On October 23, 2017, the guidebook “Serve one another in love” was presented in Lviv. The book is aimed to organize community service at parishes in Ukraine. The presentation was held as a part of the all-Ukrainian workshop of community service syncelli at eparchies and exarchates of the UGCC. The workshop became an event of international interest and was visited by representatives of Caritas Belorussia and Romania.
During the workshop, the action plan for development of the community service was reviewed and results of the survey on current status of the community service and charity in Ukrainian Greek Catholic parishes were announced. The survey lasted over two months and encompassed the bigger part of UGSS parishes.
Both publication of the guidebook and survey were initiated by Caritas Ukraine as a part of the project “Creation of the framework for development of UGCC parish community service” with the support of Catholic Relief Services. The project started in July 2017. The second stage of the project will be started soon, which foresees creation of coach teams at eparchies, their training as well as training of active volunteers and support of certain parochial projects aimed at promotion of the community service at the local level.
The workshop concluded with setting plans for community service and distribution of published guidelines among representatives of UGCC eparchies and exarchates. It is expected, that all materials will be publicly accessible in the Internet in Ukraine and abroad. The guidelines for community service organization also went to Belorussia, where the national Caritas organized the same project. Books travelled to Rumania too to be introduced to a numerous Ukrainian community of believers.
After the workshop, representatives of Caritas Ukraine and Caritas Belorussia paid a working visit to Kyiv and on the following day went to Yerevan. These days, Armenia is holding an international conference of Caritas representatives aimed at experience exchange among community service organizations and creation of parochial Caritas centers.
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