Ukraine: pro-Russian separatists occupy monastery [CWN]

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Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, Ukraine’s 5th-largest city, have seized the monastery of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, according to a report from the …

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This is a little concerning. Also there is a new pro-Ukraine leader or primate of the Orthodox Church in the Ukraine (see below link). The Church seems to be getting pulled apart in this conflict over Ukraine - Orthodox vs. Orthodox; Orthodox vs. Catholic. The Orthodox Church is unfortunately much more hampered by nationalism or regionalism than the Catholic Church.

ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/World.php?id=10584
 
Sorry, I’m relatively new to CAF - to which hoary old myth do you refer?
 
Don’t get me wrong, I am no expert on the Orthodox Church. So let’s keep this simple. It is perfectly clear to me that there are branches of the Orthodox Church connected to various nations and regions. You have to go some Church, so you choose Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc. (non Greeks, Russians I am talking about here) While I am sure they all technically adhere to one Orthodox Church, the reality is that national Churches WILL become in practice separate units of the Church, subject to the history, culture and politics of a particular nation or region. To a certain extent this happens in Catholicism. But we don’t have US Catholic Churches, African Catholic Churches, Irish Catholic Churches, correct? This is a great advantage. When political conflicts come up in Orthodox countries/regions, the Church is very vulnerable. People attach nationalism to the Church; I do know that this has long been a difficult issue within the Orthodox Church. I see it here.
 
We have a Ukrainian Catholic Church in our city where I once attended Mass, however since I’m not a member of that Church, I don’t believe I can properly comment on it.
 
No one said this and I’m not sure the situation is that simple.
 
I listened to an informational lecture for about an hour at my local Catholic Church thinking the presenters were from the Greek Orthodox Church only to find out at the intermission that they were actually Greek Catholic. (I was not the only person there who was confused.) I also remember an Orthodox friend in school (can’t remember from where in Eastern Europe) who used to joke that her grandmother didn’t know whether they were Orthodox or Catholic. It was not really clear.

I do like to think anyway that undercurrents of nationalism/regionalism are weaker in the Catholic Church. Of course they are present. Look at liberation theology. And back to the main point, I suspect Russian nationalism is a big part of the Orthodox/Orthodox and Orthodox/Catholic conflicts occurring in the Ukraine.

We need to keep the Church above nationalism.
 
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