eight years later, the outreach has settled into a 2,100-square-foot storefront off of Route 61 and Mr. Kemner, a business analyst and father of 10, volunteers about 20 hours a week to keep the outreach going. Father Ayala, now a priest, lives in Chicago’s North Side and trades off the biweekly liturgies with Father Loya.

“My response has been to be as open as humanly possible and to make the services coherent, if you do not understand Arabic, so you’re able to follow,” says Father Beyrouti, who set up a monthly schedule for bilingual, English-only or Arabic-only liturgies. The church pews are equipped with bilingual liturgical books.

he strong ethnic identity of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was no obstacle for Dr. Pascal Bastien to embrace this church as his own. He first encountered Eastern Christianity while studying computer engineering at the University of Ottawa in Canada.

Still, despite his ongoing call to increase English-language outreach and liturgies, the bishop is concerned about the growing number of young people of Middle Eastern descent, who identify primarily as American and have dismissed the Melkite Greek Catholic Church as their “grandparents’ Arabic church.”

f Hispanic origin, Father Ayala also represents a similar trend in new membership in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in NorthOftenAmerica.perceived as a Middle Eastern or an Arabic church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is not ethnic in its origins as are some Eastern churches, says the Reverend François Beyrouti, pastor of Holy Cross Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Placentia, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.

“Admittedly, at first it all seemed very foreign,” he says, until he attended vespers at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Greek Catholic Shrine in Ottawa at age 20.

We are of the “apostolic church of Antioch that uses the Byzantine liturgy,” he explains, adding that “it was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.”

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“He was a man of vision and he believed we are a church in the United States open to anyone. He was very committed to evangelization, even outside the ethnic community, and he welcomed this very, very strongly,” says Bishop Samra.

“I really believe the future of our church in the United States is going to be from people who are not ethnically tied to this community,” he says.

“I know it sounds a little bit cliché, but I really didn’t know whether I was on earth or in heaven,” he says. “And I just started attending vespers regularly after that.”However, the beauty of that prayer did not immunize him from a crisis of faith. He went to medical school and left his faith behind, returning to it only after he met Amie, a member of a Vietnamese evangelical church, during his residency in Toronto. They later married.“Wehad an unusual path of finding how we might put the Lord back at the center of our lives,” he says. And it led them to St. Elias Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, where Mrs. Bastien soon took on the role of playing the church bells after Sunday liturgy.

The Bastiens recently moved to Ottawa, where Dr. Bastien works in general internal medicine and Mrs. Bastien set aside her finance career to be a full-time, stay-at-home mom. The children attend a Maronite school and the family is back at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Greek Catholic Shrine, where almost half of the congregation is not of Ukrainian origin, says Dr. Bastien.

Efforts to catechize successive generations of Eastern Catholics born in the United States led to the development of an Englishlanguage children’s catechetical program, God With Us, about 50 years ago, says Bishop Samra, who has been part of the initiative since his seminary days.

But, he concedes, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is centered in the eastern Mediterranean, and has proliferated predominantly in Arabic-speaking nations. While new membership in the Melkite Church in North America trends toward people who do not have a Middle Eastern background and do not speak Arabic, he says, there is still the need “to be pastorally sensitive to ethnic realities,” especially for older members of the community and for new immigrants, who want to worship in Arabic.

The couple has three children, all baptized at St. Elias. Dr. Bastien also submitted his paperwork to transfer his church of ascription and formalize his adherence to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

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France. Some French chant has been incorporated into the liturgy in “SometimesOttawa. we forget we have to be the local church if we’re going to exist in North America, if we’re going to exist anywhere in the world,” says Dr. Bastien. “And the local vernacular makes sense.

While she remains an evangelical, Mrs. Bastien volunteers with the children’s liturgy and lives the Eastern Catholic practices with her family at Attendinghome.an Eastern Catholic church, “I’ve really come to appreciate the awesomeness of God — that is something I encountered much more in the

Not being ethnically Ukrainian has not impeded Dr. Bastien from taking on an important leadership position in the community as board president of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute Foundation. He also took up transposing Ukrainian liturgical music to French hymnody as a hobby — a project he began with Archbishop Borys Gudziak when the latter was serving in

“It’s a beautiful blessing, because they have found a home, and we’re glad we can be that home for them.”

Eastern church — and a different way to encounter prayer, which I found has really completed my Christian experience,” she says.

Father Thomas J. Loya blesses the gifts during the Divine Liturgy at his parish in suburban Chicago. Deacon Tim Tkach concelebrates.

“The more a parish and a priest specifically understand their mission to be that of a local church, to bring all to Christ, the more it’s bound to happen that people will realize, ‘This is the place for me.’ ”

He agrees with Dr. Bastien that a “very important” pastoral approach to welcoming people who are not ethnically Ukrainian is to “take down the language barrier.”

Christ, that needs to hear Christ,” he says. “And the more you keep welcoming others into the community, the healthier the parish.”TheMaronite Church is rooted in the monasticism of a fourth-century monk, St. Maron, whose teaching and spirituality spread from presentday Syria to Lebanon. Current membership in the Maronite Church in North America is not restricted to the Lebanese or to Maronites alone.

“And then it is basically a very human thing just to be welcoming

n Eastern Catholic church that does not evangelize and seek new membership is not living the call of the Gospel, says Chorbishop John D. Faris, a canon lawyer, pastor of St. Anthony Maronite Parish near Richmond, Virginia, and CNEWA’s former assistant secretary general.

“There is a lot of intermarriage in the Maronite Church. This is very, very common,” says Chorbishop Faris.

“Sometimes we forget we have to be the local church if we’re going to exist in North America, if we’re going to exist anywhere in the world.”

to anybody, not filtering people by their ethnic background, ethnic or racial,” he says.

“Many others have joined our community through these relationships, and there are those who are drawn by the spirituality, the liturgical tradition, the theology, the certain kind of intimacy in our communities, which are generally smaller,” he says.

If a church in North America “is not evangelizing, it is dying,” he“Aadds.church must evangelize to live. We live in a society that needs

“Evangelization casts the net wide and is not restricted to ethnic identity or bloodlines or nationality or anything of the sort,” he says.

Léonie Bastien watches as her mother, Amie, and brothers, Clément and Éli, sing evening prayers in the icon corner of their home in Ottawa.

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Now leading the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, Archbishop Gudziak also notes the “increasing number of members of our church who are not ethnically Ukrainian,” a large number because of intermarriage.

“While we don’t speak in terms of obligation, we expect people to be here for the holy days and feast days,” he says. “It’s how we live as EasternLikewise,Christians.”heobserves in his new parishioners a “purity of search for spirituality” and a seriousness about prayer, church teaching and being faithful to the Christian life.

