Speaking at a worldwide meeting of the bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia warned of a “lack of missionary spirit among priests.”
“We serve our own people well, close to home,” Archbishop Gudziak said. “But Christ’s call is, ‘Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ Maybe we haven’t fully heard that yet. This is a great challenge: understanding Christianity as more than a cultural identity.”
The prelate also described the “shortage of candidates for the episcopacy” as “one of the major problems facing the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church globally.”
“In 1900 there were two bishops; today there are 56,” he said. “The overall number of faithful is roughly comparable. If it was three million then, today it is four and a half million.”