SW News: A special prayer service was held at St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, on June 11 for those who died in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many Americans of Ukrainian origin had gathered to pray for their family members and friends.

The traditional service was attended by Cardinal Timothy M Dolan of New York and Archbishop Borys Gudziak, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. The evening customary service was a remembrance prayer for the deceased, known as ‘panakhyda’ in the Eastern Rite Church. The prayers and readings from the Bible were done in both Ukrainian and English.

The Archbishop of Philadelphia reminded the faithful during the 45-minute service there would be a possibility of more than 10 to 20 Ukrainians being killed and another 60 injured almost at the same time as the war rages. He added that the death toll couldn’t be accurately counted as many were laid to rest in mass graves.

Cardinal Dolan said that many Americans were surprised by the deep faith of the Ukrainian people with beautiful religious diversity, which includes Jews, Christians and Muslims. Last month, the cardinal had made a short trip to Lviv in the war-torn nation. He was part of a Church delegation from New York that went to express solidarity with the believers there.

According to the United Nations, more than 13 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. Five million Ukrainians are scattered across neighboring countries and eight million people have been displaced within the Eastern European country.