LGBT support in the main university of Uniates

The Uniate Church in Ukraine is subject to a gender scandal. The reason is too "European" manners in the main school of Greek Catholics – the Ukrainian Catholic University.

The story began in the spring of 2015, when one of the students of this university Christina Kutniv publicly protested against the fact that a man who boasts of his homosexual orientation teaches at the Catholic school.

On her Facebook page, she wrote: "I wonder how such a person can teach something at the UCU." This teacher, Vladimir Beglov by name, even managed to give an interview to "Radio Liberty" about his sexual preferences. Interestingly, on the day following Christine Kutniv’s post, the interview, published on the website of "Radio Liberty" in 2012, was miraculously transformed and Beglov’s name disappeared from it. But the screenshots as manuscripts – do not burn!
   
Another UCU teacher, now popular Ukrainian deputy Sergey Leshchenko, took part in the Kiev gay parade in 2015. His participation Leshchenko commented in the following way: "This photo is a sign of changes in Ukraine, and the LGBT community for the first time could openly hold the event in defense of their rights. Democratic values are coming out of hiding."

Two more professors of the Catholic University, notorious Mustafa Nayem and Vakhtang Kipiani, fully supported his colleague. The latter expressed the view that holding gay parades is a manifestation of the fundamental human rights.

But the real scandal began to flare up once the US professor Alexander Sich started to work at the UCU. He has published a number of articles in the edition "Katolitsky Oglyadach (Catholic Observer)", in which he pointed out that in the University impermissible as for the Christian institution views on sexual relations are progressing both among teachers and a large part of the students.

The latter, in particular, spend their free time at the hostel watching pornography, which is confirmed in written form by the rector of UCU Boris Gudziak, according to Alexander Sich But the students are a consequence.

When the issue of homosexual sympathies among UCU attendees began to go beyond the university framework, many were struck by the words of the vice-rector of the UCU Myroslav Marynovych, who said: "We have to understand that at this stage we do not achieve clarity because unclear is the position of the Church itself on the question of sexual ethics."

Not surprisingly, with such a leadership position, many of the students support the ideology of the LGBT community in general, and gay pride parades in particular.

Several priests of the UGCC, in particular Orest-Dmytro Vilchynsky and Yuri Boyko, rightly criticized the policy of the university authorities.

It turned out that homophilic liberal views are no accident at this University. Back in 2012 the Department of the Faculty of Humanities of the UCU launched a training course on gender – the so-called "gender studies lectures." The aim of the course is "the need of training programs that encourage young Ukrainians to critically assess gender norms and stereotypes common in Ukraine."

What is meant by the so-called "critical assessment of gender stereotypes"? It means that the purpose of gender studies is the destruction of the traditional family and moral standards and the promotion of perversion as the norm.

You may ask how a Catholic institution can promote perversions. Just money is the simple answer.

This course is funded by the Union of Ukrainian Women of America, whose head Mariana Zayats presented the rector of the UCU Gudziak a check for $ 25,000. Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who was present at this act, called the initiative "remarkable" and said that "this is probably the first university in Ukraine which starts such an innovative program."

In general, according to the publication in the "New time", Ukraine funds only 9% of the UCU budget. Its main sponsors are the European funds (35% of the annual amount of income) and the USA – religious organizations, Ukrainian diaspora structures, foundations and individual philanthropists (34%). And the views of the majority of sponsors have nothing to do with traditional Christian values.

The same Alexander Sich writes: "Archbishop Boris Gudziak, president of the UCU, more than six years ago (and many times after that), was warned that the Director of Development of the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation UCEF, based in the United States and Canada, said to my wife and me that "the Church is wrong" and "homosexual" marriage "is natural and should be permissible."

The "Renaissance" Fund, which is one of the main sponsors of the UCU, in 2013 "nominated" "discriminator of the year" former MP V. Kolesnichenko who dared to introduce a bill to the Verkhovna Rada "On the prohibition of propaganda of same-sex sexual relations to children." Uniate priest Orest- Dmytro Vilchynsky in his publication "UCU, gay scandal and liberal fascism" writes: "The cooperation between the UCU and the "Renaissance" Fund is developing, the master's program on history continues to "offer great opportunities for the application of new areas of research – such as gender studio", teachers who publicly express beliefs that are incompatible with the Catholic status of the UCU, keep teaching at the UCU.

The university authorities are trying hard to make critics (mostly priests of the UGCC) "keep their mouth shut", demanding that they "do not rock the boat." Some LGBT activists even threatened them with physical violence!
   
Vice-rector of the UCU M. Marynoviych called the criticism an attempt of raider attack and addressed Uniate clergy phrases that sounds more like a threat, an ultimatum and blackmail – all in one, "I wouldn’t remind the Archbishops of the sin of homosexuality or pedophilia, which occurs as frequently in the Church as in secular society. If the Church does not stop the practice of anti-ideological campaign, it will receive in response the same public opposition, which the Church in the West and even in Catholic Poland has already got."

These confrontations resulted in a conflict situation among the Uniates, which can be called the split between supporters of the traditional Christian values of their Church, and the liberals in the UCU leadership, backed by Western money and new sponsors, driven by essentially anti-Christian ideas of LGBT and gender. This conflict can only be resolved by the head of the Greek Catholic Church. And he did it. On September 11 at the consecration of a new church of the University, Sviatoslav Shevchuk expressed his full support for the leadership of the UCU. According to the speaker of the UGCC Igor Yatsiv Shevchuk’s statement on this issue is an informal response to an ultimatum by M.Marynovych but it can be regarded as the official position of the UGCC.

Thus, the Uniate leadership has made it clear in which direction this Church will move in the near future. It's no secret that not only the Ukrainian Catholic University, but also the entire Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is heavily donated by Western funds. It seems that the management of the Uniate Church, despite all the pathos statements of its leadership of the independence and patriotism of the UGCC, will be carried out from outside of Ukraine, as they say now – by foreign religious centers. After all, he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Many of the problems of mankind in all ages have always boiled down to a simple choice: wealth or conscience, fraud or a pure heart. In the case of Uniate leaders this option sounds a bit different: money or loyalty to Christ.
Some will say that this is the problem of Uniates. And they will be wrong. In the context of the recently announced by Sviatoslav Shevchuk expansion of the UGCC to the East, now this is the problem of all Ukrainians.