Cardinal Mykola Bychok asked the bishops of Papua New Guinea and New Guinea to “pray for the peace in Ukraine, for the thousands of people who today continue to live in hope and wait for a miracle”. Source: Ukrainian Eparchy.
Cardinal Bychok led a September 21-25 retreat for the bishops of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Over the five days, Cardinal Bychok delivered a series of retreat conferences focusing on the vocation and ministry of a bishop, his personal relationship with God, his responsibility for the people of God entrusted to his care and the challenges of pastoral ministry in today’s world.
Cardinal Mykola devoted his final retreat conference to the theme of hope.
Drawing on his most recent visit to Ukraine, he spoke in particular about the families of servicemen who are prisoners of war or are considered missing.
“To give you some idea of the scale of this tragedy, today more than 114,000 people in Ukraine are officially listed as missing. Behind this number there are not simply statistics, but thousands of fathers, mothers, wives and children who continue to live in the hope that their loved ones will return.”
Cardinal Bychok had several opportunities while he was in Ukraine this year to meet with the families of servicemen who are missing.
During the retreat conference, he recalled one such meeting in the Odesa region. There, the cardinal was greeted by women, each holding a small bell bearing the name of her missing husband, son or father.
The cardinal brought one of these bells with him to Papua New Guinea. It bears the name of Oleksii Maksymenko, a Ukrainian serviceman from the Odesa region who went missing on December 9, 2023, while carrying out a combat mission in the Donetsk region.
At the conclusion of the retreat, Bishop Mykola entrusted this bell to the bishops and asked them to pray for Ukraine.
“May the sound of this bell today become a symbol of hope for all those who need it – not only for Ukrainians, but also for all your faithful who face difficult circumstances of many different kinds in their daily lives. May the Lord hold each of them in His care and let us pray that hope does not disappoint us.”
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