Priorities for the future

“The priority of the Church consists in preaching the Word of God and offering quality pastoral care to the faithful”, said the Primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, in summing up the conclusions of the UGCC Synod of Bishops, which ended at Curitiba (Brazil) on 11 September. At the start of the first session, His Beatitude Sviatoslav had welcomed the guests who had come to the Synod at his invitation, including Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, President of the Brazilian Bishops’ Conference, and Archbishop José Vitti of Curitiba, and read out a special message sent by Monsignor Dimas Lara Barbos, secretary of the Latin-American Conference (CELAM). In his keynote address, the UGCC Primate then presented an analysis of the existing situation of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and defined the priorities for the future: “The structural reforms, the development of new exarchies, new eparchies, and of the patriarchal order itself, must be aimed at the preaching of the Word of God and a growing quality of pastoral care”. He also expressed his conviction that the main strength of the Church consists in the clergy and the men and women religious who belong to it and exhorted the members of the Synod to closer collaboration, so that “God’s plan for our Church” be realized”.The development strategy of the UGCC. In his address the Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia, Stefan Soroka, described the main objectives for the development of the Church in the near future and urged Synod members “to realize a strategy of renewal guided by the presence of God”. The Eparch of Edmonton, Bishop David Motiuk, recalled the main phases of drafting the key directions of the Church’s development strategy for the period down to 2020. Both rapporteurs underlined that the principal “locus for the implementation of the ecclesial strategy is the parish community, since it is in the parish more often than not that the faithful experience their first meeting with Christ. A living parish community constitutes the human and divine space in which the human being’s relation with God is born, grows and matures”. That’s why a work group coordinated by Metropolitan Stefan and by Bishop Motiuk recommended to the Synod of Bishops a practical programme for the realization of the UGCC strategy, with the title “Parishes full of life – places in which to meet the living Christ”. On this basis a work group for the implementation of this strategy down to 2020 has been created.Examination of the Resolution of the 5th session of the Patriarchal Sobor. The Synod of Bishops was preceded by the 5th session of the Patriarchal Sobor (an assembly of laity, religious, monastics, clergy and hierarchy of the UGCC) on various aspects of religious life, held at Prudentopolis, Brazil. Its secretary, the hieromonk Tarsykiy Zalutskyi, OSBM, presented the conclusions of the work sessions and described a number of proposals that ought to contribute to the revival of monastic life in the UGCC, improve the formation of religious and involve them more widely in the missionary activity of the Church. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, on behalf of the Synod as a whole, promised that all the suggestions made during the work sessions would be taken into consideration by the synodal fathers and form a basis for the synodal decrees on the religious life. He also nominated a group of bishops for the final drafting of the project.Realization of catechumenate in the UGCC. Another session of the Synod was dedicated to ways of achieving a catechumenate in the UGCC. According to Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, secretary of the Synod, “the catechumenate is a kind of spiritual path/commitment that candidates for baptism undertook in the first centuries of life of the Church with a view to becoming full and active members of the Church” under the guidance of an expert Christian or priest. The UGCC devoted particular attention to the catechumenate two years ago, with the setting up of a work group to analyze the possibilities of recreating this practice in the ecclesial situation of our time. In the view of the synodal fathers, the experience of the catechumenate ought to be of aid to the Church both during the preparation of catechumens to be able to receive the sacraments of initiation, and to deepen the faith of baptized members of the Church. The work group was also tasked with preparing manuals thanks to which priests and catechists would be able to provide a course of catechumenate for adults who wish to receive baptism in the UGCC. Moreover, the necessary liturgical rites will be adopted for the implementation of the catechumenate; a task assigned to the patriarchal litugical commission. The next UGCC Synod of Bishops will be held in Canada in 2012, and will have as its main theme the role and contribution of the laity in the spiritual development of the community.