Off to the Land of Euromaidan

I really wanted to talk about the Pope’s change to the CCC but unfortunately the timing was a bit off.  I leave for vacation tomorrow.  I’m off to the land where it seems Stepan Bandera has been resurrected as a national hero.  Yes, I’m off to the Ukraine; the land of my maternal ancestry and Euromaidan.

I will have limited access to this blog while I’m over there.  I won’t have my laptop but I’ll have my Ipad so I’ll be able to publish comments that come along.  I’ve also prepared a series of posts which are set to automatically publish when I’m gone.  They’re on two really important topics in Catholic apologetics.  One is theological and one is more historical and cultural.

Since I don’t like typing on the Ipad, don’t expect much interaction with the posts in the next two and a half weeks.  Perhaps I’ll interact more when I’m back.  In addition to the Ukraine, I’ll be doing two day trips.  The first one will be into Moldova which is the poorest country in Europe.  Moldova is interesting because it’s the most Orthodox country in the world.  In countries like Belarus, Romania, Ukraine, there are Catholic minorities that are part of the local culture.  Romania and Ukraine are especially interesting since their minorities are Greek Catholic.  They suffered immensely during the communist era.  While the Ukrainian Catholics came out strong after communism, the Romanian Catholics weren’t as successful and are having a hard time rebuilding.

So it’ll be interesting being in a purely Orthodox country like Moldova.  I’m also doing a day trip to Catholic Wakanda, aka Poland.  I won’t be going to any major cities but only a small town just across the border to visit some family that lives there.  It’s actually a Ukrainian town but on the Polish side of the border.  Those borders have changed many times.  We may also take a trip to see the remains of Belzec Concentration Camp.  I’m a huge fan of World War II history.

Last night I had dinner with a friend of mine who is from Eastern Ukraine.  She’s excited for me but warned against me talking politics with local Ukrainians since the country is a political mess.  Oh darn, that’s no fun!  I’m also a little worried since I plan on going outside of tourist areas where English isn’t widely spoken.  I don’t speak the Ukrainian language.  I do speak Russian but there seems to be an increasing hostility to the Russian language in the Ukraine even though it is spoken as a native language by millions of Ukrainians.  We have the Euromaidan Stepan Bandera fanboys to thank for that.  I’ll probably be fine in some areas but it might be a problem in the capital.

So there’s a brief summary of my plans.  I hope that my readers have great vacations planned as well.  I also hope that you enjoy the posts that’ll be coming out as they’re on two really important topics.  Expect pictures to be posted when I’m back.  God bless!