Among his longstanding, married parishioners, about 80 percent have spouses who are neither Lebanese nor canonically Maronite — many are Roman Catholic — he says, adding that he was born into such a family.“Iam half Lebanese, half Irish, I’m fully Maronite,” he says. “This is a Maronite parish. We love Lebanese culture. We love Middle Eastern culture. We embrace it. But ‘Lebanese’ is not a church. ‘Maronite’ is a Changingchurch.” one’s canonical ascription is not necessary to worship or to belong to an Eastern Catholic church, he explains.

Learn about two growing Eastern Catholic communities in an exclusive video at

“Catholics are free to worship and receive the Eucharist in any Catholic church,” whether Eastern or Western, he says. Canonical ascription only comes into play in a definitive way when people are discerning a religious or priestly vocation.

“Eastern churches are perhaps perceived or interpreted as … [a] refuge for traditional values,” the chorbishop says. “There’s a perception that our liturgy is traditional and we’ve never changed ... But, we’re no more ancient than the Latin church.”

cnewa.org/one u

“They’re also bringing a lot of personal gifts and a certain objectivity where they can see things that might be lacking,” he says. “They’re helping us to get out there more, to evangelize with ideas that can apply to the Eastern churches.”“Thesepeople who are coming are very committed, very enthusiastic,” he says. “It’s a beautiful blessing, because they have found a home, and we’re glad we can be that home for them.”

Several ethnicities are also represented in his parish, including Indian and Vietnamese. However, a new wave of immigrants from Lebanon — which has been experiencing economic and political collapse in recent years — has begun arriving at his parish at a rate of about one family per week, leading him to add a Sunday liturgy in St.Arabic.Anthony’s also experienced a phenomenon common to other Eastern Catholic churches during the COVID-19 pandemic — an influx of Roman Catholic faithful, who could not worship at their usual parishes due to various lockdown measures. In some cases, these faithful stayed even after the Roman Catholic churches reopened.Another common experience in Eastern Catholic churches is as a place of refuge for some of those uncomfortable with the many changes in the modern world, including variations in liturgical expressions in the Latin rite.

Eastern Christian traditions also expect a higher level of commitment to liturgical life than most Christian denominations, says Father Loya.

The noted canonist and pastor quickly adds that sometimes there are attempts by those seeking refuge in Eastern Catholic parishes to influence their chosen faith community in a manner that conflicts with the values and traditions of that church. In these cases, it is up to the pastor to ensure the integrity of the tradition, he says.

“Everybody gets noticed. Everybody gets involved. It’s not someplace you can come anonymously and leave. We’re not big enough to have staff, so everybody needs to pitch in. We really need everybody’s gifts, everybody’s time and effort.”

Mr. Kemner in Iowa notes that when people approach him seeking a faith community to validate a particular partisan perspective or worldview, he impresses upon them that this is not the purpose of any parish or outreach. Rather, the parish is a place where the faith community seeks to know and serve God and, at the Byzantine outreach in Iowa, it is where followers of the Gospel commit themselves in doing so through Byzantine traditions and practices.

Since ONE’s Laura Ieraci conducted the interviews for this article, Father François Beyrouti was named to succeed Bishop Nicholas Samra as the eparch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton. The team at ONE congratulates him on his new ministry. AXIOS!

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 19

ack in Homer Glen, Father Loya, says the zeal of new members has reinvigorated his parish, which sees about 200 people on a Sunday.

He, too, admits that new membership comes with growing pains. One challenge is helping new members understand and embrace the history of the particular church, its customs, traditions and spirituality, and not to impose how things were done in their previous church. As well, while many newcomers cite the family atmosphere of the smaller Eastern churches as a draw, Father Loya says most are not prepared for its “very high “Sometimesimpact.”you’ll bump heads,” he says.

Forming seminarians in Ukraine in times of war

by Anna Nekrasova-Wilson and Laura Ieraci

20 CNEWA.ORG/MAGAZINECloser to the People

“After the bombardment of cities and civilians, everyone understands they could die any day. Safety does not exist in any part of Ukraine,” he says. “And yet not one seminarian has left the country.”

erving on the frontlines is not what seminarian Vitality Oliynyk had in mind when he dreamed of becoming a priest. But he admits he has pondered the question in recent months on more than one occasion.

andbagging is not part of the usual program of formation for the priesthood, but it was priority for seminarians just outside Kyiv hours after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

21 LEADERSHIPCHURCHFORMING

That morning, Divine Liturgy was celebrated in a lecture hall in the basement of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic seminary as a precautionary measure after rocket fire in a nearby village awakened the seminary community at around 5 a.m.

While it seems like business as usual at the Kyiv seminary, life has been anything but normal since the war began, says the Reverend Roman Ostrovskyy, vice rector for academic affairs.

Seminarians pray in the chapel of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv.

Father Ostrovskyy says the decision to bring the seminarians back to Kyiv was “very difficult, wrought with many questions, above all about the seminarians’ safety,” but Archbishop Shevchuk’s guidance was instrumental in this decision.“Andwe managed to return and resume ‘normal life’ in the seminary,” he says. “Unfortunately, ‘normal life’ during a war doesn’t really exist.

Away for the summer months on various assignments, 66 seminarians were expected to return for the start of class on 30 August, among them nine new candidates in their first year.

“When regular classes resumed, it was as if the seminarians got a new lease on life,” he continues. “Amid the insanity of war, they needed something stable, useful, simple that could give them a sense of meaning in life.”

Seminarians spent most of the day preparing a makeshift bomb shelter on the campus of the seminary, located in Kniazhychi, a town in the eastern suburbs of the Ukrainian capital. Air raid sirens interrupted their work, sending them to the basement for cover. The rector canceled class for the rest of the week and by the end of the day, unsure about how the fighting could escalate, ordered an evacuation, sending seminarians home to their families.

“The mood at the seminary this past semester swung like a pendulum,” he says. “I’ll admit that on the first three or four days of the war, I didn’t understand one word of the liturgy. I felt like I was in a daze. The seminarians said they felt the“Somesame.seminarians would ask me whether it was their duty to join the army and defend Ukraine. I tried to keep a sense of calm among them,” Father Ostrovskyy recalls.

“A priest on the field of battle is indispensable,” he says. “Since not

However, by 3 March, the seminarians were directed to pick up their studies online, starting first with one class only. As of 14 March, they were back to a full course load. They returned to the seminary campus — dedicated to Sts. Basil, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian — by mid-May and completed the academic year on time. Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych attended the graduation ceremony on the scheduled date, 13 June, and as planned five men were ordained subdeacons the next day, advancing toward priestly ordination.

everyone can evacuate from these territories, the priest is to be their pillar. He is to be the spiritual support for those who … stare every day into the eyes of death.”Aspart of its formation program, the Kyiv seminary offers seminarians opportunities to gain experience about military chaplaincy and pastoral care in times of war.

deal from the experiences they encounter there,” says Mr. Oliynyk. “They tell us about the challenges of the service members and the local population they meet.”

