I came on behalf of the Catholic people of the United States to give love and encouragement to the Ukrainian refugees and to thank the people of Poland for the magnificent warm embrace that they have given them – said in Warsaw Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Metropolitan Archbishop of New York, who visited Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia in late April and early May.
Cardinal Dolan stressed that Poles not only help refugees, but they do it in a heartfelt and personal way. „They look at them not as strangers. They look to them as family, as neighbors, as members of the household of faith. And that’s been so moving to me,” acknowledged the Archbishop of New York.
The Cardinal also encouraged people to pray for Ukrainians. He recalled that „prayer is not an escape from helping others. It’s an incentive for us to cooperate with God in answering the prayers for peace and for healing and for help”.„We can pray, we can advocate and we can assist. All three are important,” Cardinal Dolan noted.
Cardinal Dolan pointed out the need to support Poles in their assistance to Ukrainians. „We need to help them because they’re working hard and we have to be part of this. This needs to be a worldwide effort and it needs to be a very Catholic effort,” the Cardinal wants to address people in his country with such words.
Sharing insights from his visit to Ukraine, the hierarch noted that he „ also sees in the people not a pessimism or not a depression. Yes, they’re worried. Yes, they have a heavy cross to carry”. „But I also detected a resilience, a sense of hope,” he added.
The Cardinal stressed that the U.S. stands by Poland and Ukraine: „I am only one member of the choir because all the choir of America is singing God save Ukraine. God bless Poland for helping them,” he concluded.
Cardinal Dolan is a chair of Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), which has already donated nearly $2 million in emergency aid to support humanitarian efforts among refugees and internally displaced Ukrainians.
