In Western Ukraine began trainings for priests who work with people with "postmaidan stress".

The first training session took place on the territory of Ternopil-Zboriv archdiocese in Marian Church in the spiritual center of Zarvanytsya. The following meetings are scheduled in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv archdiocese and in Sambir-Drohobych diocese. According to Fr.Petro Rak, about 200 priests took part in the training. Such trainings, he said, will be held for about six months. "The peak of this syndrome will last for a long time. Lent period is a time when people tend to confess and communicate with priests. We first pay attention of the clergy to confession, the emotional experience a person can feel on the occasion of the latest happenings in the country should not be missed, and pastoral care to people who participated in these events should be skillfully provided"- commented on Fr.Petro Rak.

Such trainings are held at the initiative of the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), who asked the bishops of the UGCC during the Lent term to prepare priests for the spiritual support of people who participated in the protests on Independence Square in Kyiv.

The project is provided by the Commissions department of Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC, including its head Fr.Petro Rak and his assistants. The meeting was held in Zarvanytsya with the blessing of Ternopil-Zboriv Archbishop Vasyl’ (Semenyuk).

 

The speakers at the conference were Fr.Andriy Zelinskyi, Jesuit; the psychologist Carl Plesner, an expert in psychology and an expert in the field of post-traumatic syndrome, Olena Gantsyak-Kas'kiv, an active participant of events at Maidan in Kyiv and the worker at Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC.

 

 

UGCC Department of Information