“Military chaplains who are in the zone of military operations in Donbas come to the seminary and share with us their practice and experience, and we draw a great

As the seminary closest to military action, he adds, “we always discuss these issues with our students.”

and seminarians for military chaplaincy started long before Russia’s invasion on 24 February.

Seminarians take classes on how to provide basic medical assistance in the field and may also shadow military chaplains in theaters of war, where they meet, pray and speak with soldiers.

His seminary rector, the Reverend Petro Zhuk, says forming priests

“Ukraine has been in a time of war for many years now,” says Father Zhuk, referring to Russia’s occupation of Crimea and fighting in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives since it began in 2014. “We understood that it is important to prepare priests to serve the needs of those in the military.”

“And this is the best moral, psychological preparation for this kind of service,” says Mr. Oliynyk.

“When there is a war, you understand human pain and anxiety. You understand these challenges, and [you] must respond and seek a deeper answer.”

n almost a decade of ongoing conflict, war and pandemic, Ukrainian Greek Catholic seminaries have worked to give their students a better understanding of the experience of human tragedy, teaching them how to respond with depth and compassion to questions of suffering, says the Reverend Ihor Boyko, rector of the Lviv Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit.

To support this important mission, call 1-866-322-4441 (Canada) or 1-800-442-6392 (United States).

Among the six, five form men to serve in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and one forms men for priesthood in the Byzantine Catholic Church, which has

Markian Luchkiv, 24, a sixth-year seminarian in Lviv, entered seminary right after high school. Inspired by the example of his parish priest in Sukhovolya, a village near Lviv, he had been thinking about the priesthood since childhood and his family supported him in his choice of “Avocation.priestshould always go to the people, not distance himself from them or consider himself superior,” he says.

“As a priest, I am called to be with people irrespective of whether it is a peaceful time or a time of armed conflict.”

“It was very difficult. Families came here [to the seminary] saddened,” recalls Father Boyko. “I taught the seminarians how to be with them, to listen to their pain, because we have to be with our people in joy and in sorrow.”

“Social service, communication, military chaplaincy, as well as hospital and prison ministry are very important now,” says Father Zhuk.

In 2013, for example, seminarians in Lviv took part in the Revolution of Dignity, joining the demonstrations and gathering with the families of victims to accompany them through their grief.

Military chaplains and personnel will come to Lviv, too, to share their experiences with seminarians.

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The seminary in Lviv runs a program for seminarians interested in learning about and supporting chaplaincies for the military, providing seminarians the opportunity to visit military units in Lviv and the surrounding region, where they spend time and pray with the troops, offer catechesis or discuss issues of concern.

he seminaries in Kyiv and Lviv are among six Greek Catholic seminaries in Ukraine, which have a combined enrollment of about 720 men.

“As a future priest, I feel a responsibility, in the hardest times, to be together with that neighbor who needs spiritual care, to be close to that soldier who is possibly spiritually wounded and needs conversation, the sacraments or Divine Liturgy,” he adds.

Since the clouds of war began to gather over Ukraine last winter, CNEWA has rushed more than $5.5 million in emergency aid for food, shelter, medicine, psychological and spiritual support for those who have fled their homeland and those who have remained.

All of this assistance is directed through our partners — for example, the Caritas network, Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, eparchies of the Greek Catholic churches in the region, and the Knights of Columbus in Poland.

Seminarian Roman Lysenko volunteers to deliver emergency aid in Lviv, days after being evacuated from the Kyiv seminary due to Russia’s invasion. Bottom opposite, seminarians pray in the chapel of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic seminary in Kyiv prior to the invasion.

“Very often seminarians also meet with relatives, families, with those who have lost their loved ones [in battle], to comfort them, console them and be with them in their time of difficulty,” he adds.

“We can’t force anyone to do this,” says Father Boyko, adding, however, that “every seminarian should feel free to do this.”

CNEWA’s commitment to the formation of priests, sisters and laity in Ukraine continues, even in times of crisis, through our person-to-person sponsorship program.

The CNEWA Connection

has dropped since he began as rector, from 225 in 2013 to 178 in 2022.“Going to seminary today is a challenge for a young man,” says Father Boyko. “He understands that he must boldly testify to his friends, family and relatives,” who often do not support his vocational decision and realize only much later that his call was right for him.

and its Iron Curtain unraveled, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church experienced a boom in priestly vocations. In addition, some 300 Greek Catholic priests surfaced, publicly identifying as priests of the once-banned church. Today, about 3,000 priests serve between 4 and 5 million faithful. While influential culturally and socially, Ukraine’s Greek Catholics remain a minority in an overwhelmingly Orthodox nation.Both the Kyiv and Lviv seminaries today are affiliated with the faculty of philosophy and theology at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) for the academic requirements of seminary formation. The Lviv seminary has a residence on the UCU campus for seminarians, who attend lectures with the other university students.

eparchies scattered throughout Central Europe and North America.

The Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv was established in 1929, succeeding a theologate established by the Habsburg emperor in 1783. For a time, it was the only seminary for the formation of Greek Catholic priests in what is today western Ukraine.However, the Soviet regime banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and shuttered the seminary during World War II, driving underground seminary formation, priestly ordinations and all other aspects of church life for decades.“Small groups of four or five people secretly gathered at our house, and priests came and prepared them for ordination,” recalls Father Boyko in Lviv.

The Theological Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Lviv began in a new location in 1990, as the Soviet Union

Father Rostyslav Vysochan, a military chaplain, celebrates Divine Liturgy with soldiers in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Opposite, seminarian Markian Luchkiv in the seminary library in Lviv.

Father Boyko says many young men still express interest in the priesthood, but admits enrollment

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Father Zhuk in Kyiv also notes the challenges presented by the limitless opportunities available to young people in the global economy. The media and social networks promote particular images of success, putting pressure on

young people to achieve a lifestyle that depends on a higher income, he says. In Ukraine as elsewhere, priests are among the low-income earners.Young men will often be advised by family and friends to first “get a profession, and then, if you still want, go and serve God,” heHeadds.maintains there is no vocations crisis on God’s end of things; God continues to call men to the priesthood. The crisis is in the lack of response to God’s call, he says, a crisis impacting the church outside Ukraine as well.

he Kyiv seminary is the newest institution of higher learning in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and has been implementing a growth plan in recent years, despite its proximity to theaters of war.

