UCNS Newsletter

On Giving Thanks --- Thanksgiving (cont)

In those times, we were largely concentrated in small, tightly-knit communities often centered around the church and workplace.

After World War II, we experienced a gradual fading in the intensity of that wonderful heritage. We, like other ethnic Americans, became increasingly dispersed and fragmented throughout the United States. We continued to treasure our heritage and strived to maintain it as best we could in the increasingly cosmopolitan America society. The Ukrainian immigration after the war provided a new source of energy for these efforts. But the trend continued. Our linkages with each other and our cultural heritage became less intense and less frequent. It also became more difficult to do anything to change this trend. Yet, we do not despair and strive to cling to this cultural heritage and its cultural values.

A question and an answer...
It was the recent passing of my mother and wife, with whom I shared this heritage for nearly 75 years, that gave me pause to ask the question: "What do we have in common beyond our heritage to keep us together to preserve our heritage and aid fellow Ukrainians in our cultural motherland, Ukraine, now a free and independent nation like America?"

The answer seemed clear. Though widely dispersed, we remember and value our mutual past and have much to be thankful for. We have all shared in America's opportunities and resources, her freedom and democracy and wealth. America has been generous to our forebearers who first came to America and to those of us blessed to be born here. America gave us opportunities to form and raise our families, develop our professional and work skills, enjoy our freedom of democratic life and government and share in her prosperity. We were also free to preserve our Ukrainian heritage and help relatives and countrymen in the homeland who suffered through wars, depression and repression for decades as we prospered in America. Above all, we were free to influence fellow Americans to give significant economic and political support to Ukraine in her new found freedom and independence.

Ukrainian-American Culture: a unique blend...
The good life and blessings we have enjoyed are America's reward for our readiness and willingness to be good citizens, for our labors and traditions of hard work and for our social contributions through wholesome family and community living. Our Ukrainian heritage has become increasingly and inseparately mixed with American traditions and culture. Our motherland heritage has evolved into a Ukrainian-American culture. Though this blending of traditions and culture has differentiated us from our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, we should take pride in our new heritage and love it for all that it is, for we really cannot change it.

We still enjoy those parts of the Ukrainian heritage that we have been able to preserve. But we also appreciate and enjoy the benefits and graces of America has offered to our families, our work and professional pursuits and social life. We can all be thankful for the welcome extended our forebearers who first came to America and for the opportunities America has offered to us who have had the good fortune to be born here.

The National Shrine, an expression of gratitude...
Thus, we should all be able to agree that, in addition to our common Ukrainian heritage, we share a common gratitude for the good life America has offered to our forebearers and ourselves. Nothing is more Ukrainian or American than to express that gratitude to God and Country. In this view, the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C., our Nation's Capital, is a fitting expression of our thanksgiving to God and Country for the benefits and graces we have enjoyed as Ukrainian-Americans in America. It is an appropriate symbol as well as a practical, visible expression of our Ukrainian heritage, our faith in God, and our thanksgiving to God and Country.

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Last modified 05/23/2005