“Lord God instructed the church to fulfill the mission of preaching the good news, that is, evangelization. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as an integral part of the Ecumenical Church also participates in the mission,” said the head of the UGCC, Patriarch Sviatoslav, in his introductory address at a press conference at UNIAN on October 5, 2011, as he talked about the strategy for developing the UGCC for the period until 2020.

According to the hierarch, to fulfill the mission of the church, the bishops decided to define the strategy of activity of the church for the coming years as clearly as possible. To simplify the implementation of the project and to better monitor its course, a period of ten years was determined.

“The parish, led by the local bishop who is the symbol of unity within it, is the main component of the process of evangelization. For it is in the parish that the believers usually have their first encounters with Christ either through the participation in the Divine Liturgy on Sunday or through a baptism, wedding or funeral,” said the head of UGCC as he talked about the rational of the strategy, namely, the living parish.

“The development of the parish community should be our priority. By fostering and reviving communities we foster and vivify the whole Church,” stressed Patriarch Sviatoslav.

The Synod of Bishops, according to the patriarch, decided to concentrate the efforts of the whole church on developing the living parish, which is “the best means to achieve the goals of evangelization.” “The living and open parish will bring closer to Christ both those who practice the faith regularly and those who do so seldom (on Christmas and Easter) or do not do so at all,” explained Patriarch Sviatoslav.

UGCC’s Strategy for Development for the next ten years includes the following components of a living parish:

Leadership – the priest, religious and laity working together, building a parish as a meeting place with the living Christ.
Liturgy – the faithful pray to God and grow in His grace.
Catechesis – the faithful obtain knowledge about their faith and Church.
Koinonia – the faithful build the community.
Diaconia – the faithful go beyond the parish to serve others.
Missiology – the faithful evangelize to others, inviting them to life in Christ.

Only once each of these components is reached and implemented, says His Beatitude Sviatoslav, will the UGCC strategy for development be realized.

The Synod of Bishops, which took place in Brazil on September 5-11, approved a Strategy for Developing the UGCC for the period until 2020. At last year’s synod, held in 2010 in Lviv, a working group was created to formulate a vision for the UGCC for the next ten years. This group includes bishops, who were authorized on behalf of the synod to present a vision of the UGCC. Thus another group was created that has developed the appropriate mechanisms to achieve this goal.

In light of the accepted strategy, the hierarchy and pastors will focus their attention on the practicing members of the church (to further involve them in the mission of the church) and on those who for various reasons have moved away from the church or who have yet to have the occasion to know Jesus Christ.

To implement the adopted strategy, the Synod of Bishops appointed a working group for its implementation, headed by Bishop Ken (Novakovskyi), Eparch of New Westminster. And each diocesan bishop in his diocese will appoint in his eparchy/exarchate a person who will join the working group and coordinate the implementation of the UGCC strategy in the diocese.

UGCC Information Department

A Ukrainian heritage Program that combines a social community for both children and parents with:

• Catechism Program
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Classes are every Friday starting in September, 7 pm at Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Cathedral Parish, 501 4th Avenue, New Westminster. For more Information please contact:

Fr. Yuriy Vyshnevskyy: 604-526-1261, yuriy.m.vyshnevskyy@gmail.com

Dana Lupynis (assistant): 604-274-8631, lupynis@shaw.ca

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24.06.2011: Particularity of the UGCC theological tradition, which draws its roots from Eastern Christianity, identifies the need of a proper Catechism. Celebration of the jubilee of Millennium of Baptism of Rus’-Ukraine in 1988 as well as emergence of the UGCC from the underground – these two factors have clearly defined the idea of a new Catechism in which Christian faith would be transmitted in a proper millenarian tradition.

This idea was expressed by the Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav. On June 24 in Lviv, the UGCC Primate promulgated a new UGCC Catechism “Christ is our Easter” consisting of three parts: faith, prayer and life of the Church.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav is convinced that a better understanding of our proper Christian roots will help the faithful to rediscover their own identity in modern world marked by processes of globalization and assimilation. At the same time, it will contribute to a better understanding of the universal significance of our tradition.  “Current situation of the UGCC in Ukraine as well as abroad, the needs of the faithful of our Church define the goal of the Catechism – to help the faithful to understand better and implement more profoundly in ones life Christian faith transmitted to us by the Fathers of our Church; to cherish Kyivan Christian Tradition; and in their light to find the responses to the challenges of modern world”, – noted the Head of the UGCC.

In his opening word to the UGCC Catechism, His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled the words of his venerable predecessor Lubomyr Card. Husar who explicated the need of such a publication in the following words: “The teaching of Christ is one and the same for all, the faith of Christ is also the same for all Catholics regardless of their right or their belonging to some local church. Instead, theological understanding of the truths revealed by God can be different in different cultures, as there are different liturgical rites”.

The Catechism “Christ is our Easter” continues the tradition of written or printed catechisms of the UGCC which origins date back to the XVI century. Since then there was not a century without presentation of a new Catechism. To mention a few of them, noteworthy are: “Catechism” from XVII century compiled by St. Josaphat, Archbishop of Polotsk; Catechism entitled “Proclamation to the people or Word for catholic people” from XVIII century; “Great Catechism for parochial schools” from XIX century and Catechism “God’s Teaching” from XX century.

Presentation of the Catechism is within the International scientific-practical conference, taking place in Lviv on 24-27 June 2011. The conference participants are Bishops, priests, religious and faithful of the UGCC from the USA, Canada, Russia, Poland, Brazil, Serbia, Portugal and Ukraine. The new Catechism will be translated into English, Polish, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish.

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Catechism of UGCC presented in Moscow

6.10.2011: The UGCC Catechism “Christ is Our Easter,” was officially presented in Moscow on September 29. The Catechism was presented by Fr. Serhii Nikolenko, administrator of the parish of St. Ihnatiii Антіохійського, and Oleksandr Shvedov, editor of the official site of the residency for Catholics of Byzantine rite in Russia (www.rkcvo.ru).

Fr. Serhii Nikolenko first reminded participants of the presentation that the “Catechism of the National Church is not just a theological work, but that by definition the text should reflect and express the already established faith as presented in the context of the national culture, religious traditions, and more. Speaking of the Catechism of the UGCC, then in this respect it is perhaps precisely aimed at the Christian people who are found in this Church.”

Oleksandr Shvedov presented the general structure of the Catechism of the UGCC: the Catechism is created on the principle “law of prayer – law of faith.” The two “pillars” of the text are the Creed and the Liturgy of Basil the Great, the fragments from which there are epigraphs to every part of the Catechism.

According to Fr. Nikolenko, the Catechism “Christ is Out Easter” has great value, its target audience is evident. Speaking of Catholics in Russia, “currently we don’t really know who these people are, how much of a single religious and moral tradition they have. In the Catechism of the UGCC this is clear. These people have the legacy of an agrarian culture, the traditions of a patriarchal traditional family, which was not completely destroyed and which has the possibility to be renewed, and deeply rooted folk religiosity. By the way, the Catechism is perfectly illustrated with icons, on the back of these pages are fragments of services of relevant holidays, and the language of theology is for to average person.”

Thus Shvedov told about the history and traditions of the UGCC.

At the conclusion of the presentation all guests were able to ask questions.

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UGCC Information Department