On the occasion of the decade of his rule, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, expressed his new vision of the UGCC during the program "Moving Forward Together."
“Recalling the events of the last ten years and summarizing the fruits of our ecclesiastical strategy of 2020 (The Vibrant Parish - a Place to Encounter the Living Christ), we naturally thank the Lord God for all that He has done and all we have received from Him. But at the same time, we want to look into the future, think about how to live further, in which direction to move,” the Primate said .
The Head of the UGCC is convinced that in order to correctly read the Divine strategy for our Church, it is important to listen to the voice of the Holy Father, who says that we can do this in the key of pastoral conversion.
"Go"
Jesus Christ says, "Go!" "Pastoral conversion is necessary," says the Head of the Church, "for the Church, as a missionary community, must go beyond the church walls into the modern world - not to condemn it, but to save it in Christ. We need to change the style, the way we communicate and act together. I consider this movement - from seeking honors to healing the wounds of modern humanity - to be the most important in this new way of pastoral conversion."
We sometimes subconsciously, says the Primate, see our role, our way of presence in society, as the presence of "princes of the Church."
“I think in today's world we need to move away from that position. ‘Go’ in the modern world means, without seeking honors and privileges, descend from our imaginary heights of being princes in order to serve modern man. This applies to bishops, priests, monks and nuns, and members of various church movements and lay communities. We need to get closer to the wounds of human being, which are often filled with pain and blood. We must cleanse and heal these wounds,” the spiritual leader said.
"Teach"
Then Christ tells us to teach. To teach does not mean to command or to tell in a mentoring tone how everyone else should live, reprimanding those who do not obey.
"We must," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, "abandon such a position of a mentor, punisher, strict teacher with a pointer in hand, and stand next to modern man as those who teach by example, persuade by the power of personal testimony, do not impose their authority, and cause admiration by their personal faith. Only in this way can we teach and make disciples of others.”
"Baptize"
“Christ does not send us to teach so that people may know more, but to baptize them. The Church, as the mystical body of Jesus Christ, cannot fail to administer the Holy Sacraments. We have something to wash and heal the human wounds with. These remedies are the Sacraments of the Church of Christ,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav stresses.
In his view, the Church must rethink the idea of being a financial corporation that seeks earthly means for its existence.
"Such thinking is completely alien to the Church, which has no lobbying interests. The Church is a community in which all her members are called to share their gifts. The greatest wealth of our Church is people! And everyone who comes to the community of the Church has the task to give all his talents to the service of the wider community, because only in this way will he be able to develop and multiply them,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.