Bishops of the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic Churches of Ukraine meet

Saturday, 24 October 2009 08:57

Lviv - 20091022 - A joint meeting of the bishops of the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic Churches of Ukraine took place on October 19-20, 2009. The meeting began with the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Dormition of Holy Mother of God of the Roman Catholic Church of Lviv. Archbishop-metropolitan of Lviv Mechyslav Mokshytskyj led the Liturgy. The sermon was said by His Beatitude Lubomyr, the head of the UGCC, who marked that "every community of people is a sign of activity of the Holy Spirit."

"Such a meeting of bishops of two churches, which represent different traditions, is a visible sign of unity of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. This should become a visible sign of the possibility of unity in today's society," commented Reverend Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh), secretary of Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, to the Information Department.

On October 20, at 8 a.m. with the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantium rite led by the Most Reverend Bishop Ihor (Voznyak), Archbishop of Lviv, in the retreat center of Lviv Archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, began the second day of the joint meeting of bishops. The working meetings were conducted after the Liturgy. The main theme of the meetings was "The Word of God in life and the mission of the church."

Bishop Peter Herkulyan Mal'chuk, auxiliary bishop of Odessa-Simferopol Diocese, gave a speech presenting the results of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, which was conducted last year in Rome and was devoted to the theme of God’s Word. Afterwards, a discussion was held where the bishops of both churches shared their opinions and visions on how to better preach God’s Word.

"It should be noted that one of the results of the discussion was a suggestion that next year joint retreats for the bishops of the two churches be held," said Bishop Bohdan in conclusion.