The UGCC prepare instructions for priests in the election campaign

Tuesday, 10 September 2013, 17:27

Till the end of the year in the first reading in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church it is planned to approve the instruction for pastors how to behave during the electioneering

See also:

Appeal of His Beatitude Sviatoslav to the Sons and Daughters of the Ukrainian People in Ukraine and Abroad, and to all People of Good Will
His Beatitude Sviatoslav congratulated Sisters of the Incarnate Word Order with on holding Cathedral Chapter
A patriarchate for the UGCC is not only a title. Above all, it’s a way of existing, — His Beatitude Sviatoslav

It was informed on September 4^th by Father and Head of the UGCC His Beatitude Sviatoslav during a web conference on the site of Religious Information Service of Ukraine.

"To protect our pastors from the use in the election campaign, we are preparing a separate instruction. Hopefully at the end of this year at the Synod we will have the first reading of this document. The discussion will take place, and it will be put over to every priest as a certain rule of conduct, failure of which will be subject to disciplinary consequences, "- said the Arch-priest.

He reminded that due to the fact of irregularities priests’ responsibilities during the previous elections in the Church it was created the commission that conducted the research regarding each fact. The head of the commission was Bishop Igor (Voznyak ), Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv .

«There was a clear and sharp conversation with each of those priests. Some evidence has not been confirmed, some confirmed. Strict disciplinary measures were taken to the fault of each priest. Someone got oral warning, and someone - a written reprimand. The results of this checking may have been unknown to the wider public, because it probably was an inside analysis, organized by our Church. The purpose of this action was not to punish anyone, even if it is also useful, but understand how aggressively and in what way our priests have been used for campaigning, "- remarked the Head of the Church.

He noted that the methods with which the pastors were used "were very treacherous." According to the Arch-priest’s words, there were cases that even His Beatitude Lyubomyr was not aware that he was used for political campaigning. Someone stood next to him, took a picture and then printed in campaign materials as a fact of support by His Beatitude Lyubomyr. "It is the immoral use and instrumentalization of a blind person," - His Beatitude Sviatoslav supposes.

So, he says, the Church wanted to understand how to counteract this in the future to prevent such things.

Information Department of the UGCC