Women protect the faith in Ukraine
For March 8th, International Women’s Day, ACN is celebrating the wives, sisters, mothers, and religious keeping faith and hope alive in war-torn Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is not only an assault on a struggling independent nation, but it is also a war against the family, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk pointed out in February.
As many men fight on the frontlines, women face domestic challenges alone, including the burden of raising children and caring for relatives, and the immense suffering that comes from not knowing if their sons and husbands will return home from the war.
During a visit to Ukraine, a delegation from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) heard the testimonies of women knee-deep in the war effort, providing much-needed assistance to displaced and traumatized people.
People cry without tears
Tragically, there is no shortage of widows in Ukraine today. Nadiya from Lviv lost her husband in the first year of the war. She remembers how important the support of the military chaplains was to her. “They were always there for me, and they still are. Once a month, we meet at a service for the fallen. People cry without tears; they scream without a voice. And through the support I’ve received, and the prayer, I can now help other widows. Everyone is a hero here: some at the front and the others in the rear, giving out packages and camouflage nets,” she said.
Olha is another of these brave women. Her husband left to fight in 2014 and stayed on until the full-scale invasion in 2022, when he was assigned to Kharkiv. “His final call came at 11:00 P.M., and I said to him, ‘Call me tomorrow, because you’re so tired now.’ He died the next morning, at 6:30 A.M. The building he was in came under fire; he received a head injury and fought for his life for 40 minutes.”
Olha was left with two children. “They went through a very difficult period, and the chaplains helped them to pull through. Two of them, especially, look after us so well that my children now say they have three fathers,” she told the ACN delegation.
Being a soldier’s wife means suffering
Stories like these keep Nataliya, another young mother, up at night. “Being the wife of a soldier on the frontlines means a lot of suffering. The only thing you want is for your husband to survive. But right now, it seems to me that everyone is carrying a burden – all my friends, my family. I don’t want to cause them any additional sorrow.”
She found the accompaniment she needs at the House of Mercy, founded by the Archdiocese of Lviv. “Here, I don’t feel lonely. I can talk about my fears. Coming here gives me stability, for my own good and for my husband. It’s helping me to guard against madness, and I feel stronger as a result. It has enabled me to return to a normal life; I had been wandering around like a lost spirit.”
In Kyiv, psychologist Lyudmila works with military families, especially those whose children are missing or dead. “Women who have lost a child isolate themselves and put their families under strain because they can’t get over their sorrow. I always worry about what I can say to these women, but then I am astonished at how much they change in such a short time, regaining their courage to face life and start to build networks.” The five-day program she runs takes place with the help of Capuchin friars and includes a moment of reflection called Cappuccino with the Capuchins, with moments for reflection, sharing, and prayer.
Prayer is our strongest defense
Lviv is quite far away from the front and received many displaced people when Russia began its full-scale invasion. With funding from ACN, the Albertine Sisters had already been working on the construction of a homeless shelter, which is now more useful than ever before. “We really chose the most difficult time possible for a building project. First the pandemic, then the war,” said Sister Hieronyma. “But this is exactly when the house is most necessary. It’s like a miracle that it is now built.”
Forty homeless women, including those with newborns, will be able to shelter here, she said. Bishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki pointed out with a chuckle that the chapel in the women’s house is bigger than that of the neighbouring men’s monastery, “because the women pray more.”
The power of prayer should not be underestimated. Sister Klara, superior of the Benedictines, also in Lviv, gets frequent requests for prayer from Ukrainian soldiers. “What helps us most is not the rocket defense systems, but prayer. That is our strongest weapon. And when I ask soldiers what they need, they say the same thing: ‘Your prayers.’”
ACN has worked in Ukraine for many years but increased its presence after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. ACN has promised not to abandon the Ukrainian Church in its mission to help the people.
—Felipe d’Avillez
