Bishop Mykola Cardinal Bychok visited the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, USA

On September 13, Bishop Mykola Cardinal Bychok visited the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, USA (TSSA), based in Philadelphia. During his visit, Cardinal Mykola met with the president of the Society, Dr Iryna Ivankovych, visited the museum room of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, which operates at the Society, and prayed in the chapel.

During his conversation with the head of the TSSA, Bishop Mykola highly praised the work of the American “St. Sophia” in preserving and spreading the legacy of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj both in the United States and in Ukraine, where the Association takes care of the museum and memorial complex “Ridna Hata” in the small homeland of Blessed Josyf in the village of Zazdrist in the Ternopil region. His Eminence also emphasised the importance of the Association’s publishing activities, its work with young people, its support for Ukraine in the context of war, and its charitable activities for the benefit of the Church in the spirit of the legacy of the fourth cardinal of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Recalling his first visit to the Association on the eve of his episcopal consecration in 2020, Bishop Mykola noted, “The history of the Ukrainian people in general and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in particular has been marked by centuries of persecution, oppression, destruction, and suffering. There is no generation of Ukrainians that has not suffered from the oppression or encroachments of imperial neighbours, who even today mercilessly destroy the Ukrainian soul. But in every era of suffering, the Lord sent us leaders whose strength of spirit inspired millions. In a century of wars, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church gave Ukraine two luminaries: Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyj and Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. The cardinal of the Silent Church endured 18 years of imprisonment and forced exile. We thank you for all the initiatives that present us with the image of a pastor, scholar, intellectual, educator, ethnarch, leader, Christian, and uncompromising fighter for the rights of the Church and the people. At a time when the priceless gift of freedom, with which God has blessed mankind, is once again under threat, figures such as Cardinal Josyf Slipyj are a shining example for us to follow. We believe that visitors to the Society will be able to gain a deeper understanding of the eternal, unchanging axioms by which the Confessor of the Faith lived. May the Lord bless the Society for many more years of service.”

Dr Iryna Ivankovych expressed her gratitude to His Eminence for his support of the Association’s activities and for his cooperation in the publication of the monograph Patriarch Josyf Slipyj: Facets and Landmarks, to which Bishop Mykola wrote the afterword. Presentations of this book will soon take place at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow as part of the International Scientific Conference “Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. The Living Legacy of the Confessor of the Faith”, as well as in several cities in Scotland.