Local youth ministry high on the agenda of Ukrainian Eparchy

Bishop David Motiuk plans for youth to create their own website

- CNS photo by Mark Stehle Ukrainian Catholic Bishop David Motiuk arrives for the Divine Liturgy Sept 30 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Bishop Stephen Soter Ortynsky.

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Prince George, B.C.

The Edmonton Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy is working on plans to strengthen youth ministry and to prepare the local Church for the long haul.

Bishop David Motiuk made the announcement upon his return from Philadelphia, where he attended the world synod of Ukrainian Catholic bishops.

In an Oct. 9 interview from Prince George, the bishop spoke of plans to organize an eparchial assembly that would discuss all areas of Church life, including evangelization and the revival of youth ministry - two of the chief themes of the synod.

Remarkable synod

The synod, the sixth Motiuk has attended since becoming a bishop in 2002, is the first ordinary synod held outside of Ukraine since the Church emerged from the catacombs in the late 1980s.

It was held from Sept. 27 through Oct. 5 in Philadelphia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainian Catholic bishop in the United States, Bishop Stephen Soter Ortynsky.

Heavy on the bishops' agenda was the revival of Church ministry. It has been said that because of a lack of youth ministry, the Church has probably already lost two generations.

Lost parishioners

Over the years, especially since the 1960s, many faithful began attending Roman Catholic parishes in Canada because of the lack of local Ukrainian Catholic parishes and interchurch marriages, noted Motiuk.

"Each year, the synod tries to reflect on a different theme. In the past, we reflected on the role of the laity, on religious; next year most likely it will be on vocations.

Youth struggle

"This year, the youth theme is primarily motivated by our concern for people of a younger age whose path is not clear and who struggle in their own faith development."

The synodal theme of youth flows from an event the Church held Aug. 13-19 in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The event, called Patriarchal Sobor, is a worldwide assembly held every five years.

More than 200 delegates from all over the world, including bishops, clergy and laity, attended the sobor, which focused on youth and their role in the Church.

The second component of the sobor was a Youth for Christ rally with some 12,000 youth participating.

"We were told it was the largest youth gathering in Ukraine in recent history," noted Motiuk, saying the sobor's reflections and conclusions were presented to the worldwide synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops.

The synod is currently drafting a pastoral letter to the youth of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, whose recommendations Motiuk said will be part and parcel of his own pastoral plan in working with youth in the Edmonton Eparchy.

"The first is youth evangelizing youth and the second is that the Church should support the youth in developing the tools that they will need to accomplish this task," he said.

"Young people will be the primary agents of evangelization."

One idea to be implemented quickly will be a youth website.

"The youth could be invited to submit their own photos and articles and questions," the bishop said. "This website will be youth-driven and for youth."

Pastoral plan

Motiuk also spoke of his determination to develop a "far-reaching" pastoral plan to strengthen the local Church. The idea, he explained, is to see "where do we as an Eastern Catholic Church see ourselves being called by the Holy Spirit 25 years from now."

The plan will be drafted in an eparchial assembly similar to what Roman Catholics call a diocesan synod.

An eparchial pastoral council to be created later this year will organize the assembly.

Motiuk plans to spend at least a year listening to the laity, to the religious and the clergy of the eparchy to prepare the pastoral plan.

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