The number of members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in the territory of Germany and the Nordic countries is estimated to have grown from fifty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand Catholics in the last ten years as a result of the wave of refugees from Ukraine.
Several of those in Sweden and Norway are also engaged in Catholic charismatic renewal, among other things through inspiration from the community The Risen Christ GALILEA. It is an international Catholic charismatic evangelizing community that is well established in Poland and several European countries, including Ukraine. The community is not officially established in Sweden, but many people still gather, there is a prayer network on the internet and in the catholic pariches where it is allowed, they also gather for larger meetings. There is a certain tension with the UKGC priests in Sweden, who do not like to see people gather in this way and are critical of charismatic expressions of prayer and praise, says Ivan Vysochanskyi, who is member of the CHARIS service of communion team in the Nordic countries.
Meeting with Ukrainian-speaking Catholics, autumn 2024
UGCC is an Eastern Catholic Christian church based in Ukraine. The Church has been in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church since 1596.
The UGCC has its origins back to the baptism of Vladimir I of Kiev in the 12th century. Missionaries from the Byzantine Empire spread the Christian faith to Kiev at a time when the Eastern Orthodox in the East and Roman Catholics in the West were still in communion with each other.
The head of the church is now Sviatoslav Shevcuk, who bears the title of Grand Archbishop of Kiev and Halych.
Between the years 1880–1914, a large number of Ukrainian Catholics immigrated to America and Western Europe, which continued after World War II. The UGKK has more than 5.5 million adherents, making it the third largest Christian denomination in Ukraine (10–15% of the population), the largest among the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, and the second largest after the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church.
Since September 1, 2023, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church uses the Gregorian calendar, i.e. the same calendar used in the Western Church.
The UGCC is represented in large parts of Germany and comprises four deanships. Since 1984, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland are also included in this exarchy, whose bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh is located in Munich. During the Greek Catholic Synod of Bishops in Rome in 2023, it was decided to upgrade the exarchy in Germany to an eparchy (ecclesiastical equivalent to a diocese). If the decision is carried out, which requires Vatican approval, Bishop Bohdan would have the right to vote in the German Bishops' Conference. The Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches has asked the German Bishops' Conference to give its opinion on this.
UGKK within the Catholic diocese in Sweden, has no premises of its own. There are three priests in Sweden, Father Miroslaw Kostiw, Värnamo (rector), Father Andriy Melnychuk, Nykvarn and Father Ruslan Gedz, Tumba.
Cooperation with the Eastern Catholic Churches was the subject of the recently concluded Synod on Synodality in Rome, and the final document summarizes it as follows:
“132. As guarantor of unity in diversity, the Bishop of Rome ensures that the identity of the Eastern Catholic Churches is safeguarded and that their centuries-old theological, canonical, liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions are respected. These Churches are equipped with their own deliberative synodal structures… As Churches sui iuris that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, they hold fast to their Eastern identity and their autonomy. In the framework of synodality, it is appropriate to revisit history together in order to heal the wounds of the past and to deepen how we live communion.
This means giving consideration to adjusting relationships among Eastern Catholic Churches and the Roman Curia. Relationships among the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches must be characterised by the exchange of gifts, collaboration and mutual enrichment.
133. In order to further these relations, the Synodal Assembly proposes to establish a Council of Patriarchs, Major Archbishops and Metropolitans of the Eastern Catholic Churches presided over by the Pope, which would be an expression of synodality and an instrument for promoting communion. The Council would also serve as a means of sharing liturgical, theological, canonical and spiritual patrimony. The migration of many of the Eastern faithful into regions of the Latin Rite risks compromising their identity. Instruments and norms need to be evolved to strengthen as much as possible collaboration between the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches to address this situation. The Synodal Assembly recommends sincere dialogue and fraternal collaboration between Latin and Eastern Bishops, to ensure better pastoral care for the Eastern Faithful who lack Priests of their own rite and to guarantee, with the appropriate autonomy, the involvement of Eastern Bishops in Episcopal Conferences….”
The Church is one, but at the same time a diversity. The synod's focus is on communion, participation and responsibility of all the baptized for the church's mission. Pope Francis, on the occasion of inauguration of CHARIS on Pentecost 2019, called on the Charismatic Renewal to share the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the whole Church, to promote Christian unity and to serve the poor. CHARIS is a reality within the Holy See under the Dicastery of family, laity and life with the aim of promoting and liaising between the Church and the worldwide Catholic Charismatic Renewal in its manifold manifestations throughout the world.
Map: Nations where CHARIS National Services of Communion have been established (shaded).
The statutes of CHARIS stipulate that there shall be a “National Service of Communion”, CNSC) consisting of all expressions of charismatic renewal in each country. As can be seen from the map, it is mostly in the western part that such has been established, but not within the eastern churches. Although there has been resistance from sections of the clergy in the Latin Church, Charismatic Renewal has become increasingly established as a dimension that is integrated into the whole, while renewal has not yet taken root in the same way in the Eastern Churches. As Catholics from the sister churches in the East open themselves to the experience of Baptism in the Spirit, this is welcome, and we hope that our shared communion in the full life of the Holy Spirit can contribute to unity and the " exchange of gifts, collaboration and mutual enrichment " between the Churches that the Synod's final document speaks of.
/Bengt Malmgren
Sources: Katolskt Magasin (swedish church magazine) June 2024 Wikipedia about UGCC [Wikipedia shorter article in Swedish UGCC] Synod on Synodality, final document Stockholm Catholic Diocese website The risen Christ GALILEA, Polish website The Holy Father's speech at the inauguration of CHARIS Pentecost 2019 CHARIS statutes
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