[Craic] FW: Michael Czerny & Ukraine

Wed Mar 30 17:33:15 PDT 2022

Report by Michael Czerny from Poland, and tomorrow’s forum at Georgetown University

Ukraine: Cardinal Czerny 'saw the war in the eyes of refugees' - Vatican News<https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-03/ukraine-cardinal-czerny-war-hungary-pope-francis-slovakia.html>

“This is why foreign immigrants seem to fare better: there were many in Ukraine, about 75,000 students, from Africa, Asia and Latin America. They too are fleeing together with the Ukrainian population, they too have only a backpack or a suitcase, but they have not "lost their lives", even if some have had to deal with episodes of racism during their journey.

The majority of refugees are women and children, and for them, there is the added threat of trafficking. They come from a history - that of the Soviet world - in which they have learned to distrust anything public or state-run; so they stay away from government-organized buses and this plays into the hands of traffickers, who approach and offer a ride in a private car.

I have seen a Europe capable of putting aside closures and fears, capable of opening doors and borders, instead of building walls and fences. I have seen Europeans capable of behaving again like the Good Samaritan, loading into cars and buses - no longer on a horse or a donkey - strangers found "half-dead" along the roads leading to the border. I pray that once this crisis is over, Europe and Europeans will not turn back, but will remain open and welcoming!
Last week I left for "a journey of prayer, prophecy and denunciation<https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-03/cardinal-czerny-ukraine-war-journey-refugees.html>". So, it was. But on my return, I can say that it was also a journey of witness, love and hope. With this spirit, I am now leaving for Slovakia.”

 David
david at dwalsh.ca

Also, see below -  Georgetown University is hosting a panel speaking event tomorrow midday that Michael will be participating in (I copied the info in below). Unfortunately I’ve got meetings at that time so I won’t be able to listen in live.

Upcoming Online Dialogue

War in Ukraine:<https://georgetown.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5c943ccb0fe7dc4d5286818e5&id=e3374c0db1&e=26188cc807>
Human Agony, Global Crisis, Moral Principles<https://georgetown.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5c943ccb0fe7dc4d5286818e5&id=87faa31369&e=26188cc807>

Thursday, March 31, 2022
12:30 pm EDT

RSVP<https://georgetown.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5c943ccb0fe7dc4d5286818e5&id=59c0b1855b&e=26188cc807>

The Initiative is bringing together key leaders and powerful voices with extraordinary experience and commitment to Ukraine. This dialogue will welcome the bishop who leads Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, a Cardinal from the Vatican’s justice and peace efforts, a leader working every day to help refugees, an ethicist on war and peace, and a reporter from the Vatican to help us understand this appalling crisis, its escalating human costs, and its ongoing moral choices:

  *   Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., was appointed interim prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on January 1, 2022 by Pope Francis. He has visited Ukraine and neighboring countries bearing the brunt of the crisis to convey Pope Francis’ personal concern and solidarity.
  *   Archbishop Borys Gudziak is the metropolitan archbishop of Philadelphia for Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, the head of the Department of External Church Relations for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and the president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.
  *   Laurie Johnston is an associate professor of theology and religious studies at Emmanuel College and the executive vice president of the Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue. Her teaching and scholarship focus on Christian social ethics, particularly questions of war and peacemaking.
  *   Gerard O’Connell is the Vatican correspondent for America and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History (2019). He has been covering the Vatican since 1985 and has reported extensively on Pope Francis’ response to the invasion of Ukraine.
  *   Tetiana Stawnychy is the president of Caritas Ukraine and the former director of the subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
John Carr, co-director of the Initiative and former director of justice and peace efforts of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, will moderate the conversation.

This dialogue will be livestreamed and live-captioned. A link will be sent to all those who have RSVP’d on the morning of the dialogue. All other accommodation requests should be sent to cathsocialthought at georgetown.edu<mailto:cathsocialthought at georgetown.edu> by March 30. A good-faith effort will be made to fulfill requests.

[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/81c150e00bc84c6d1d290375a/images/a51e5696-0776-4d85-85d8-a79e3b6f973e.png]<https://georgetown.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5c943ccb0fe7dc4d5286818e5&id=5afcc4ed0b&e=26188cc807>

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life
Maguire Hall 208, Georgetown University
37th & O Streets, NW︱Washington, DC 20057
202-687-1662<tel:(202)%20687-1662>︱cathsocialthought at georgetown.edu<mailto:cathsocialthought at georgetown.edu>

You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life mailing list.
update your preferences<https://georgetown.us7.list-manage.com/profile?u=5c943ccb0fe7dc4d5286818e5&id=d1c5bd3fa9&e=26188cc807&c=b3955563ee> I unsubscribe from this list<https://georgetown.us7.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=5c943ccb0fe7dc4d5286818e5&id=d1c5bd3fa9&e=26188cc807&c=b3955563ee>

From: David Walsh <david at dwalsh.ca<mailto:david at dwalsh.ca>>
Sent: March 30, 2022 4:19 PM
To: Paul Hogan (pohostage at gmail.com<mailto:pohostage at gmail.com>) <pohostage at gmail.com<mailto:pohostage at gmail.com>>; annalise_czerny at hotmail.com<mailto:annalise_czerny at hotmail.com>; Tom Walsh (thomas.tomas at gmail.com<mailto:thomas.tomas at gmail.com>) <thomas.tomas at gmail.com<mailto:thomas.tomas at gmail.com>>
Subject: Good Report by Michael Czerny

Paul, Annalise, Tom

Ukraine: Cardinal Czerny 'saw the war in the eyes of refugees' - Vatican News<https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-03/ukraine-cardinal-czerny-war-hungary-pope-francis-slovakia.html>

This is why foreign immigrants seem to fare better: there were many in Ukraine, about 75,000 students, from Africa, Asia and Latin America. They too are fleeing together with the Ukrainian population, they too have only a backpack or a suitcase, but they have not "lost their lives", even if some have had to deal with episodes of racism during their journey.

The majority of refugees are women and children, and for them, there is the added threat of trafficking. They come from a history - that of the Soviet world - in which they have learned to distrust anything public or state-run; so they stay away from government-organized buses and this plays into the hands of traffickers, who approach and offer a ride in a private car.

I have seen a Europe capable of putting aside closures and fears, capable of opening doors and borders, instead of building walls and fences. I have seen Europeans capable of behaving again like the Good Samaritan, loading into cars and buses - no longer on a horse or a donkey - strangers found "half-dead" along the roads leading to the border. I pray that once this crisis is over, Europe and Europeans will not turn back, but will remain open and welcoming!
Last week I left for "a journey of prayer, prophecy and denunciation<https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-03/cardinal-czerny-ukraine-war-journey-refugees.html>". So, it was. But on my return, I can say that it was also a journey of witness, love and hope. With this spirit, I am now leaving for Slovakia.

David

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/craic-integralshift.ca/attachments/20220331/f81c21ec/attachment-0001.html>