LINCOLN (SNR) – More than 250 people gathered at St. Joseph Church in Lincoln March 25 as Bishop James Conley led the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Bishops across the world performed the same prayers March 25 at the invitation of the Holy Father Pope Francis, who led the act of consecration from St. Peter’s Basilica.
The consecration took place during the Legion of Mary “Acies” Mass, the organization’s annual rite of consecration to Our Lady. The Legion of Mary is a Catholic lay organization whose members practice the spiritual works of mercy and pray for the intentions of Mary.
See photo slideshow of the event.
“Our best weapon is prayer,” Bishop Conley said in his homily. “Our best weapons are prayer and the power of the Blessed Virgin Mary, interceding for us to her son to bring about peace and to convert hearts.”
At the end of the Mass, Archimandrite Ivan Krotec, a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, spoke about the war in Ukraine and invited prayers for peace.
“It is a great privilege and honor to pray with you tonight,” he said. “For all us Catholics, the Eucharistic prayer – what we call the Divine Liturgy – is the most important and central part of our prayer.”
He explained that the head of his Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, told his priests to “find a quiet and safe place to offer Divine Liturgy’ because that’s what people mostly want.”
Father Krotec, now retired, is Slovenian by birth but became part of the Eastern rite while studying in Rome in the 1960s and has “been serving the Ukrainian people for 52 years.”
Krotec was ordained by Cardinal Josip Slipyi, who spent 18 years in Soviet prison camps in Siberia and Mordovia.
“By the works of Pope John XXIII and President John F. Kennedy, they let him out,” he explained. “But he couldn’t stay in Ukraine. He spent 20 years in Rome and gathered Ukrainians from all over the world into one church.”
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is now the biggest of the sui iuris Catholic Churches, the eastern ritual Churches in full communion with Rome.
Father Krotec was ordained by Slipyi in 1970 and came to the United States in 1971. He said he served the Ukrainian Eparchy his entire priesthood – eight years in Omaha and Lincoln, as well as St. Joseph, Missouri, and more than 20 years as pastor of the largest Ukrainian Church in Chicago. During his time in Nebraska, he was present at the episcopal consecration of Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz in 1992.
He said he was very grateful for Bishop Conley’s invitation “to share with you what I feel in my heart.”
Krotec explained that he told his flock many times, “although I am not Ukrainian by birth, what is important to you is important to me and what is dear to you, I keep dear to my heart also.”
He traveled to Ukraine seven times and still knows many people there.
“Now we follow what is going on,” he said, and “we pray for them because the soldiers especially from the front lines, the first thing they are asking is prayer and they say they can feel it…. And this is what we ask for first of all, prayer, from all of you,” he said.
He also asked those present to let other people know “what is mostly needed is prayer.”
He also spoke about the need for medical supplies and food and encouraged Catholics to give to organizations that support the people of Ukraine.
“I am sure I don’t have to underline what war is,” he said. “Many of you might be coming from other countries. We that are older especially the Second World War.”
He said there are still people remember the “man-made” Great Famine of 1932 and 1933 that took 7-10 million people.
“And so is this man-made war killing people,” Father Krotec said, “hundreds of them, killing children, especially children, they bombarded schools and hospitals and all kinds of things.”
He spoke about regions where fighting was intense, like Mariupol, but stressed that the Ukrainians want to be free and will continue to fight.
“By the grace of God we believe Ukraine will be free and there will be peace again,” he said. “If we listen to the prayers of the liturgy, the peace is the main thing we are asking for in the whole world.”
He grasped his hands in supplication, saying, “so please pray as much as you can, ask others to do it, and give whatever you can to help them to finish this war and bring back peace.”
