Fr. Pavlo Vyshkovskyi, OMI, greets Pope Francis at an audience in early October

CHURCH

Ukraine: Missionary priests hoping to open healing centre in Kyiv

As the war in Ukraine grinds on toward its 9th month, Fr. Pavlo Vyshkovskyi, OMI, says people are increasingly traumatized and in need of both psychological and spiritual assistance.

By Devin Watkins & Francesca Merlo

"Many people need a deeper form of help, not only psychological but spiritual as well, because only God can help."

Fr. Pavlo Vyshkovskyi, OMI, offered that analysis of the burden which people bear after nearly 8 months of war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Vatican News' Svitlana Dukhovych, Fr. Vyshkovskyi described the work which his religious order - the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate - is continuing to carry out.

He serves as the parish priest of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Ministering amid trauma

After Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the OMI community in Kyiv wondered whether they should join millions of others and flee Ukraine to seek safety elsewhere.

As the local superior, he urged the younger Oblate priests to leave, since "anything could happen."

"But they said no, we will also remain," he recounted in the interview in Vatican News' studios.

Fr. Vyshkovskyi described their decision to remain with the people they serve as "very touching", because it meant the Oblates would stay together "as a community".

The parish community began to hold Eucharistic Adoration each day, and many people showed up, even approaching the Sacraments for the first time.

In order to respond to the trauma inflicted by the war, Fr. Vyshkovskyi said his community hopes to set up a counseling centre in Kyiv.

“We would like to create a healing centre for children who have lost their parents, for mothers who have lost their sons in the war, for wives who have lost their husbands, and for people who have lost everything.”

Fr. Pavlo Vyshkovskyi visits Vatican News' studios

Offering refugees a home

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate are also in various other Ukrainian cities, besides Kyiv, including Chernihiv and Tyvriv.

In some regions, said Fr. Vyshkovskyi, the ongoing war has taken everything from people.

“Oblates do not leave people, but shoulder the burden with them.”

He added that the Oblate shrine in the central Ukrainian city of Tyvriv remains open to offer over 90 refugees a temporary home.

Fr. Vyshkovskyi said the Tyvriv community also prepares aid packages for military personnel, with the parish priest personally delivering it to Ukrainian troops fighting in the east.