Ukrainian priest sees country slipping backward on democracy, religious freedom

May 28, 2010

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter interviews Father Borys Gudziak, the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, who recently lodged a public protest against what he saw as an effort at intimidation by the country's security service. The American-born Ukrainian cleric sees a disturbing tendency toward the re-assertion of control by the nation's government: a series of steps backward toward the policies of the Soviet era.

Father Gudziak balked when he was asked by police officials to cooperate in efforts to discourage student protests. After the interview, Allen observes that the incident sheds light on a quite different topic. It shows that "Vatican ambivalence over the years about mandating cooperation with the police might have some basis other than sheer denial about the sexual abuse crisis, or the usual Roman desire to keep the church's dirty laundry under wraps."

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• A great Catholic renaissance in Ukraine may be at risk (National Catholic Reporter
• Ukrainian security forces charged with pressure on Catholic university rector (CWN, 5/24)