Statement of Philadelphia Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop-Metropolitan Borys Gudziak on the Massacres in Texas and Ohio

August 06, 2019

The shock of the wanton violence and massacres calls us to conversion. The gun culture, violence on screens, and personal morality, in general, in our country— all need conversion. The complex factors which stand behind the hate, racism, rejection of immigrants, the compulsions and addictions, the mental illness, and escalating aggression do not have one common social denominator—other than a spiritual and moral one—the rejection of God, a lack of love for neighbor.

The free-for-all in our popular culture, the use of guns as toys or instruments of revenge, the lack of respect for the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death is all in a continuum. So is the vulgar political discourse.

I am afraid it will get worse before it gets better.

Unless we have a change of heart.

Unless we address the root causes.

Unfortunately, many political and social leaders are taking us in the wrong direction.

Pray, be humble, and do the right thing always and everywhere. That is the best we can do, that is the example of our Lord in the face of injustice and violence.

Reread the Passion accounts in the Gospels.

Their truth has never been more relevant…

+Borys Gudziak

Archbishop of Philadelphia for Ukrainians

Metropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States