{"id":6638,"date":"2026-04-15T14:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/?p=6638"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:02:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:02:33","slug":"catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic\u00a0Leaders: Halt Russia\u2019s\u00a0Religious\u00a0Persecution\u00a0in\u00a0Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Gina Christian, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osvnews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">OSV News<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(OSV News) \u2014 Several prominent American Catholics have launched a petition calling for the end of Russia\u2019s religious persecution in occupied areas of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initiative was unveiled as part of a two-day scholarly conference in Washington examining Russia\u2019s suppression of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ugcc.ua\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC)<\/a> immediately after World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHistory and the present speak with one voice: the freedom of one is the freedom of all,\u201d said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of Philadelphia; Father Mark Morozowich, director of the Center for Ukrainian Church Studies at The Catholic University of America; and Catholic intellectual George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three had spearheaded a March 27-28 gathering organized by the Center for Ukrainian Church Studies, Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, and the St. Gabriel Institute, which provides education and formation for Church diplomats and communications professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ucu.edu.ua\/en\/news\/u-vashyngtoni-vidbulasya-konferentsiya-do-80-richchya-lvivskogo-psevdosoboru\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The conference<\/a>, titled \u201cThe 1946 Pseudo-Sobor: 80 Years Later \u2014 The Persecution Continues,\u201d explored the Soviet crackdown that saw the UGCC\u2019s visible structures liquidated and its clergy expelled, imprisoned and killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newly declassified documents have enabled scholars and Ukrainian intelligence officials to further map the extent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin\u2019s plan to destroy the UGCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of that plan, Soviet authorities arrested five UGCC bishops, including Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, almost a year ahead of the March 8-10, 1946, Pseudo-Sobor, or \u201cfalse synod,\u201d which sought to absorb the UGCC into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryknollmagazine.org\/2023\/07\/patriarch-kirill-churches-must-serve-peace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Russian Orthodox Church<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ukrainian Church endures amid war and faith<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a video message to participants at the Washington conference, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the father and head of the UGCC \u2014 who was ordained in an underground seminary in Soviet Ukraine \u2014 said that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryknollmagazine.org\/2026\/02\/ukrainians-resist-trust-pray-four-years-after-russian-invasion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Russia\u2019s current war<\/a> shows \u201cnothing has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery time Russia occupies a part of Ukraine\u2019s territory, our Church is banned and destroyed. Our priests, our nuns, and our monasteries are being closed. Our priests are being imprisoned, tortured, or deported,\u201d he said. \u201cTherefore, this project to restore the Soviet Union, which the Russian president is attempting to implement, means a return to the catacombs for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The archbishop added, \u201cThe very fact that I am speaking to you today from Kyiv is a strong sign and proof that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryknollmagazine.org\/2023\/06\/dreaming-of-peace-in-fastiv-kyiv-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they did not succeed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The petition advanced by the conference is directed to \u201cAmerican Catholics, Christians, and all people of good will\u201d as Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine \u2014 which began in 2014, and which accelerated with a 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryknollmagazine.org\/2025\/08\/pope-calls-for-day-of-fasting-and-prayer-for-peace-in-ukraine-holy-land\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">full-scale invasion<\/a> \u2014 has seen close to 740 houses of worship damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least 67 clergy members from various denominations have been killed, with two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests \u2014 Father Bohdan Geleta and Father Ivan Levitsky \u2014 imprisoned and tortured for 18 months prior to their Vatican-mediated release in June 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December 2022, Russian officials in occupied areas of Ukraine\u2019s Zaporizhzhia region formally banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, along with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kofc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Knights of Columbus<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caritas.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Caritas<\/a>, the official humanitarian network of the Universal Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Multiple human rights reports from the <a href=\"https:\/\/newlinesinstitute.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Lines Institute<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights<\/a> have classified Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine as a genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Featured image: A drone view shows the ruins of a church and buildings in the village of Marinka (Maryinka) in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region of Ukraine May 15, 2025. Several prominent American Catholics have launched a petition calling for the end of Russia\u2019s religious persecution in occupied areas of Ukraine. (OSV News photo\/Alexander Ermochenko, Reuters)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After an academic conference, prominent U.S. Catholics launch a petition demanding an end to persecution in occupied Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":6639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_eb_data_table":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1053],"tags":[2688,2689,2687,2690,1061,161,1651,2409,2408,2009],"class_list":["post-6638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-archbishop-borys-a-gudziak","tag-caritas-ukraine","tag-father-mark-morozowich","tag-george-weigel","tag-gina-christian","tag-knights-of-columbus","tag-religious-persecution","tag-russias-full-scale-invasion-of-ukraine","tag-russian-orthodox-church","tag-ukrainian-greek-catholic-church"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Catholic\u00a0Leaders: Halt Russia\u2019s\u00a0Religious\u00a0Persecution\u00a0in\u00a0Ukraine - Maryknoll Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholic\u00a0Leaders: Halt Russia\u2019s\u00a0Religious\u00a0Persecution\u00a0in\u00a0Ukraine - Maryknoll Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After an academic conference, prominent U.S. Catholics launch a petition demanding an end to persecution in occupied Ukraine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maryknoll Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T14:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T14:02:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/20260415T0600-UKRAINE-RELIGIOUS-PERSECUTION-PETITION-1817696.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OSV News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OSV News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"OSV News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/78b508897748b14f03af3c709940d12b\"},\"headline\":\"Catholic\u00a0Leaders: Halt Russia\u2019s\u00a0Religious\u00a0Persecution\u00a0in\u00a0Ukraine\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T14:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T14:02:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine\/\"},\"wordCount\":585,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/catholic-leaders-halt-russias-religious-persecution-in-ukraine\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/20260415T0600-UKRAINE-RELIGIOUS-PERSECUTION-PETITION-1817696.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Archbishop Borys A. 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