While the library is not yet complete, the seminary is receiving donations for its stacks, the largest of which — the 25,000-volume English and Ukrainian collection of

In 2010, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, then the major archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, established the Kyiv Theological Seminary of the Three Holy Hierarchs, renovating two private residences connected by a chapel. However, the need for more space launched an expansion project in 2020.The shell of the building, which includes more bedrooms, a larger kitchen, library and a fitness room, is largely complete. Windows have yet to be installed and the interior needs finishing. CNEWA funded the original seminary, and now its extension, thanks to generous grants from benefactors in FatherCanada.Ostrovskyy, the vice rector, says the hope is to continue the project, despite the war. “In Ukraine, you need to live by hope.”

“As a priest, I am called to be with people irrespective of whether it is a peaceful time or a time of armed conflict.”

26 CNEWA.ORG/MAGAZINE

“Social service, communication, military chaplaincy, as well as hospital and prison ministry are very important now.”

Pastoral formation prepares the seminarian to be present and minister to the people in their need according to the Gospel. A priest does not have to be ideal; he has to be “real, alive,” says Father Zhuk, and capable of sharing his experiences and concerns.

As the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s global Commission for Clergy, which oversees seminary and priestly formation, Bishop Danylo notes how these years of war have impacted seminary formation and are preparing a different generation of priests, with hearts more attuned to people’s suffering.

“Today, people need a witness, priests who testify with their lives about what they teach,” he adds.

“They are closer to a man and his challenges than at other times,” he says. “Because when there is a war, you understand human pain and anxiety. You understand these challenges, and [you] must respond and seek a deeper answer.”

Hear about the formation of seminarians in wartime Ukraine in an exclusive video at cnewa.org/one Be a part of the solution in times of crisis cnewa.org I cnewa.ca u

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Intellectual formation requires a seminarian to take more than 120 courses over six years. The first two years focus on philosophy and classical languages, namely Greek, Latin and Church Slavonic. The next

At left, Vitality Oliynyk is a seminarian in Kyiv.

“The most incredible thing is, in the center of Ukraine, in a region where people did not believe the Greek Catholic Church could be restored, we have a seminary and a library with one of the best theological collections in the region, if not the country.”

Education in these four dimensions should make seminarians “better pastors,” says Bishop Bohdan J. Danylo of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, a former seminary rector in the UnitedBetterStates.pastors, he continues, are able to meet people, with their “challenges, blessings and problems,” where they are at and help draw them closer to God.

the Reverend Andriy Chirovsky in the United States, founding director of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute for Eastern Christian Studies in Toronto — arrived in “Initially,March.noone believed there would be vocations to fill this seminary,” aside from Cardinal Husar, says Father Ostrovskyy.

two years focus on theology, as well as Scripture, liturgy, homiletics and a variety of pastoral topics.

Anna Nekrasova-Wilson is a journalist and producer from Ukraine, currently based in London. She has worked with USA TODAY, Die Zeit and The Wall Street Journal. Laura Ieraci is assistant editor of ONE. Konstantin Chernichkin in Lviv and Olenka Laschuk in Toronto contributed to this report.

First among these is spiritual formation, “nurtured through the various liturgical services, spiritual direction and opportunities to encounter the Living God” in daily life at the seminary, he explains.Human development focuses on the seminarian’s ability to communicate, relate and live well with others. Seminarians are actively involved in various aspects of community life at the institution, from problem-solving and relationship-building to daily chores, such as cleaning, preparing meals and washing dishes.

Father Zhuk, the rector, says the approach in all seminaries of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has changed in recent years, becoming more integrative and seeking to develop the whole person by focusing on four areas — human, pastoral, intellectual and spiritual — that are important to nurture priestly identity.

But things are far from normal in Ukraine.Ifyou glance off the highway into the suburbs and towns northeast of Kyiv, which I visited with Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius, Lithuania, president of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, you see pine trees broken by artillery shells.

A LETTER FROM UKRAINE

by Archbishop Borys Gudziak

while driving through the streets of Bucha. Suddenly, he exclaimed, “This is the street! I recognize it from the TV images!”

rossing Ukraine by car is the only way to arrive in Kyiv from abroad these days.

The 372 miles of countryside between the Polish border and the capital are picturesque, especially in the summer. Hot but not too humid, the climate is continental; the landscape, lush andTheinviting.colors of the Ukrainian flag emerge before one’s eyes: a cloudless, deep blue sky meets endless golden wheat fields ready for the harvest. Succumbing to the combine, they sustain the lives of millions of people on different continents. As in the Gospel, “if [a grain of wheat] dies, it produces much fruit.”

Since the retreat of Russian forces, more than 1,300 bodies have been discovered around Bucha, most of them innocent civilians, tortured and executed. Twenty bodies, lying for days, even weeks, were found on Yablunska Street alone. One man was returning a borrowed bicycle to a friend, another was trying to visit someone in a nearby hospital and another wanted to retrieve clothes from his home. They were found shot, some with their hands tied behind their back.

The rubble has been cleared from the main roads, but what remains of burnt-out gas stations, hospitals, schools, houses, high-rise apartments and shopping centers — not to mention the scars of shrapnel on church facades — creates an eerie sense of transpired and impending evil. For at the end of February, helicopters, like a swarm of mechanical locusts, descended assault units throughout the idyllic middle-class cottage towns, where hard-working families relocated when housing prices in the capital skyrocketed in the years afterArchbishopindependence.Grušas and I exchanged notes in the backseat

A land of life, a land of mass graves

Kyiv beckons with golden domes shining forth from verdant park foliage. Today the streets are active again: bustling traffic and fashionable city dwellers make Kyiv look almost normal.

NEEDSHUMANTORESPONDING

The harrowing row of burnedout tanks and armored personnel carriers had been cleared from Yablunska Street (Apple Tree Street, in English) and summer verdure covered demolished dwellings visible in April through naked branches. But images of that street as the Russian soldiers left it are seared into the consciousness of people around the globe. What happened here is scorched into the identity of every Ukrainian.

Archbishop Borys Gudziak, second from left, visits a neighborhood in Irpin, destroyed in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

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t. Andrew’s domes reach like silos into the sky — both a plea to the heavens and a monument

The sun guides the graceful gyrations of the national flower: Ukraine produces half of the world’s sunflower oil. For ages, the land was called the “breadbasket of Europe.” In recent years it has supplied much-needed food for the populations of the Middle East and Africa. This year the yield should be bountiful.

