On October 5, the annual International Forum "Ecumenical Social Week" (ESW) starts in Lviv. For five days, representatives of the clergy of various faiths, businesses, government agencies, teachers and public activists will reflect on the sustainable development of society. Conversations will be held in the format of conferences, discussions, round tables, presentations, seminars, sessions and lectures. You will be able to join all Social Week events online.
The international forum is organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies (IEC), the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Ukraine and the Lviv City Council. The general media partner of the Ecumenical Social Week is the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.
“The forum is a unique opportunity to obtain in 5 days an incredible experience of communicating with people from various fields who are concerned about the topic of sustainable development. During the discussions, we will share our thoughts on what challenges different sectors face today in achieving the goals, how religious social teaching can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, what the Church is doing to create a just world, and many other related topics. It is important that you can join the work in an online format from anywhere in the world,” Iryna Kitura, coordinator of the Ecumenical Social Week, said during a press conference.
Among the forum speakers are Cardinal Michael Czerny, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Migrants and Refugees of the Holy See Dicastery for promoting holistic human development; Johan de Tavernir, dean of the Faculty of Theology and religious sciences of the Catholic University of Leuven; Dafina Gercheva, permanent representative of UNDP in Ukraine and many others.
The forum program with the central theme “cherishing the common good: together towards sustainable development of society” includes 16 events, including meetings of the Ukrainian Christian Academic Society. The reporter at the first session will be French historian and theologian Antoine Arzhakovsky, founder of the IEC and the first ESW. Participants of the session will discuss the ecumenism of martyrs. The second session will focus on joint testimony during the Soviet persecution for the faith, in particular on the experience of Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants. Christian scholars will discuss the ecumenism of righteousness in defense of justice, human rights, freedom and the environment during the third session.
“During the meetings, we will talk about martyria as martyrdom and righteousness. We are often used to thinking of monks as just sitting in their cells. At the sessions of the Ukrainian Christian academic society, we want to see how holiness can be understood as service,” said Pavlo Smitsnyuk, director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of UCU.
The international public forum “Ecumenical Social Week” is a project that includes academic, cultural, artistic, educational and practical events. For 14 years in a row, the Forum has brought together people from all over Ukraine and the world. Among the participants are representatives of the public sector, the business environment, government agencies, youth organizations, educational institutions, religious institutions and churches of different faiths, who come together to create synergy, new ideas and success stories.
The program of the Ecumenical Social Week forum is available by following the link.
You can register to participate here.