UGCC Head: ‘If We Do Not Foster the Institution of Family, We Will Always Have Social Orphans’

From the perspective of a Christian, the family is an institution established by the Creator as a indissoluble and fruitful unity of a man and a woman. Only such a family can provide proper upbringing to children, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) said on October 24 in Kyiv during a roundtable discussion on child abandonment.

A public discussion on this subject was held at the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

According to the Information Department of the UGCC, Yuriy Pavlenko, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, deputies, and representatives of NGOs and charitable foundations participated in the roundtable.

In his address, Patriarch Sviatoslav informed the participants that the church has experience working with immigrants and their families, both in Ukraine and in parishes abroad. He said that in the eparchies there are centers for the care and rehabilitation of the families of immigrants.

He stressed that today, due to many social and economic developments, the institution of the family suffers.

“Orphanage occurs when the child does not have care from his or her father and mother. If there will be no support of the institution of the family on the social and national level, then we will always have a problem with social orphans. Social orphans are not just in the families of immigrants but also in the families of successful businessmen who are not engaged in raising their children. No government program, even the best social service, can replace a child’s father and mother,” said the head of the church.

“If we do not foster the institution of the family, we always have the phenomenon of social orphans,” he said.

The head of the UGCC also touched on the topic Ukrainian schools abroad, which need a lot of support. He gave the example of a Ukrainian school in Athens.

The roundtable was attended by Bishop Josyf (Milian), who presented the report on the work that the church does with children of immigrants.

Following the roundtable, a resolution was adopted for greater cooperation between the churches, religious organizations, and the government of Ukraine for the protection of the family and social care