As he ministers to the sick at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, The Rev. Yaroslav Mendyuk strengthens his belief systems like never before.
“Especially now, when I see that (ill) child in the children’s hospital, I also think about the 100 children killed in Ukraine,” said Mendyuk. “I think about 56 seniors killed when Russians started shooting at a nursing home. I think of mothers breast-feeding their kids in the Kharkiv Metro (subway) station.
“It doesn’t test my faith, but it is improving my faith. I see a madman who wants to spread devastation and chaos, and who is questioning the entire principles (of civilized society). I think it will take some time for the world to really understand the tragedy of the situation. He’s a madman. It will take time. It is very sad for me to watch how (Vladimir) Putin is mimicking (Adolf) Hitler in his behavior and politics.”
A native of western Ukraine, Mendyuk is a living symbol of his homeland’s fight for life as he makes his rounds as Catholic chaplain at both the children’s hospital and adjacent Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. He does not have to prod his employers to support Ukraine relief. Advocate as an institution is donating material to Project CURE, the world’s largest humanitarian distributor of medical supplies.
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But as a flesh-and-blood symbol of combating oppression, who had to skulk around as a youth practicing his Ukrainian Catholic faith that was officially banned in Soviet-run Ukraine at the time, Mendyuk doesn’t mind doing double or triple duty in this troubled spring.
In addition to ministering to the sick and their loved ones, he also is a conduit of information from overseas contacts. He informs both the Advocate Lutheran General community and Northwest suburban Ukrainian parishioners of The Conception of the Immaculate Mother of God Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Palatine, where Mendyuk serves as associate pastor. He has lived in the United States since 1997 and is a U.S. citizen.
Friends who serve as fellow Catholic archpriests in Ukraine have, to a man, stayed at their posts to serve their congregations, said Mendyuk. Masses have been moved into basements and subways if necessary.
“Our bishops even stayed in Mariupol,” he said of the devastated, bombed-out seaport in southern Ukraine. “They are supporting their people. We’ve been blessed and stay in touch.”
If Mendyuk were still in Ukraine, he said he would remain at his church no matter how much wartime violence was descending about him.
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The picture he painted from live reports and monitoring Ukrainian media shows some stark contrasts of the seeming value of life and death of between the invading Russians and the Ukrainian defenders.
“Russians often leave their dead behind,” he said after viewing numerous reports, backed up by horrific video images.
“The Ukrainians are asking them to take their dead, but they say no. When our fallen soldiers are brought home for burial, the whole town is present, and they are kneeling on the roadside.”
While Russians are being accused of war crimes by President Biden and a host of other world leaders, surrendering Russians are quickly being forgiven by locals, Mendyuk said he’s heard.
“I was told a Russian soldier in his tank surrendered, and he was offered possible citizenship in Ukraine,” Mendyuk said. “They are demoralized. They don’t have good logistics and good support. (NATO said) Russians may have lost more in the first month, 15,000, in Ukraine than in their entire (10-year) war in Afghanistan. It’s creating great panic back home, but the Russians are locked in an informational vacuum.”
As a man of faith, Mendyuk feels almost as bad for the Russian people as his own friends and kinfolk. He feels three different incarnations of Russian government — under the czars, under the Soviets and under Putin — have or have had a cavalier attitude toward their own populace.
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“All other countries value the lives and prosperity of their own citizens,” Mendyuk said. “The Russians never did. They don’t care about their own people.”
Amid a media landscape of nonstop information, much of it difficult to stomach, Mendyuk has been a positive for his communities, the top chaplain at Advocate Lutheran General said.
“Father Yaroslav has served as a support for our Ukrainian patients, team members and physicians during this crisis,” said The Rev. Lindsay Bona, vice president of mission and spiritual care. “He has been a point of contact for community organizations and volunteer groups that are supporting the people of Ukraine with humanitarian aid.
“Father Yaroslav filters the requests from these groups to hospital leadership for possible fulfillment. During this time, Father Yaroslav has continued to work in his parish to offer prayer services for the crisis, as well as the daily needs of the congregation. He continues to give so much of himself as he also feels the weight of the war in Ukraine.”
In return, the hospital’s resident Ukraine analyst is appreciative for his employer’s backing.
“Advocate has (been) tremendously supportive, sending medical supplies,” Mendyuk said. “I had a request for wound pads. People are being very helpful and encouraging. I didn’t even know so many people are sending money and praying for us.”
As a clergyman, Mendyuk inevitably faces spiritual puzzlements that defy easy explanation. Ukraine’s invader is drifting into that territory, in his view.
“As a person born in Ukraine and who has lived in the U.S. since 1997,” he said, “and as a clergyman who is proud to be an American and happy to enjoy the freedom, it’s just like a paradox about how a nation is a member of the U.N. Security Council and have a right to veto decisions — and at the same time can be an aggressor.”
Ukrainians did not want to fight, he said.
“But we don’t have another choice,” Mendyuk concluded. “We are fighting for truth, faith in good people, and faith in God. It’s a war between light and darkness.”
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