“Every time I visit Ukraine, I find it to be a very intense experience,” says Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, Secretary General of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), as he reflects on his visit to Ukraine in early March 2023.

“There’s so many people that I’ve met that I’ve carried in my heart ever since I first visited Ukraine last July. There are so many children that I’ve met who are so fearful and so affected by this war.” Msgr. Vitillo explains why ICMC chose to focus much of its support on providing mental health and trauma treatment to the people of Ukraine. “We’ve been supporting the organizations of the Church in Ukraine that could provide that expertise” but needed support to pay local professionals to continue to provide the service, thus providing for their own families too.