On November 29-30, the eighty-third session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC was held in the Recollection center of the Lviv Archdiocese "Svitlytsia" in Bryukhovichi.
On November 29-30, the eighty-third session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC was held in the Recollection center of the Lviv Archdiocese "Svitlytsia" in Bryukhovichi.
This is reported by the Information Department of the UGCC.
Before the Synod, the bishops had joint recollections for Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic bishops and an annual fraternal meeting.
The main topic of this session of the Synod was the protection of minors in accordance with modern challenges and norms of the Catholic Church, in particular, the implementation of the Roman Apostolic letter of Bishop Francis "You are the light of the world" dated May 7, 2019, and the Message of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC 2019 on the protection of children, minors and vulnerable persons from various types of violence.
Bishop Theodore Martyniuk prepared this theme in collaboration with the Studite hieromonk Savva Masnyk, and sister Theodora Shulak, MNI, who were the main speakers. After a detailed discussion of this issue, the Synod's Fathers adopted the relevant Synodal decisions.
After the opening Synodal formalities, the bishops reviewed and took note of the status of implementation of the decisions of the Eighty-second session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC.
In the context of the processing of Synodal documents, the participants approved the Regulations on the procedure for the preparation and consideration of Synodal documents at the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC. They adopted in the second reading and submitted for the third reading the Instruction on the presence of Church structures and clergy of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC on the web. Also, they adopted in the second reading and submitted for the third reading a new edition of the document "Directions of preparation of candidates for the priesthood in the UGCC" and the Appeal of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCCon healing the wounds of war.
The Synod also discussed the need to improve the spiritual and psychological support of young families with the perinatal loss of a child, made appropriate decisions and blessed the day of October 15 in the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC as the day of remembrance of children who died during pregnancy or shortly after birth.
The fathers of the Synod paid special attention to the topical issues of agrarian reform in Ukraine and the introduction of the agricultural land market, in particular, adopting an appropriate appeal to the people and authorities.
In the context of reports on the activities of the structures of the Major Archbishopric, Fr Andriy Maksymovych, administrator of the Patriarchal Curia, and Fr. Rostislav Pendiuk, head of the Commission of the UGCC for Youth, reported on the activity of the Committees of the Major Archbishopric. The military chaplaincy was reported by Fr. Andriy Zelinsky, and the activities of the House of Transfiguration were reported by Fr. Yuri Tarnavsky. Father Igor Shaban, head of the UGCC Commission on Interfaith and Interreligious relations, reported on the current state of ecumenism in Ukraine and the need to modernize the ecumenical concept of the UGCC, according to the new social and religious circumstances in Ukraine.
The information regarding the activities of the Ukrainian Catholic University in the past year and the presentation of plans for the future were presented to the bishops by Bogdan Prakh, rector of UCU, and Director of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Center Dr. Oleg Yaskiv, who spoke about the activities of the center and the planned cultural projects aimed at popularizing the rich scientific and spiritual heritage of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and which are at the intersection of of science, education, culture and religion. This idea is implemented for interdisciplinary communication between scientists, religious, cultural and public figures and interaction with educational, youth and Church environments.
The eighty-fourth session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC was decided to be held in January 2020.