Ternopil Council of Churches Handles Issues of Social Care and Security of Church Buildings

The participants of the session of the Council of Churches of Ternopil Region of 4 January discussed questions of the social care for the needy at the time of Christmas and the need to duly preserve the sacral heritage. Also, they published the dynamic of the development of the religious network in 2011. As of today, 1761 religious organizations, including 1693 religious communities, 22 denominations and trends are registered in Ternopil Region. It is by 13 units more than in the end of 2010. So reported the Head of the Main Department on Internal Policy, Nationalities, Religion, Press and Information of the Ternopil Regional State Administration, Ihor Kulchytskyi. “In 2011, in Ternopil Region, 432 tons of humanitarian aid were distributed to socially unprotected people. Actually every Church and religious organization carries out this work for which we are grateful. Noticeably, the churches do not pay attention to the denominational affiliation of the people in such cases,” said the Head of the Ternopil Regional State Administration, Valentyn Khoptian. The authorities promise to engage clergymen in the celebration of Christmas in nursing homes and other specialized institutions. The question of safety of the churches was also discussed. The representatives of the authorities recommended that ancient icons, which are not used any more by the communities, should be passed to museums or the national Reserve Castles of Ternopil Region. In connection with the recent arrest of a criminal group who stole many icons in the region, representatives of the authorities and the Ministry of Emergency Situations called the communities to equip the churches with security systems. “In the village of Skoryky of Pidvolochysk District, there is a valuable iconostasis presented to the community by Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. A reliable alarm system is needed, said Mr. Khoptian. Our RISU correspondent noticed during the session that the representatives of religious organizations themselves asked no questions and gave no advice.