On the Road to Kiev....

Thanks to a reader for letting me know that the Curia of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic church has posted The Tablet Interview with Cardinal Lubomyr Husar -- published in the 11 March edition -- on its website.

I'm guessing they got the permission to do so from London but, strangely enough, no one told me until now. Hmm.

So if you're interested, read up and enjoy.

The cardinal -- major-archbishop of Kiev and head of the 5.5-million member church, which has been in communion with Rome since 1698 -- gave a wonderful interview, if only there were enough space in print to do it justice. I routinely write long (i.e. over the space alloted) for my print commitments as a matter of habit (which is a nice way of saying "I don't know when to shut up") and this one was especially difficult to cut because Husar just said so many good and uplifting things -- in spite of my subpar questions, no less.

However, I must confess that my favorite line of his was edited out in the paper's final draft. This happens, of course, but as soon as I heard it leave his lips, it immediately struck me as a very keen insight.

As the Synod of the Ukrainian church is given a degree of latitude in recommending and appointing bishops for its faithful, we were speaking of episcopal appointments when Husar let this stream of thought loose:

“You know, when the moment arrives, to sit down and look and say, ‘Who? Who could be capable to do it? Who is the right candidate?’ – I think that’s not enough.... I think we sometimes, even in our speech, when we say ‘The Holy Spirit has chosen him,’ I think it’s a light way of talking. I think the Holy Spirit does not excuse us from doing our work, but cooperates, blesses, sanctifies, inspires us to do our work.”

I love that line so much my jaw almost dropped.

Hope everyone enjoys the final work-product. And, if you'd like to see more of that -- and all the goodness of The World's Best Catholic Paper -- it's not a bad idea to susbscribe....

-30-