Patriarch Sviatoslav Visits Poland

Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is on a pastoral visit to the Polish city of Wroclaw. His trip began on May 23 and will end on May 27. The visit is connected with the preparation of the coming Synod of Bishops.

RISU learned from Eparch Volodymyr (Yushchak) of the Wroclaw-Gdansk Eparchy of the UGCC that on the first days of his stay abroad, the Primate celebrated a liturgy in the Wroclaw Cathedral, communicated with the believers and met with the Deputy Mayor of Wroclaw, Adam Grel and Professor Yezhym Lianger.

Patriarch Sviatoslav is accompanied by the members of the  Standing Synod of Bishops of UGCC Metropolitan Ihor (Vozniak) of Lviv, Metropolitan Vasylii (Semeniuk) of Ternopil, Eparch of Stamford Pavlo (Khomnytskyi), Eparch David (Motiuk) of Edmonton and Auxiliary Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh) of UGCC.

In Wroclaw, the hierarchs will prepare the program of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC which is to be held in Canada in September this year.

All the Greek Catholic hierarchs have come to Wroclaw on an invitation of Bishop Volodymyr (Yushchak) of Wroclaw-Gdansk Eparchy of the UGCC and Mayor of Wroclaw, Rafał Dutkiewicz who are senators of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

In addition to the synod preparation, the program of the hierarchs’ stay in Poland includes official meetings and pastoral visits to parishes. In particular, last Thursday, Patriarch Sviatoslav communicated with the local journalists and representatives of the Roman Catholic clergy, Archbishop Marian Golembewski and Cardinal Henrik Gulbinowicz. In Ligniza, where one of the largest Greek Catholic parishes in Poland is located, the patriarch talked with the Greek Catholic clergy and led a Liturgy in a newly built parish church.

This Sunday, Patriarch Sviatoslav will lead a liturgy in the Wroclaw Cathedral.