Social ministry includes not only ongoing practical activities. It has an impact on the liturgy, catechesis, ecumenism development and so on. Social ministry permeates various sectors of the Church and is an integral part of nature.
Fr Andriy Nahirnyak, Chairman of the Department for Social Affairs of the UGCC, was reported as saying this during the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC. At the Synod, Father Andriy made a report themed “Social ministry of UGCC: current situation - problems and prospects.” Alongside with the experts, the priest presented the main areas of social service, performed in the Church: serving children, orphans, families, the elderly, prisoners, victims of war and so on. “We presented our entities that carry out social activities both church wide and on the level of religious orders and congregations, dioceses, through CF “Caritas” and lay organizations,” he said. “We reported on the working group’s activity for the implementation of the program “Vibrant parish as a place to meet the living Christ, “which met with the social workers to learn about their opinions on the problems and challenges,” Fr. Andriy said. The Synod presented the results of social ministry in the parishes of the UGCC. “According to these data, currently the state of Social ministry of the UGCC is not satisfactory. Only three percent of parishes serve the disabled, only four feed the needy. The most successful is the aid to patients - 30 percent of parishes, collecting clothing and food - 47 percent of parishes,” stated the chairman of the Department of Social Affairs of the UGCC.
According to Fr. Andriy, the data reveals us the challenges facing the Church. “This is the issue of education because we do not know a lot about social ministry. We need to extend the range of Social ministry and quality, and introduce its institutional development,” he summed up. It was reported by the Information Department of the UGCC.