Faithful of UGCC Invited to Participate in Preparation of Synod

Friday, 29 May 2009 10:06

29.05.2009, [10:50] // UGCC //

On April 2, 2009, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), signed a decree which, on the basis of the decision of last year's Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, proclaimed the convocation of the 2009 Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. The synod will take place in Lviv - Briukhovychi from November 29 to December 9. Patriarch Lubomyr calls the faithful of the church to pray that the preparation and conduct of the synod and its work be fruitful for the life of the UGCC.

The patriarch said that the main theme of the 2009 synod is evangelization. “Evangelization is sharing the faith with those who have not yet received it and with those in whom it has become weak. In the post-Soviet period we see that for many people the knowledge and understanding of God is very superficial. The task of the church, while not forcing the divine word on anybody, is to present the truths of the faith. To help people understand their vocation and task in life,” the head of the UGCC explained.

In 2009, as was done in previous years, the clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church are invited to participate in the preparation of the next Synod of Bishops of the UGCC. About this the head of the UGCC emphasized: “In past years we have called priests, religious and lay people who are interested in expressing their thoughts on the theme of the synod to send their opinions to the secretariat of the synod. Many members of our church have done this, for which we are very thankful. The secretariat familiarized itself with their suggestions and on their basis made a summary, which was later given to all the bishops as part of the materials of the synod. Certain ideas indeed enriched our discussion.”

As Patriarch Lubomyr noted, this year, considering the positive experience, it has been decided to renew the invitation: “in fact the Holy Spirit operates in different ways and through different people… Therefore we invite the members of our church, if they feel they have ideas which can help fruitfully develop the main theme of the synod, to express them in written form,” the head of the UGCC said.

We ask all those interested to send their reflections by September 30, 2009, to the address of the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC (Riznyts’ka St. 11Á/28-29, city of Kyiv, 01001) or by e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with a note “About evangelization.”

http://risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;29247/