Patriarch of Peace
On Monday 22nd of September 2014, Dnister Ukrainian Credit Co-operative was blessed with a midday visit of His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav. Patriarch Sviatoslav was accompanied by Most Rev Bishop Peter Stasiuk, Father Ckuj, Father Shygede, Oksana Klymonchuk, Juliana Hassett and head of the Eparchial Council Maru Jarockyj. His Beatitude was greeted with our traditional bread and salt embellished with Australian bush natives by young members of our Co-operative, Tatiana Moravski and Luke Sikora.
After visiting and liaising with the Dnister Staff, Chairman, Mr Walentyn Mykytenko over a light lunch presented a historical picture of the foundation of the co-operative and its support to Ukrainian community life in Australia. Dnister like many credit unions started as a self-reliance entity that provided much needed assistance to Ukrainians who migrated to Australia. Patriarch Sviatoslav reiterated the importance of such movements in helping others and that a self-reliance framework in the current climate of Ukraine would be of benefit to integrate into the Ukrainian banking model. Patriarch Sviatoslav commended Dnister’s support to the community and highlighted the importance of such organisations being ambassadors to a thriving community and Ukrainian culture in the diaspora.
We sincerely thank the Eparchial Council and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia for giving Ukrainian Australians the opportunity to have spent some time with His Beatitude. Dnister as a sponsor is humbled and privileged. We wish His Beatitude all the best for his ongoing tour to other parts of Australia and may he be blessed with the strength to continue his important work for many years to come.
