(OSV News) — Family closeness and love for the elderly are the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s gifts to Canadian society, Metropolitan Archbishop Michael Kwiatkowski told OSV News a few days after his Nov. 8 solemn enthronement, or installation, as the fourth archbishop and metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s Archeparchy of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The enthronement, which took place at Winnipeg’s Metropolitan Cathedral of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha in Winnipeg, was presided over by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the patriarchal head of the UGCC, with Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, the apostolic nuncio to Canada, Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia and more than 1,000 on hand.
A native of Canada’s Manitoba province, the archbishop — who previously served as the bishop of the Eparchy of New Westminster, British Columbia — shared the UGCC’s mission to evangelize all of Canadian society, and to be pastorally close to families, youth, and immigrants facing their unique challenges.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
— OSV News: Ukrainians and Ukrainian Catholics in Canada span several generations, from the late 19th century to present-day immigrants fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine. How would you describe the makeup and status of your flock at the present moment?
— Archbishop Kwiatkowski: We could easily count six waves of immigration at different times, from the first at the end of the (19th) century, and then before and after the First World War, and those displaced by the war (with Russia). And each group brings challenges and great opportunities.
During my time as bishop of New Westminster, I saw a lot of our parishes booming because of those coming from Ukraine and getting involved with the Church.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Canada is in a unique situation, because a lot of our focus is on Ukraine right now. And naturally so, because whether you were born in Ukraine or have relatives there, obviously your heart goes out when reports are coming in every day of atrocities, bombings, killings. You want to do whatever you can to help.
The churches are very much involved with that, sometimes collaborating with government organizations, sometimes collaborating with Ukrainian civil organizations. It’s also just the churches themselves, doing a lot of collections of goods and humanitarian aid, and getting it over there to help the people.
The number of people coming from Ukraine has quieted down. Right after 2022 (when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, continuing attacks initiated in 2014), there were a lot of people arriving, and the churches were doing their best to accommodate them. Now, it’s down to a trickle. A number have left, because they came here and found it was too strange and difficult a life for them.
Right now, we as a Church are in a good place, but we’re doing the best we can not to let any opportunities slip by. There’s a lot of focus on helping newcomers and accommodating the new boom in parish life, and at the same time, a lot of energy and resources are going toward Ukraine as well.
— OSV News: The Ukrainian Catholic bishops have placed great emphasis in the past few years on intentionally strengthening the family. What does that look like among Ukrainian Catholics in Canada?
— Archbishop Kwiatkowski: This effort was decided upon by the UGCC Synod of Bishops, with programs throughout the world dedicated to the family. This year it’s morphing into an emphasis on vocations to the priestly ministry and religious life, but regarding the family focus, it’s not as if that happened for a year and now we move on. It’s going to keep on growing and expanding.
The family is really in need of our attention, because families coming from Ukraine are strangers in a strange, new land. Very often, the family came over, then the husband went back to Ukraine, or the husband never came in the first place, staying there to try to do his duty to save Ukraine. And sadly, sometimes those husbands are not coming back anymore (due to battlefield deaths), and now the family has to find some kind of new way forward.
The focus last year, which will continue, is really on a bright, Christian family, with truly Catholic family values.
And they’re not impossible goals. They are attainable, and we want to work towards that and help families. We want to be sure that families always feel welcome in their parish. Aside from different parish organizations (to which family members can belong), we want the family as a whole to know that there’s a place for them in the Church, which has a lot to offer them and which wants to work with families for their good and for the good of society.
— OSV News: Speaking of families, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk honored your mother at your enthronement.
— Archbishop Kwiatkowski: That was a very nice touch; that was very moving. He gets kudos from me for that one.
— OSV News: Here in the U.S., many data points have shown that youth have experienced an increase in mental health struggles over the past several years. What are your pastoral priorities for youth in Canada?
— Archbishop Kwiatkowski: Bishop Bryan Bayda (of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada) chairs the UGCC’s Patriarchal Commission for Youth, and they’re doing a lot of work right now.
Much of it comes down to just reaching out and spending time with youth, not simply saying, “Well, you’re part of a big program.” No, we need actual personal time with youth, and we need everyone to reach out and spend time listening to youth, know what the Lord and the Church want, and finding a way of realizing that in society.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav has said to us, “Listen, you have to reach out to the youth, because if you’re not going to reach out to them, believe me, there are other people, other things, AI reaching out to them. And if they don’t know that you’re interested in them, they’re going to say, ‘If you’re not interested in me, I have to go to the people and the movements who are.'” And that would be our loss.
We really have let young people, and teenagers in particular, know, “Hey, there’s a place for you here.”
In Canada we have estimates showing youth are staring at a device screen more than seven hours a day (for personal use). That’s insane. But that’s the reality. And we have to say, “What are we going to do about that?” That’s a challenge for us.
— OSV News: In terms of broader evangelization, how do you reach those who might feel intimidated by attending a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Divine Liturgy, due to unfamiliarity with the rite and the language?
— Archbishop Kwiatkowski: I think it’s certainly about opening your doors and reaching out, letting people know about us and making our faith, our traditions, and the Gospel message and Church teachings more accessible.
Sometimes people hear “Ukrainian Catholic” and right away they have this mental block that it’s something for Ukrainians only. Well, is the Roman Catholic Church just for Romans? No. It has its roots in Rome, but it’s for everybody.
And it’s the same thing with us. We have a faith tradition that, yes, is a thousand years old and stems from Ukraine, but right now, we have a place in the world, and we have a voice as well.
It’s also up to us (as Ukrainian Catholics). We have to reach out and show people that the UGCC has a special character, but it’s not just for certain people.
Once I had an open liturgy for everybody, and one gentleman came to me and said, “Listen, it was very beautiful, but I didn’t understand a word.”
And it hit me between the eyes, because the whole thing was in English. I think he was just kind of mesmerized with everything and presumed that it was going on in Ukrainian.
So sometimes, we have to help people see.
— OSV News: How do you see the UGCC’s role in Canadian society as a whole?
— Archbishop Kwiatkowski: Ukrainian families still have a sense of intergenerational closeness with grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, relatives. Sometimes people have come to me and said, “My brother (or sister) is getting married,” and they meant their fourth cousin twice removed. They are that close.
I think that’s one of the things that we can contribute to Canadian society, this closeness of family.
And also love and respect for the elderly, especially as MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying, Canada’s state-sanctioned assisted suicide and euthanasia program) is just horrific. It’s being sold and a lot of people are buying into it, which is heartbreaking.
Amid so many things coming up in Western society, I think the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church can be a light.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
