The patriarch and the three "good practices"A few days ago Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Major archbishop of Lviv and head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), highlighted "the three good practices of prayer, fasting and charity" in the sermon delivered in the Trinity Church in Brovary, near Kiev, during a co-celebration chaired by father Ihor Onishkevych, protopresbyter from Kiev. "With prayer we enter into direct contact with the Lord", said Cardinal Husar in a pastoral visit to the parish church. "With fasting we prove to ourselves what we are capable of". "And Christian charity bears witness to the love for others as requested of Christians by Jesus Christ. Why are there so many poor people in the world? Because societies did not grant themselves the great happiness of sharing with those in need", His Eminence said. At the end of the liturgy, father Oleh Panchinyak conveyed his gratitude to Cardinal Husar, describing his visit as "an historical event for our parish and our entire city". "Wherever you go he said you bring people words of love, support and reconciliation. Thank you for uniting the population without looking at the differences". A course for parish work with the youth"Foundations of Christian life and parish ministry" is the course promoted by the Commission for Catechesis of the diocese of Kiev in cooperation with the Ukrainian Catholic University and the inter-parish Commission. The above-mentioned Commission will launch the two-year project after the candidates’ selection, ongoing this week. Father Petro Zhuk, at the lead of the Commission, explained, "Today pastors and catechists who work or wish to work with youth in the parish need the help of qualified assistants, especially in the diocese of Kiev. Here parish life is undergoing dynamic development and formation. It meets current needs, which are hard to address". According to father Zhuk "availability and good-will are not sufficient. In this area it is necessary to acknowledge the specific needs of the youth and adolescents, along with their own difficulties, and that’s why it’s important to master a wide range of skills and talents. Notably, the ability to organize and coordinate the events of a small community, like preparing and running a Summer Camp for Christians, planning youth formation while promoting creative and interesting activities". The program envisages 240 hours of practical-theoretical studies in Biblical, liturgical, moral and methodological subjects, which include elements of pastoral theological practice. Communication seminar for the ChurchesTo help the Churches and the religious organizations establish fruitful cooperations with lay and religious media, teaching them to produce high-quality media reports for public diffusion. It is the objective of the seminar "External Communication for Religious Organizations" promoted by Ukraine’s Religious Information Service (RISU), due to be held at Kiev’s Catholic university March 5-6. The course lies within the framework of the public relations course (http://old.risu.org.ua/ukr/) promoted by RISU that worked in conjunction with the Catholic and Protestant Churches and their own press offices for over a year. Similar seminars were previously held in Kiev, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, and in the region of Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, and Kherson Oblasts. Classes, workshops, debates/reflections on themes such as religious stereotyping across society, Church depiction by the media and public relation methods adopted by religious organizations in Ukraine and in the world, will be held in the two-day seminar. The practical aspect of the course, organizers explained, "will enable participants to grow familiar with Urkaine’s media world, since without the knowledge and understanding of the pillars of the editorial world an efficient cooperation with the media is impossible". Hence the need to learn to "communicate in the appropriate way with journalists, to draw up a press release, organize meetings with media experts and follow up on the results, to study the public target and master advertising techniques". The theoretical and practical lessons will be held by journalists, along with lay and religious media experts such as Svitlana Babynska, responsible for public relations at the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Catholic University; Yulia Zavadska, vice-director of the social-religious Catholic magazine "Credo"; Olena Kulyhina, responsible for the Russian-language version of RISU; Otar Dovzhenko, media expert and television critic for the Telekrytka network.
