“Today, we join the millions of men, women and children worldwide mourning the death of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, friend, teacher, pastor, father of his people,” said CNEWA’s president Msgr. John E. Kozar of the major archbishop emeritus of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who died 31 May near the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
“As the universal church today commits his body to the ground and his soul to Almighty God, we remember a man who served the people of God with joy and humor, with passion and love, with kindness and gentleness. We remember a wise man who, despite having lost his eye sight, could discern with humility and grace the ways of the Lord.”
CNEWA’s national director in Canada, Carl Hétu, remembered a man who, “with firm conviction, peace and faith” advocated for the construction in Kiev of a cathedral dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ to mark the resurrection of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine. Despite the initial skepticism that greeted the cardinal, “he knew that the building of the cathedral would rally Ukrainians and all people of good will” to put to rest the Soviet oppression of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
“The cardinal’s impassioned plea, added, Mr. Hétu, rallied financial and moral support worldwide.”
In a letter to the cardinal’s successor as archbishop of Kiev-Halych, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Msgr. Kozar extended his condolences and prayers “for the repose of the soul of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, and for those he had lovingly shepherded.
“Never did the cardinal cease in his faith of the Lord’s abiding love, despite great personal and public pain, nor in his firm commitment to witness the Gospel on behalf of the one church. This constancy of faith and love is what perhaps has resounded most clearly, as millions today mourn his death and passing into eternal life.
“This constancy is His Beatitude’s legacy, and it is a legacy he has entrusted to you as his successor as major archbishop of Kiev-Halych, in your service to Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Ukraine and beyond, and to the church universal.”
May his memory be eternal.