UGCC Rep Participates in European Forum of Bishop Conferences
St Gallen , Switzerland — Fr. Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Patriarchal Curia of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), represented the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC in the 33rd annual meeting of the secretaries of the European Conferences of Bishops, held in the city of St Gallen, Switzerland, from 26 to 30 May 2005.
"Such forums are an excellent opportunity for individual bishops conferences to communicate and develop a unified stance on various challenges of modern times," said Fr. Shevchuk, sharing his impressions on the conference. "For the UGCC, such meetings are extremely important, since they allow our church to enter Europe and give Ukraine a chance to be accepted in Europe , also."
Among the issues discussed at the conference were the future of Europe and the tasks of the church after the EU enlargement; bioethics, the church's attitude to a human embryo and its use for medical and other purposes, and brain research with its possible threats to human dignity; and finally, the cooperation between different bishops conferences, particularly, in the field of ecumenism.
According to Fr. Shevchuk, the participants of the conference were particularly interested in the political events, interreligious situation and church-state relations in Ukraine.
Today, there are 34 national Catholic bishops conferences in Europe, which have an all-European body which coordinates the activity of the Catholic Church on this continent.
Source: www.ugcc.org.ua
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