February 25, 2022

Father Fedoryshyn: ‘Don’t underestimate the will of the Ukrainian people’

REGIONAL
By Rebecca Drake

A girl walks past an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in Ukraine. (CNS photo/Alexander Ermochenko, Reuters)

SPRINGFIELD – A Springfield diocesan priest of Ukrainian heritage, Father Christopher Fedoryshyn has been closely following the military invasion of Ukraine on social media and news reports and has this to say about the residents of his ancestors’ country: “Don’t underestimate the will of Ukrainian people to fight and defend their country.”

“It’s an awful situation, almost unbelievable,” Father Fedoryshyn said in an interview with iObserve. “This attack was completely unprovoked.”

The pastor of St. Mark Parish in Pittsfield, Father Fedoryshyn is the only child of Peter and Marie Fedoryshyn of Pittsfield. His father, who passed away in 2008, was born in the U.S. shortly after Father Fedoryshyn’s grandparents emigrated from Western Ukraine.

The Fedoryshyn family were members of the former Notre Dame Parish, Pittsfield. Marie Fedoryshyn, who is of French descent, still lives in Pittsfield.

Interviewed at the time of his ordination in 2014, Father Fedoryshyn shared memories of his father, who was a mathematics teacher for 30 years.

“Growing up, whether it was going for hikes with him, he taught me all kinds of things, like carpentry and how to put a roof on a house,” he said in the 2014 interview with Catholic Communications. “He was a teacher and he’d have summers off. So, he taught me more or less everything he knew. And I thank God for that.”

In an undated family photo, Father Christopher Fedoryshyn is pictured with his father, Peter Fedoryshyn, the son of Ukrainian immigrants. (iObserve photo/courtesy of Father Christopher Fedoryshyn)

Father Fedoryshyn, 37, still has relatives in Western Ukraine, although he said he has not been in touch with them in recent years. Asked how his father might have reacted to the current situation there, he said, “He’d be shocked in some ways, but not surprised in others. But he would be in solidarity with our relatives.”

Father Fedoryshyn said local Catholics can express their solidarity with the Ukrainian people through prayer.

“Prayer is needed,” he said. “Pray in solidarity, pray for peace, pray for a nonviolent resolution to the conflict.”

“The odds are against Ukraine,” he said, noting that the conflict could last for years and would have a “ripple effect” throughout Europe and beyond. But he again praised the will and determination of the Ukrainian people.

“They are putting up a significant fight. They are slowing things down,” he said.

Asked what his message to the people of Ukraine would be if he spoke to them directly, he said, “Stay strong. There are so many in solidarity with you and you are in our thoughts and prayers. Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)”