Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat

[1] In Lviv, the society maintains a seminary, at which currently thirty students reside, and takes care of a small convent of Basilian sisters.

The SSJK rejects the de-Latinization reforms currently being strongly enforced within the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is in full communion with Rome.

In his memoir Persecuted Tradition, Basil Kovpak has accused the UGCC hierarchy of using intense psychological pressure against priests who are reluctant or unwilling to de-Latinize.

He alleges that numerous laity, who have been attached to the Latinizations since the days of the underground, would prefer to stay home on Sunday rather than attend a de-Latinized liturgy.

The SSJK for instance opposes the removal of the Stations of the Cross, the rosary, and the monstrance from the liturgy and parishes of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church has a large presence in many non-Slavic countries, with numerous eparchies and parishes in the diaspora, exacerbating the problem of parishioners not understanding what is being celebrated as well as raising issues of assimilation.

Kovpak appealed this punishment at the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota in Vatican City and the excommunication was declared null and void by reason of a lack of canonical form.

An SSPX priest who was present remarked, "We were all very edified by their piety, and I myself was astonished by the resemblance of the atmosphere amongst the seminarians with that which I knew in the seminary – this in spite of the difference of language, nationality and even rite.

[8] Father John Jenkins, a priest of the Society of St. Pius X, said in 2006 that the new archbishop of Lviv declared that his main task for the following year was to eradicate the "Lefebvrists" from his territory.