Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), announced at a press conference on 29 April 2002 that the major emphases of the church’s social doctrine would be outlined at the Patriarchal Sobor (assembly) of the UGCC, scheduled to be held in Lviv from 30 June to 5 July 2002. The day before the press conference Cardinal Husar visited a center for youth ministry in Lviv.
More than 200 representatives of Greek Catholic communities from all over the world are expected to participate in the sobor, which will also be dedicated to the 1st anniversary of the Pope’s visit to Ukraine. According to Cardinal Husar, the greatest attention at the sobor will be paid to “the concretization of the Ten Commandments for today’s society.” The church wants to get across to the general public that nowadays the two worst violations of the commandments “do not kill” and “do not steal” are abortion and corruption respectively. Cardinal Husar also announced that the issue of pedophilia would not be raised at the sobor, since it is not topical for the UGCC. After the Patriarchal Sobor, the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC will be summoned in order to approve the decisions made at the Patriarchal Sobor. The day before the press conference, on 28 April 2002, the Lviv archeparchy was celebrating the day of youth. On this occasion, Cardinal Husar together with the clergy served a liturgy in the center of academic spiritual ministry for youth at the Church of the Holy Eucharist in Lviv. In his speech, the head of the UGCC stressed the importance of youth ministry in the church and the unity between generations in the life of the parish. On behalf of the community, Cardinal Husar was presented a copy of a miraculous icon of the Mother of God, made by a student of the Academy of Arts, the original of which is stored in the Church of the Holy Eucharist.
Source: press service of the UGCC