30 CNEWA.ORG/MAGAZINE

s of 18 July, 2,621 Ukrainian towns and villages have endured Russian occupation. News from these communities and the fate of their residents are fragmentary. We know the occupiers have abandoned the search for bodies in the destroyed city of Mariupol. They continue to abduct people in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and to deport hundreds of thousands from Luhansk and Donetsk. The shelling

over the sandpit, which in March served as a mass grave. In the church, 67-year-old Nadia, who tends the candle and icon shop, explains the exhibit of ghastly photos: Arms and legs stick out of a hastily filled trench and contorted torsos lie in black body bags. Her voice quivers and tears fill her eyes as she details the monstrosity: the beatings, the rape of women and children, the summary executions.Itisone thing to view these images on a screen and another to go to the Bucha cemetery, where line after line of fresh graves make clear that Bucha is not a statistic, but an unfathomable human tragedy traumatizing the town and

“Bucha is not a statistic, but an unfathomable human tragedy … [that] should mobilize globally people of good will to resist evil: ‘Never again!’ ”

the country. The pain and sorrow cannot be allowed to paralyze or bring us to despair. Rather, they should mobilize globally people of good will to resist evil: “Never again!”The stark contrasts that morning were numbing. For days I was speechless and did not know what to say. I still don’t. How beautiful the land and brave the people; how craven the cruelty and deadly the depravity that has descended upon them. This was a moment of listening — to stories of family members taken away and never seen again, of homes demolished and lives destroyed, of gratitude and hope, of resilience and resolve to rebuild.

Outside the church, there were food boxes sponsored by CNEWA, regularly distributed by Caritas Ukraine and members of the parish to people — mostly the elderly, women and children.

How many civilians will be victimized by the ruthless invaders? Recently, a photograph circulated around the world showed a father in Kharkiv, Vyacheslav Kubata, at a bus stop praying over the body of his 13-year-old son, Dmytro, killed by a missile. He had been there, in prayer, for two hours. The next day, Kharkiv was shelled again. Another three lives. Not a statistic, but a tragedy for the family, the city, the country and all of humanity. The Jewish Talmud teaches that anyone who saves a life saves an entire world. In the towns near Kyiv, I witnessed the opposite: Through

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 31

the state-sponsored murder of innocents, humanity is devastated. And yet in Bucha, and during my other visits to Ukraine under siege, not a single person argued for compromise or concessions to the invaders. After Bucha, there is little doubt for Ukrainians about genocidal intent. It is a life-or-death battle, a resilient defense of Godgiven human dignity. The people of Ukraine, with full awareness, are paying the highest price to be free, to be Ukrainianshuman. are doing more than their part: They are standing up to the nihilistic, savage lust for power of a dictator and his legions — when no one else dares. They sacrifice their lives, they volunteer, they help the 7 million internally displaced and the needy left at home, and they donate from their modest earnings to help their soldiers defend their homeland and support humanitarian relief projects.

Will the sacrifice of God’s little ones be recognized? Will their call be heeded?

of civilian housing near the frontlines is a daily occurrence. How many streets like Yablunska will be revealed in those towns?

Everyone — those in power and the seemingly powerless — can pray, speak up, contribute, open their hearts and homes and do something to stop the war and killing. Global solidarity has been awakened and must continue — so children can play on Yablunska Street again and wait serenely for the bus in Kharkiv.

Above, Archbishops Gudziak and Gintaras Grušas pray at the tombs of war victims in Bucha. Opposite, piles of burnt-out cars in Bucha mark the destruction of civilian life.

Ukrainians ask the world to understand the nature of the menace that extends far beyond their borders, to stand with them, so their golden fields can continue to serve as a global breadbasket, so their blue sky can be free of mechanical locusts.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia visits Ukraine regularly, most recently in July.

The time, however, was not right. She went on to graduate in English literature from Sree Sankara College in Kalady, one of the top colleges in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Kalady is the birthplace of the eighth-century philosopher Adi Shankaracharya, known for his commentaries on Hindu scriptures.

Sister Tresa’s family, especially her father and two brothers, were reluctant about her becoming a sister. They would spend hours telling her religious life was tough and not for her. But after graduation, she told her family she would leave home even if they did not“Myagree.father was still trying to dissuade me; but my mother was more open,” Sister Tresa says.

Her family — mother, father, two brothers and three sisters — were close-knit.“Wedid everything together. We used to go to church, pray, do the rosary as a family,” she says.

“My mother played a huge role in convincing my father to allow me to respond to God’s call.”

It has been 40 years since Sister Tresa entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary. She is the

Eventually, her father agreed, supporting her wish to enter religious life.

“Two sisters from my parish worked as missionaries in North India. When they came home to Angamaly, they’d tell us stories of how they served Christ,” she says. “That’s when I knew I wanted to be like them and be a missionary.”

The Congregation of the Daughters of the Mary pose at their convent in Kudappanakunnu in the Indian state of Kerala.

veryone’s story has to start somewhere.SisterTresa Peter Paramben’s began when she first felt the call of Jesus in high school.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 33 LEADERSHIPCHURCHFORMINGFormationServingSeekingChristChristprepareswomenforreligiouslifeinIndiatextbyAnubhaGeorgewithphotographsbySanjeedranV.S.

Sister Tresa’s faith has helped her navigate tricky situations with students, as well as parents.

Sister Lydia believes being a religious woman assists greatly in helping her and her fellow sisters reach people and communities, especially those who are marginalized and vulnerable in India’s highly stratified society.

“While we live in this world, we’re also liberated from it,” Sister Tresa says about religious life. “We have annual retreats, monthly recollections, daily meditation, personal prayer, rosary and Bible and spiritual readings to keep us in hisWhenpresence.”asked if she feels she was chosen for life as a religious, Sister Tresa answers in a roundabout way.

“My family was pious and prayerful,” she recalls.

composure — evidence of her faith, which she relies upon to help her manage the heavy responsibilities that come with her position of leadership.“I’msovery happy in my religious life. It’s a life of peace, silence and prayer,” she says. “When we love Jesus so intimately, our heart is filled with his love and we’re enlightened by his light.”

he Daughters of Mary is a missionary community of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church founded in 1938. The sisters run orphanages, senior residences, palliative care centers and homes for children with special intellectual and physical needs. While centered in Kerala, the sisters work in several Indian states, including Maharashtra in western India, Tamil Nadu, in the country’s southeastern tip, and Punjab.Fifteen sisters serve at the generalate, which also serves as the novitiate for 12 women in formation.

Sister Lydia Pichalakkattu is the superior general of the congregation responsible for more than 1,000 sisters in 192 convents. She earned her doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas-Angelicum in Rome. But what is most striking about Sister Lydia is her calm and steady

“I always pray to Christ and surrender everything to him. He always shows me the way and protects me from harm,” she says.

She has two sisters and four brothers. Her youngest brother is a Jesuit priest; her eldest brother is a diocesan priest.

“Since that first day in the convent, I have never once wanted to turn away from this life that’s dedicated to Jesus.”

