On March 30, 2021, the first session of this year's Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church took place. Due to the quarantine restrictions the Synod of Bishops took place in an online format.
The meeting of the Synod was attended by 45 bishops from Ukraine and settlements.
At this first session of the Synod of Bishops, several important matters were raised, including the synodal activity in quarantine and pastoral planning in the Church for the near and long term.
The format of the synodal activity
His Beatitude Sviatoslav, analyzing last year's experience, noted that this experience was quite successful, about which he received positive feedback from the Holy See. However, due to the pandemic, the Head of the UGCC proposed to hold this year's Synod of Bishops as several separate online sessions.
Thus, the synodal fathers will be able to consider issues of social ministry, liturgical and canonical documents at regional meetings.
Development of pastoral strategy'2030
Particular attention was paid to pastoral planning for the period up to 2030. The results of the working group were presented by its chairman, His Eminence Archbishop Borys Gudziak, Metropolitan of Philadelphia.
The Synod Fathers agreed with the speaker on the need to develop a culture of Christian closeness within the church community, to provide spiritual support, openness and transparency, and to work hard to heal the spiritual wounds and traumas of the people.
Church that overcomes barriers
In the discussion on the main directions of pastoral planning, the Synod Fathers agreed with the proposal to emphasize the evangelizing and missionary dimension of the Church. In practice, this should mean overcoming barriers: linguistic, cultural, ethnic, racial, and clerical-hierarchical, in order to open to more people of good will the richness and beauty of the Gospel of Christ.
In addition, the bishops agreed to focus pastoral attention on the family, which should become a real "home Church" and thus contribute to the building of the Church in the world.
Completion of the synodal meeting
The next stage of this year's synodal activity will be regional meetings of bishops, which will be held in late June and will focus on social issues and exchange of pastoral experience in a pandemic.