We testify and build up unity of one Church of Christ in Ukraine, - Head of the UGCC about fraternal meeting of bishops of UGCC and RCC

Saturday, 27 November 2021, 11:00

It is important that ecumenism should not be just a beautiful idea but a style of our life when we speak to Ukrainian society and the whole world as the only Church, the only Body of Christ. We are striving to hear Greek Catholics and Roman Catholics speak to a contemporary man with one voice.

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His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC commented on a fraternal meeting between bishops of the UGCC and RCC held on Thursday, November 25 in the premises “Svitlytsia” retreat center of Lviv Archeparchy.

Such kind of a fraternal meeting takes place annually and has been lasting for thirty years. As a matter of fact it is often preceded by three-day retreat which is organized by both confessions at a time.

In his comment to the UGCC Department for Information His Beatitude Sviatoslav said that the meeting had been more special than it was last year when all meetings were held online due to the quarantine. Bishops need to communicate.

Another valuable thing about conducting this meeting is visitation of an Apostolic nuncio. “With the beginning of the pandemic we haven’t had an Apostolic nuncio, only a chargé d'affaires to the Holy See. Now the newly appointed Apostolic nuncio had an opportunity to meet all Catholic bishops of Ukraine for the first time.

“The core element of our meeting which is important to everyone is a topic of the synodal path in the Catholic Church declared by His Holiness Pope Francis”, says the Major Archbishop of the UGCC.

As for him the synodal path of Church presupposes a common journey, a shared responsibility for our Church in the third millennium, which should be felt by all: clergy, laypeople, monk and nuns.

“Even though this path in Greek Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church looks different due to some peculiarities and different tradition of synodality – the discussion was extremely interesting, the fraternal meeting was truly filled with a sense of brotherly discussion and shared concern”, he added.

One of the greatest values of the meeting, the Head of the UGCC assumes, is that bishops in such a way testify and build up unity of the only Church in Ukraine.

The UGCC Department for Information