“As a sister, we’re taught to meditate, contemplate and experience the presence of God,” she says. “Of course, we go through all the emotions other people do, but we know how to converse with Jesus. I cry with him, complain to him, ask him for protection. He never lets me down.”

“I feel proud to be a nun,” she says. “Since that first day in the convent, I have never once wanted to turn away from this life that’s dedicated to Jesus.”

She has served in Punjab, a northern Indian state that borders Pakistan. She also taught English at St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School in Thiruvananthapuram. With 14,000 students, it is Asia’s biggest Catholic school.

“Jesus went to the mountain and he called whom he liked to be with him,” she says. “Jesus chose people for a reason. Without his knowledge, nothing happens. My relationship with him is very strong. I’m in his presence every moment of every day.”

assistant superior general, serving at the generalate in Kerala’s capital city, Thiruvananthapuram.

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Through CNEWA’s longstanding person-to-person sponsorship programs, thousands of priests and sisters of India’s Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic churches have received support for decades during their years of formation, including the Daughters of Mary profiled in this article. Their education and formation as women in service to the Gospel prepare them to administer schools, hospitals and social service programs as well as lead parish catechetical and adult formation activities.

Through me, the lives of all my family members have changed. That’s been the biggest blessing for me.”Sister Susanna Carlo is also at the generalate as a junior sister for a year, having spent the past seven years in formation. She is from Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu, and says her vocation was inspired by the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta.

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“If you want to lead a religious life, then your relationship with Jesus has to be stable,” Sister Susanna says. “I am for Jesus alone. That word is always in my mind.”

Sister Beatrice Kizhakekunnel, the mother general, says her mother inspired her to devote her life to Jesus.“My mother wanted to become a nun. But within three months of joining a convent, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was sent back home,” she says.

“People trust us. They open up to us and talk to us about their difficulties,” she says. “We visit families, pray for them and share their sorrows and joys. We’re then able to help them, either by counseling or providing financial support, if they need it.

Your support can make an impact on the future of the dynamic church in India. To support this important mission, call 1-866322-4441 (Canada) or 1-800-442-6392 (United States).

he process in becoming a religious sister is long, taking anywhere from nine to 12 years, depending on the religious community. It is intended to allow ample time for discerning a call to serve God and considering one’s choice in the matter.

Then one day she asked for guidance. “Go and proclaim good news” is what she heard at Mass that day, and that decided her life’s course for her.

“I felt as if the sisters were angels and I wanted to be like them,” she says.

As a little girl, Sister Beatrice went to a convent school.

The CNEWA Connection

When a woman decides to pursue religious life with a particular congregation — there are many, each with different missions or charisms — she may spend one to two years as a novice. During this time, she will learn about religious life, the history of a particular congregation and its charism.Afterthis time of preparation, the woman may make temporary vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. At the end of the period of temporary vows, she may decide whether to make a commitment for the rest of her life and make perpetual vows. During these years of formation, she is free to opt out of the process at any stage.Sister Jeevan Maria Harpal Masih entered the Daughters of Mary eight years ago. She is a junior sister from Amritsar, Punjab, known for the Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple, and will spend a year at the generalate in Kerala. She arrived in June.“Ireceived my baptism when I was 13,” Sister Jeevan says. “I have experienced a deep faith in Jesus. I’ve been touched by his love.

“The trust and access we have as nuns to people and families, even priests do not have that,” she says. “We are so fortunate.”

n Thrissur, about 175 miles north of Thiruvananthapuram, lies the generalate of the Congregation of St. Martha. Founded in 1948, the Syro-Malabar Catholic community of women works in other Indian states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha in eastern India, on the Bay of Bengal. The congregation’s motto is “Love Serves.”

“I used to live my life in the modern world, trying to be attractive to others,” says Sister Susanna.

“For example, if our parents are sick, we’re allowed to go home and spend a week or 10 days with them,” she explains.

congregation’s Lourde Natha Province. She says aid from organizations, such as Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), is a huge help.

“The congregation works in different ministries, such as health, education, hospitals and hostels for women. We provide training and employment for underprivileged communities in the interior parts of Kerala,” she says.

Sister Geo Maria Koonan in Thrissur is responsible for 24 communities that form the

One of her aunts belonged to the same community, which she had come to know. The community, she adds, is not as restrictive or cloistered as some.

The congregation has established tailoring centers to help women earn an income, schools for children, and CNEWA-supported hostels for underprivileged communities.

“I spent time making reels and posting pics on socials. But I found something else in religious life — a chance to serve Jesus and others.”

Sister Deepthi Elavumkunnel, who is an education counselor at the congregation’s generalate, grew up in a very religious home. Both her parents had considered religious life in their youth, but they married and had seven children.

Anubha George is a former BBC editor. She is a columnist and writer for various publications. She is based in Kerala, India. women in formation for religious life in India in an exclusive video at

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“My father was a catechist for 32 years and my mother was a pious lady,” she says. “We all prayed together and talked about Jesus Christ.”“Even as a child I was devoted to Christ. My faith is deeply rooted in the person of Jesus,” she says. “I know I’m protected and loved by the Sacred Heart of Christ.”

t the novitiate, six young women, between 18 and 20 years old, are in formation. They wear white saris, paired with whiteMerinblouses.Johnson Vidhayathil was completing her studies in zoology when a priest came to her class and asked if anyone had felt the call of Jesus.“My mind had been telling me for a while that I’d been chosen by Jesus to lead a life in his service,” sheShesays.told her parents, went on a discernment retreat and subsequently entered the convent.

“I spent time making reels and posting pics on socials,” she says. “But I found something else in religious life — a chance to serve Jesus and others.”

“We’re beginning to change the way we run catechism classes,” she adds.“That’s where children come into contact with sisters as teachers. We are making these classes more activities-based, more fun.

dedicatedcnewa.org/oneSupportvocationstoservicecnewa.org I cnewa.ca u

“My mother’s prayerful life always gave us a lot of strength as a family,” she adds. Her older sister, Lissia, is a nun as well.

“People also have smaller families now,” so fewer children can enter religious life.

Meet

“We have to change to attract young adults to religious life.”

“I joined the religious life to love and serve Jesus,” says novice Anuja Kerketta from Chattisgarh in North India.Although predominantly a Hindi speaker, she is now fluent in Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala.Soumya Joy Cheenikkal, another novice, spoke about how she gave up the charm of social media for a different life.

three years. She remembers her own years of formation, and recalls writing letters to her sponsors, CNEWA benefactors who supported her in novitiate.

“We didn’t know English well, but we’d write letters thanking our foreign sponsors for their donations,” she says.

