Fr. Rostyslav Pendiuk: ‘Openness is key principle of UGCC youth movement’

“We have already taken the first step in the creation of a churchwide Christian youth movement by organizing the conference ‘Spiritual Formation and Moral Education of Youth’ and by engaging in discussion with its members. In a sense, this conference is the beginning of the Christian youth movement since awareness of the necessity to start it has already begun to live in us, in our minds, hearts and prayers,” Fr. Rostyslav Pendiuk, chair of the UCC Commission on Matters of Youth said to a correspondent of the UGCC Information Department during the above mentioned conference. When asked about the need for such a movement for Greek Catholic youth, Fr. Rostyslav noted that competition between Christian communities is not a normal and positive practice for the Church, so “we must be above it, create a community that will be a single entity, enabling it to fulfill great things.” The chair of the commission emphasized that the youth movement will not have the form of an organization but “become a natural phenomenon, which will exist by itself.” “Openness is a key principle of the youth movement of the UGCC. So our first goal is to make sure we take the correct first practical steps, because if the first button is fastened incorrectly, then all the rest of the buttons will also be incorrectly fastened,” added Fr. Rostyslav. The conference “The Spiritual Formation and Moral Education of Youth,” according to its organizers, is a kind of extension of events that took place August 13-17, 2007, in Kyiv, where the 4th session of the churchwide Patriarchal Council of the UGCC on the theme “Youth in the Church in the Third Millennium” was held. The conference was held to launch the only youth movement in the UGCC. As a result, nearly 20 young people
were made responsible for the creation and development of the youth movement of the Church.  

UGCC Information Department