Ukrainian Catholics flee Crimea to escape threats of arrest , says priest

March 26,2014: Members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church are fleeing Crimea to escape threats of arrest and property seizures, a priest told Catholic News Service just four days after Russia finalized the region's annexation. "The situation remains very serious, and we don't know what will happen as the new government is portraying us all as nationalists and extremists," said Fr. Mykhailo Milchakovskyi, a parish rector and military chaplain from Kerch, Crimea. He said officials from Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, had called him in for questioning about his community, and to ask whether he "recognized the new order." The priest told CNS that he and his family, and at least two-thirds of his parishioners had left Kerch for Ukrainian-controlled territory on the advice of Ukrainian Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych. "All my parishioners are patriotic Ukrainians who love their Crimean homeland. But Russia is now seeking to drive us out," he said on Tuesday (March 25). Archbishop Shevchuk has asked priests to dedicate Ukraine to Mary's protection. Source: Cns