UKRAINE
Greek-Catholic Church The thought of Msgr. Sviatoslav Shevchuk. In 2020 I would like to know that our community (4.300.000 believers) is present across the whole world, speaking different languages, proclaiming the Gospel in world countries as a Church unified within the Eastern tradition”. It is the picture of the Greek-Catholic Church envisaged by Msgr. Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Archbishop Major of Kyiv-Halyc, who in his meeting with the clergy of the diocese of Sambir-Drohobych, outlined the main challenges that the Ukrainian Church is called to address in the near future. Among these, the priority is to provide spiritual care to all Greek-Catholics in the world. The Synod of Greek-Catholic bishops set up an ad hoc working group tasked with meeting the above-described goals by 2020. Youth, evangelisation, enculturation, ecclesial structures development, language in liturgies, are some of the themes proposed and addressed by Msgr. Shevchuk during his visit to Drohobych. A few weeks ago, during a meeting with the President of the Republic Viktor Yanukovic, the head of the Greek-Catholics addressed a set of questions that range from theological education in Ukraine, to the restitution of the Church property and the establishment of equal Church-State relations. Msgr. Shevchuk conveyed his gratitude to the Government for recognizing theology as an independent subject of humanistic sciences, underlining the need for further commitments aimed at the State’s recognition of theology within the national educational system. The question of the restitution of Church property was raised by nearly all religious organizations. “The Greek-Catholic Church – said the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc – was the object of fierce repression under Stalin’s regime and today we are still awaiting for its reinstatement”. Finally, Msgr. Shevchuk highlighted the important activity of the Council of Churches and of Ukrainian religious organizations, a body that “helped identify ways for cooperation between Churches and that represents an excellent opportunity to build equal relations with civil institutions”. Roman-Catholic ChurchAssembly of the Episcopal Conference. On May 10-11 in the centre of Caritas-Spess in Zarichany took place the 37th plenary meeting of the bishops’ Conference of the Roman-Catholic Church in Ukraine (1.100.000 faithful). The meeting was dedicated to preparations for the First National Eucharistic Congress, due to begin next September, marking the tenth anniversary of the Visitation of Pope John Paul II to Ukraine that will focus on the role of Catholic Church communities and movements in Ukraine. The bishops have also met Fr Adam Wodarczyk, general moderator of the “Light and Life” movement along with Fr Jaroslaw Gonsiorek, referent of the movement for the diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi. At the end of the plenary session, the president of the Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, donated to each of the Latin dioceses in Ukraine the holy relics of Blessed John Paul II. Children’s day. Seven hundred children from all over the Country convened in the Caritas-Spes diocesan centre of Zarichany, on the occasion of the diocesan Child Day of the Roman-Catholic diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr. The feast was held the beginning of May, for the one-hundredth issue of the review for children “Vodograj”. The event was attended by a delegation of guests from Italy which included the chief editor of SIR Europe and a representative of the association “Lights on the East”. After the Holy Mass the youth met Msgr. Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk, auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr. The director of Vodograj magazine Fr Pavlo Vyshkovskyy, at the end of the meeting told SIR: “It was a lesson of humbleness and responsibility that we will we never forget. It most pleases us since these children represent the future we would like to see. They are our force and our consolation, they will be the originators of their destiny to which we hope we contributed with these wonderful moments”.Germana Centre. The “Home of the Child” was inaugurated in Kiev the first week of May. The purpose of the Home is to provide a shelter to increasing numbers of abandoned children, especially in large cities. The Centre was named after Germana Zandegiacomo in Gerardini. “She was an Italian nurse from Sappada (Belluno)”, said Fr Pavlo Vyshkovskyy, director of the Catholic media centre linked to SIR Europe. “For many years she took care of the Chernobyl children and served in the Centre that bears her name”. The key-word of the Centre is “reception: reception to abandoned children; to children needing school tutoring; reception to lonely old people; reception to outcasts in society”. The Centre has a first-aid room equipped with medicines supplied by Caritas, a recreation room, a small office, a cloakroom, bathrooms and showers.
