Report of His Beatitude Sviatoslav during the Synod of Bishops: “Priority of the Church is to preach the Word of God and provide our faithful with a qualitative pastoral care”

On 5 September 2011, in Curitiba, Brazil, began the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. On the first day of a working session of the Synod, Bishop Volodymyr (Kovbych), Eparch of Curitiba, presided at a Divine Liturgy. In his homily, Bishop Volodymyr emphasized the role of religious people in the UGCC from historical and theological point of view. At the beginning of the first working session, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, greeted the guests who arrived to the Synod upon the invitation  of the Head of the UGCC: Card. Raymundo Damasceno Assis– President of the Brazilian Bishop’s Conference, Most Rev. Jose Vitti – Archbishop of Curitiba Diocese, Archbishop Joan Bosco de Suza – President of the National Bishop’s Conference of southern region of Brazil, Most Rev. Jeremia Ferenz – Archbishop of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church of Latin America, Most Rev. Rafael Benarski – Auxiliary Bishop of Curitiba Diocese, Ms. Viktoria Syrotiuk – Head Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representative. Greetings in a written form were also sent by Archbishop Dimas Lara Barbos – Secretary of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM).   “Each of the guests delivered a greeting word, expressing the joy that the Synod is held in Brazil and wished the light of the Holy Spirit to the Synodal Fathers. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in return, thanked the guests for their presence and benevolence and expressed his wish that the cooperation between the UGCC and Brazilian Dioceses would become even deeper” – reported Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC.   The central moment of the first day of the session was the program report of the Head of the UGCC in which he presented an analysis of the current state of the UGCC and outlined priorities for the nearest future. According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the “priority of the Church is to preach the Word of God and provide our faithful with a qualitative pastoral care”. Our structural reforms, development of new Exarchates, Eparchies and even the Patriarchal Order should be directed exactly towards that purpose. The Head of the UGCC expressed his conviction that the Church’s main strength to achieve this goal is its clergy and religious people. He also shared his thoughts as to ensuring appropriate training of these co-workers in the work of evangelization. In the end, the UGCC Primate paid his attention to possible internal and external threats which can make it more difficult for the Church to achieve her goals and called the members of the Synod to cooperation in fulfilling “God’s plan as to our Church.”   On the same day, the members of the Synod listened to the reports on the activity of the Patriarchal Curia, Commissions and Departments of the patriarchal level and reports of the synodal committees. This year detailed reports were made by the Laity Committee, Youth Committee, Social Justice and Charitable Activity Committee.    

Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC