Myroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, discussed the moral challenges facing Ukraine and the country’s spiritual future at the Ukrainian Institute London on April 25, 2013.
AUTHOR
Ukrainian Institute London
Myroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, founder of Amnesty International Ukraine and a founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, held a talk at the Ukrainian Institute London on April 25th entitled Value imperatives of development: the Ukrainian experience.
During the talk Marynovych focused on the spiritual crisis permeating Ukraine, with the current state system and politics merely simulating democratic patterns while in effect being governed by the rule of force, command of money and disregard for human dignity, all of which are inherently immoral.
“The most acute troubles in present-day Ukraine are a lack of national and spiritual unity, a lack of trust and interpersonal solidarity that create mutual hostility and destructive rivalry, and confrontations around historical memory – all these ills should be treated primarily by spiritual means,” Marynovych said.
Ukraine finds itself in a very harsh situation, one of a truly existential choice.
“We need to draw up a values matrix, which can form a new and wholesome order. Western democracies still have enough of a ‘safety margin’ to live off the moral capital accumulated by previous generations.
“Ukraine finds itself in a very harsh situation, one of a truly existential choice. We have no lead time: we either find a solution to our problems, or Ukraine, as a state, may disappear from the face of the earth.”
It is not only possible to live an honest life, but one can actually be successful by doing so.
The former political prisoner also mentioned how the Ukrainian Catholic University is sounding the alarm in Ukraine, where the education system is notorious for being corrupt to the bone.
“The Ukrainian Catholic University brings to the educational arena an important alternative. Indeed, in this area, which is almost totally corrupt, it is a zone free from corruption. The moral importance of that is unquestionable. This, of course, does not make our life any easier, yet it is the form of our testimony: that it is not only possible to live an honest life, but one can actually be successful by doing so.”
