St. Nicholas RCC in Kyiv handed over to Catholic community for 50 years

St. Nicholas Church. Photo: Wikipedia

The rector of the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Nicholas in Kyiv, Pavlo Vyshkovskyi, reported that a rent-free use agreement for the church has been signed for a term of 50 years.

As Vyshkovskyi wrote on Facebook, the signing of the agreement concluded the community’s many-year struggle to have the church returned. According to him, the last four years of his rectorship passed “in a struggle for justice” through memorandums, a petition, and court proceedings in three instances, which confirmed the parish’s case.

The rector noted that negotiations over the terms of the agreement were not easy. Initially, the Ministry of Culture agreed to transfer the church only for 5 years, then for 10. The community secured amendments to a government resolution in order to obtain the maximum term of use allowed by Ukrainian law.

Under the terms of the agreement, the church is transferred to the community through the entity that holds it on its books – the House of Music.

“Is this an ideal agreement? No, because we were striving for full justice. But is it the right step? Yes. Because today we are choosing not bureaucratic games, but the future of our parish for the next 50 years,” Vyshkovskyi wrote.

St. Nicholas Church was built in 1899–1909 to a design by architect Władysław Horodecki. In Soviet times the church was used as a warehouse, and later as the House of Organ and Chamber Music. The Catholic community has been fighting for the church’s return since parish life was restored in the early 1990s.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Catholics accuse the Ministry of Culture of allowing the Kyiv church to fall into ruin through negligence.

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