UGCC head confirms readiness of church to become member of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue and organize meeting between pope and Patriarch Kirill

At a press conference today in Lviv, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav, said his church is ready to become a member of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue and to organize a meeting between the pope and Patriarch Kirill.

The press conference took place after the presentation of the UGCC Catechism “Christ is Our Easter.” The working group, which is led by the Patriarchal Catechetical Commission, worked on the Catechism for almost 10 years. The book consists of three parts: “Faith in the Church,” “Prayer of the Church,” and “Life of the Church.”

According to Patriarch Sviatoslav, the UGCC Catechism is a testament of the intellectual maturity of the church and that it is a result of the order by which it lives.

The Catechism, as confirmed by the hierarch, is both old and new: “Old, for faith is eternal, and new, because we present the content in such a way so that our faithful can fully understand this tradition, so that this Catechism can speak to the modern person.”

“Until recently, there was a notion that to theologize in Ukrainian was ‘uncultured’ – we usually translated theological works. Since the Catechism is a product of a ‘Ukrainian manufacturer,’ written in Ukrainian,” it is, according to the patriarch, a very important matter.

At the press conference, Patriarch Sviatoslav also talked about the mission of the church, which he sees for today as becoming a full-fledged partner in the dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholics.

“We are a national church, and so we are ready to be not only a bridge of understanding between the Catholic and Orthodox churches and to organize a meeting between the pope and Patriarch Kirill, but also to become a full-fledged member of the dialogue,” the church leader told the press.