UGCC organizes church-wide anticorruption movement
The Sixty-ninth session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was held at Patriarch Yosyp Slipyy Retreat Center in Lviv-Bryukhovychi on November 24-25, 2015, UGCC website reports.
The Synodal meetings were attended by all the active bishops of the Kyiv Galician Major Archbishopric (except for Bishop Stepan (Meniok), who was absent for good reason). Bishop Milan (Shashik), Eparch of Mukachevo, and Bishop Nil (Lushchak), auxiliary bishop of Mukachevo Greek Catholic Diocese, which is not part of the UGCC, were also present at the Synodal meetings.
The issue of corruptionwas the main subject of the currentSynodal session. Analyzing the origins of this social malaise, members of the Synod heard a report on the societal expectations from the Church in terms of combating corruption in Ukraine, delivered by Myroslav Marynovych, president of the Institute of Religion and Society and vice-rector for the UCU mission, as well as a report on the practical steps to overcome corruption, delivered by Serhiy Hula, coordinator of the National Movement “No bribery! I neither accept nor give bribes.”
Having analyzed the said perspective, the Synod recognized the social malaise of corruption to be a sin, responsibility for which lies with an individual, and decided to initiate the establishment of a church-wide movementto counter this sin, having formed a working group, whose first task should be elaboration of the program of pastoral care in the realm of combating corruption. The Major Archbishopric Synod also expressedits support for all civic organizations and initiatives that are countering the social malaise of corruption, and instructed the faithful of the UGCC to include a prayer for healingthe sin of corruption in the monthlyprayers on the day of prayer for the healing of addicts and their families.
The pastoral letter of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric on the malaise of corruption was reviewed and approved in the first reading by the section which processed the Synodal documents.