Sister Remya Pulickal has been a member of the Sisters of St. Martha for 27 years; she has been a member of the formation team for the past

“When I had to decide about devoting my life to Jesus, my mother told me religious life wasn’t easy, but that I had to make my own decision.”Beforeentering, Sister Remya had only one thought: “I want to be a sister. I want to pray for others. I want to serve others.”

“There are also more broken families, so children aren’t growing up with the concept of God or praying together or leading a religious life.

Sister Lydia Pichalakkattu, in the foreground, superior general of the Daughters of Mary, and other sisters care for their cows.

After studying nursing and working at hospitals, she studied theology. Now as a formator, she is concerned about the decline in the number of women in Kerala who are choosing religious life.“Young women feel the convent life is too restrictive while they want more freedom,” she says.

A perfect storm of worldwide events threatens millions in Ethiopia

Cries of Hunger

by Olivia Poust

ach day, the Reverend Amanuel Yoseph hears the cries of hunger outside the doors of hisWomencompound.—some naked in the chilled morning air, most with children — plead for any help the priest can offer. Farmers who cannot grow crops come seeking aid. But in a community devastated by drought, there are no resources left to “Peoplegive. are coming with dry plants to show us, and they are knocking on the door of our office every day,” says Father Yoseph, who directs the Social and Development Commission in the Apostolic Vicariate of Hosanna.

“We don’t have anything to give them, and they say, ‘We don’t want to die in our homes and our villages. That is why we are here.’ ”

A mother and child from war-torn Tigray seek refuge near the SudanEthiopia border.

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The priest ministers in the country’s southwestern state named Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR). However, his experience there is common to the rest of the country, where an ongoing food crisis means nearly 10 million people are suffering from “high levels of acute food insecurity and rising malnutrition,” according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (U.N. OCHA).

“The situation on the ground is very bad,” says Argaw Fantu, the director of CNEWA’s regional office in Ethiopia, who describes this crisis as “multidimensional” in its causes and effects.

“These people are carrying a lot of wounds, heavy burdens,” she says.

iolence in Tigray has been ongoing since war broke out between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (whose leadership once controlled Ethiopia’s federal government) and Ethiopian government forces in November 2020.InJuly, one religious sister, who asked that her name and congregation not be disclosed for security reasons, traveled from Addis Ababa to Mekele, the capital of Tigray, and says suffering in the region has escalated since this time lastHeryear. congregation typically focuses on development projects pertaining to health care, education and other social services, but the sisters’ efforts have been diverted to provide emergency relief to internally displaced persons.

“We cannot differentiate rich people from poor people, starved people from those who are feeding themselves. All the people are affected by this drought.”

“About 50 percent of the sisters come from the north, including

Three primary forces are driving the crisis, he explains: continued conflict in the northern Tigray Region, prolonged drought and increased prices of grain and fuel due to the war in Ukraine.

She recounts some of the horrific stories her sisters hear when they visit with the displaced — adults and children alike — who have fled massacres, rape and other forms of brutal aggression. She describes how the people’s sense of hopelessness has augmented as violence has persisted and supplies have become scarce.

“And they are not involved in any politics. They are not members of any political party or anything. They are just civilians — Tigrayans — born in Tigray, not by choice, because none of us have been asked where we want to be born,” she says. “But they are held responsible and for some, it is considered to be a crime.”

Most people in Tigray have been unemployed and without income for the past two years. This, combined with rising prices, means even small quantities of food stocked on store shelves are too expensive to purchase.

While aid was allowed into Mekele in early April following a ceasefire, Mr. Fantu says surrounding areas remain largely inaccessible and the distribution of aid is a problem.

To support this critical work, at such a critical time, call 1-866-322-4441 (Canada) or 1-800-442-6392 (United States).

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CNEWA 41

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia released an appeal in response to the situation: “We again appeal to all parties to cede their weapons and return to peace options, to prioritize dialogue [as] an option that will end the suffering of our citizens.”

Families face food scarcity in Ethiopia’s drought-affected south. At right, Jesuit Refugee Service distributes food aid to refugees in Addis Ababa.

myself,” she continues. “So, all our family members are in danger. We worry about them; we worry about the people. They worry about us. Because nobody is safe now…”

Tigrayans also have been impacted severely by the Ethiopian government’s monthslong blockade of humanitarian aid, resulting in increased food insecurity and medical crises. The sister said the blockade was still in effect at the time of this interview, despite the government’s insistence it had been lifted.

Through its support of the local church, such as the Eparchy of Adigrat, communities of religious sisters and brothers, and organizations such as Jesuit Refugee Service, CNEWA is able to rush aid to some of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable populations, such as “food and non-food items, medical assistance, psychological services and one-time emergency financial assistance,” says CNEWA’s Argaw Fantu.

This five-month cease-fire ended when fighting resumed for the third time on 24 August in the Amhara Region. The town of Kobo, located approximately 125 miles from Mekele, was the first area to be attacked, according to Mr. Fantu. He says priests and sisters in the area were evacuated, but a teacher from St. Joseph School, run by the Capuchins — which Mr. Fantu visited in August — was killed while escaping. He also notes that travel to Tigray, even by international relief agencies like the World Food Programme, was suspended following the war’s resurgence.

The sister attributes much of the increased suffering to dwindling supplies of food, medicine and fuel.

Migration to urban centers has increased as people, including Eritreans, Somalis and South Sudanese who had sought refuge in Ethiopia, seek to flee the harsh conditions. In Addis Ababa, the country’s capital, the refugee population has doubled since January 2021. According to the UNHCR, Ethiopia hosts 823,000 refugees and has up to 4.2 million internally displaced persons.

In addition, the region has been almost entirely without telephone or internet services since the war began. Only the International Organization for Migration has a working internet connection in Tigray, says the sister.

The Yedegu family is among a number of Eritrean refugee families who have had to flee Tigray for Addis Ababa. For two months, Furtuna Yedegu, who is wheelchair bound, her husband and their four children lived in Shire, south of the Hitsats Camp, where they had first sought refuge. When fighting in the area escalated, they decamped for the capital.Due to Mrs. Yedegu’s disability and other restrictions on employment for refugees, neither parent could find work. However, their children could attend public school, where they received free lunches. When the school year ended in June, the entire family faced food insecurity.

The CNEWA Connection

They found some relief in the emergency food packages provided at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) center in Addis Ababa. JRS was present as well in three refugee

“Two months ago, there was sign of a little rain in some parts and

camps in Tigray — Mai-Ani, Adi-Harush and Shimelba — but withdrew due to the war.

“We cannot differentiate rich people from poor people, starved people from those who are feeding themselves,” said Father Yoseph. “All the people are affected by this drought.”

The influx of the displaced due to conflicts in various other parts of the country increases the food insecurity in the region, which is largely stable, he says.

