1000 Children Take Part in "Olympics of the Christian Faith"
Lviv - The final round of the All-Ukraine Olympics on the Foundations of the Christian Faith was held at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in western Ukrainian Lviv on 15 January 2004. The competition progressed from parishes to deaneries to eparchies (dioceses) to the metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). Approximately 1000 children from 10 regions of Ukraine (8 eparchies and 2 exarchates) took part in various levels of the competition. A special commission, operating with the blessing of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, honored the very best among the competitors.
The contest was conducted at the initiative of the UGCC's Patriarchal Catechetical Commission and UCU's Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute. One of the event's goals was to encourage children to learn more about the truths of the Christian faith and to spread knowledge about the life and activities of two heads of the UGCC in the 20 th century, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and Patriarch Josyf Slipyj.
"By bringing children and young people to a deeper understanding of the truths of the faith, we deepen the whole life of the church," said Sr. Luiza Ciupa, director of UCU's Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute. "Through these children, we enter into many homes. Together with them, whole families are motivated to deepen their understanding of the truths of the faith."
Photo: Sr. Liudmyla Panasiuk, head of the Catechetical Commission of the UGCC's Donetsk-Kharkiv Exarchate, traveled to Lviv with her students. Iryna Ivaniuk from Donetsk (in a red sweater) was one of the laureates of the Olympics.
Source: www.risu.org.ua, www.ucu.edu.ua
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