The Dominican sponsored St. Martin de Porres Center in Fativ has been caring for socially disadvantaged children: orphans, street children, sick children and children from disadvantaged families. 

Since April 2014, when following Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity Russia annexed Crimea and launched aggression in the East of Ukraine, the fighting in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (collectively called the “Donbas”) between the Ukrainian Army and Russian-backed militia and regular troops has been ongoing.

Since the start of hostilities in Eastern Ukraine, the Center has opened its doors to children whose childhood has been poisoned by war.  Anya (8): “When I was about 5 years old, for 2 years we constantly had to go down and sit in the basement for long periods”.  Sergey (15):“Many left there (from the combat zone) for 1-2 months. Some came back, some didn’t. We didn’t have the opportunity to leave, we have a house there. It’s difficult to leave your home. ” Svitlana (chaperone who came with the children): Where they live everything is in ruins…There are families so poor that they do not even have electricity. Here they get so infected with this positive energy and they tell their parents about it.” The Martin de Porres Centre has adopted more than 220 children from the combat zone, and offered them psychological and spiritual support and the opportunity to recover in a safe environment.

Click the following link for a video of their work: St Martin de Porres youth and families share their stories.

Let us Pray:

As we prepare for Christ’s birth in a manger, may we see the sign to all of us of the plight of orphaned and affected children victims of Russian oppression and war in Ukraine.  May we have the compassion to raise our voices of solidarity throughout the Dominican Family to open our eyes to those who live as strangers unjustly forced from their land in Crimea and Donbas Region of Ukraine.  

As we remember the Dominican Month for Peace in Ukraine in Advent…

Let us remember:

Dominicans have a long history of presence in the country. The history of Dominicans in Ukraine is almost as old as the Order. Since the early thirteenth century, when the first Dominicans arrived in Kyiv, the history of our Order has been mingled with the history of Kievan Rus. The Dominican Province of Rus, an administrative unit within our Order that included much of today’s Russia and Ukraine, existed until the end of the Second World War. At that time, many Dominicans were expelled from the Soviet Union. Others were executed. Sometimes entire communities were killed at once.

After being suppressed in the Communist era, the Order was re-established in Ukraine in the 1990s. Now the Dominican Family in Ukraine comprises 25 friars in 7 communities, 18 sisters from four congregations in five communities, 82 laity in 7 cities, and 6 groups of Dominican Youth Movement. 

The war with Russia and separatists still rages in the eastern Donbas region since April 2014. People throughout the country feel the impacts of the war.

Dominicans are very involved in several processes and projects that promote peace and accompaniment of victims of the conflict. In 2018 – 2019, an international conference took place in France and Ukraine consisting of 4 seminars focused on “What peace plan is possible between Russia and Ukraine?”.

Scientists, religious and public figures from Ukraine, Russia, and the European Union participated in it at various stages. The main purpose of the conference was to explore ways of overcoming tensions between Ukraine and Russia and to understand how interstate and intercultural ties between Ukraine and Russia could be further developed.

Representatives of the Dominicans participated in the conference as part of the Ukrainian delegation and the Dominican Institute of Religious Sciences of St. Thomas Aquinas in Kyiv hosted one of the seminars of the conference.

Please click here for more info on Dominicans of Ukraine, friars and the history of Dominican presence.

Let us pray:

Today we hear from the Prophet Isaiah, “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’ (Mk 1:3).   As we pray in our second Sunday of Advent for the people of Ukraine around the world, may we pray for the way of transformation and the work of the Dominicans who seek respect and dignity in Ukraine and its occupied region.

Please click here for daily prayer intentions during the Month of Peace.