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“The government is trying its best,” says Father Yoseph, but providing sufficient aid to combat the food scarcity crisis is “beyond its capacity.”“Themost important thing for these people, especially this year, is to save their life by providing some items of food,” he says.

thiopian farmers face an almost impossible situation, as they watch the crops they plant shrivel in the midst of the country’s worst drought in 40 years. This year’s rainy season, from March to May, was “the driest on record,” reports the U.N. OCHA.

“People are tired of waiting even for solutions. They ask, international community just deserted us? Why do we have to untold atrocities and sufferings ... ?’ And nobody can

people started to cultivate,” says Mr. Fantu. “But immediately it was replaced by prolonged sun or dry season, so even the small crops diedFatherout.”Yoseph says this year has been the driest in Ethiopia’s southwest in the past three years.

The war in Ukraine has driven up the cost of fuel and grain products and has contributed significantly to the food crisis. Ethiopia is dependent on Russia and Ukraine for these commodities, including staple foods items, such as wheat, rice and maize. U.N. OCHA reports that food basket prices have risen 66 percent in Ethiopia.

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Refugees in Addis Ababa receive emergency aid from Jesuit Refugee Service.

away crops and topsoil. By the third week of August, about halfway through Ethiopia’s second rainy season each year, the rainfall had improved in drier areas of the country, he adds. He hopes farmers in these areas will cultivate crops that grow quickly, such as wheat.

‘Why has the go through such answer these questions.”

“And nobody can answer these questions. I cannot answer these questions.”

The severe drought is an observable effect of climate change, as are the unusually high temperatures in Addis Ababa experienced during this year’s dry season, says Mr. Fantu. Then, in July, the Ethiopian highlands experienced unusual torrential rainfall, including hail, which flooded farmlands and washed

At this stage, the impact the grain imports will have on the severe situation in Ethiopia remains hypothetical.“Peopleask, ‘What is the solution?’ People are tired of waiting even for solutions,” says the sister. “They ask, ‘Why has the international community just deserted us? Why do we have to go through such untold atrocities and sufferings for reasons that we don’t know, for crimes that we haven’t committed?’

Olivia Poust is communications assistant for CNEWA.

For updates on the Ethiopia crisis from CNEWA’s team on the ground, go to Helpcnewa.org/blogEthiopiacombatfoodinsecuritycnewa.org

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On 22 July, the U.N. brokered a grain deal between Russia and Ukraine to allow grain exports to resume. The first ship to depart under this agreement left the port of Odesa for Lebanon on 1 August. The first ship to the Horn of Africa left on 16 August with more than 50 million pounds of wheat grain.

n her weeklong visit to Mekele in July, the plans of the religious sister to visit her congregation’s offices outside of the city — one 110 miles to the north and another 75 miles to the south — fell through due to the fuel shortage.

These journeys all highlighted the Gospel question placed before Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?”

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal Jesuslife?’ said to him, ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’

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From late April into early May, I accompanied the chair of our board of trustees, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, to Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. The cardinal wished to bring prayerful solidarity and stimulate greater financial assistance for both Ukrainian refugees who fled to neighboring countries and internally displaced Ukrainians, uprooted from their cities, towns, villages and farms.

I thank you, the readers of ONE and our most generous donors, for all your support that enables us, on your behalf, to reach out to our neighbors. How? Through the work of our dedicated and talented teams in our regional offices, who collaborate closely with the local church, particularly the papal nuncios, bishops, religious women and men, priests and deacons, and especially lay leadership. How? Through your support in prayer. Union in prayer must be the highest priority. How? Through your financial assistance that enables us to educate, to offer all forms of humanitarian assistance, psychosocial counseling, holistic formation programs and leadership training.

We are most grateful to our extraordinary donor family. We always will be accountable to you and transparent in the execution of your wishes. It is my hope we will also expand our donor family through new and innovative ideas.

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ (Lk 10:25-29)

The Last PerspectivesWord:From the President

by Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari

First, congratulations to CNEWA! The agency received 44 press awards from the Catholic Media Association at its annual media conference in early July! My compliments go to ONE, our website and blog, Michael J.L. La Civita, who was named Communications Director of the Year in the individual excellence category that also included recognition of Laura Ieraci as editor and Paul Grillo as designer. I congratulate all involved, in our New York City office, Ottawa and all our regional offices whose selection of local writers, photographers and videographers deserve the credit for keeping our readers and donors well informed about the mission of the agency. Congratulations!

He said in reply, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’

• Monthly live webinars that I have the honor and privilege to host, where I offer an update on our activities and am available for your questions.

offer this perspective as I begin my third year of service as president of Catholic Near East Welfare Association and Pontifical Mission.

In June, with CNEWA’s chief financial officer, Tresool Singh-Conway, and CNEWA’s director of programs, Thomas Varghese, we visited our teams in Amman, Beirut and Jerusalem, and made a pastoral visit to Gaza. Later that month, I was in Rome for the annual plenary session of aid agencies convened by the Dicastery for Eastern Churches and for the meeting of the international Board of Regents of Bethlehem University.

He replied to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.’

• On 13 October, a fundraiser for Ukraine in Westchester County, New York, at the home of a founder of an art gallery. Female artists, both local and from Ukraine, will reflect on the critical role of art in the preservation of cultural identity.

Permit me to invite you to support us in some new ways, intended to support the many requests for aid in our program:

I thank you for your prayers, your interest in our mission and your indispensable financial sacrifices and support, especially in these challenging times.

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the current permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, has been an outstanding spokesperson for the church in the articulation of our values and our charge in promoting a culture of dialogue.

‘And who is my neighbor?’

In promoting a culture of dialogue, the church remains a critical moral voice in keeping the Gospel question, “Who is my neighbor?” before the world body.

With my gratitude and prayers, Peter I. Vaccari, President, CNEWA

• In May 2023, CNEWA’s inaugural ‘Who Is My Neighbor?’ Golf Classic on Long Island.

• On 1 November, an exhibit at the Sheen Cultural Center in Lower Manhattan that will open the same day as a special presentation on the art of the Sistine Chapel.

• On 13 December, CNEWA’s first gala dinner in Manhattan, with Cardinal Dolan, the chair of our board, as the guest of honor.

I hope we can hold other golf classics in different locations. Please let me know if you would like to see a golf classic near you. Please consider offering your support to any of these initiatives. You can contact us at info@cnewa.org.

September is marked by the annual session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Every country in which we work is represented in that international body. The history of the modern papacy has been marked by the visits of popes to the United Nations: St. Paul VI in 1965; St. John Paul II in 1979 and 1995; Benedict XVI in 2008; and Francis in 2015.

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CNEWA a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support