Network of Navy Chaplains Church Operates in Europe, North America, and Australia
Today a network of navy chaplains of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church operates in Europe, North America, and Australia. In the future, it will also be in South America. Father Oleksandr Smerechynsky described the development of navy chaplaincy in the UGCC in an interview with the UGCC Department of Information.
He said that in December of this year a network of navy chaplains was launched in the Eparchy of St. Volodymyr in Paris. Contacts have been established there with the local Catholic maritime apostolate and in November and December a series of meetings with chaplains from France, Holland, and Belgium will be held to help develop this church structure.
A similar process is planned for Canada, but certain issues are still being resolved.
“It should be noted that our maritime apostolate does not isolate itself in a separate structure. We consider ourselves part of the Catholic network that operates in 420 ports in the world,” said Fr. Smerechynsky.
In August 2013 in Kyiv, the Synod of Bishops adopted a resolution to create the Department of the Maritime Apostolate of the UGCC at the church-wide level, and Bishop Petro Stasiuk was elected as head of the department.
