Constructing Power Architecturally: A Spatial Look at Uniate Catholicism in Kyiv Today‪.‬

Pedro Ramet (1984) once argued that contemporary churches may be regarded as "vestigial political organizations par excellence," especially where the former Soviet Union is concerned (3). However, in light of changes that have occurred in Ukraine over the last decade, it would seem that Ramet's claims of vestigiality are specious at best. For churches throughout Ukraine are using religion as a means of focusing their concerns, not about the afterlife, but about organizing the world they see around them. Surveys conducted from the mid-1990's onward show that religion has developed and maintained a firm hold over the Ukrainian psyche since 1991. For instance, a survey conducted in 1996 showed that 69% of all Ukrainians expressed either some or great confidence in church institutions, 8% higher than their confidence in the army and 22% higher than their confidence in President Leonid Kuchma (Gibson 1996: 29). This was a marked change from 1992, when their faith in the Communist Party ranked first.