In Lviv, there was a meeting of the Catechetical Commission of Kiev-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC taking place

On the 5^th of March2013, at the premises of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the UCU, which is in Lviv, there was a meeting of the Catechetical Commission of Kiev-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC taking place.

At the beginning of this meeting, Dr. Volodymyr Sheremeta, head of the Bureau of Kiev-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC on environmental issues, raised the subject of responsibility formation as to what concerns nature, which, in his view, is an essential part of catechesis. In addition, he noted that such a responsibility is based on the basic principles of the Christian faith, and each person has an ecological vocation, which consists in the responsibility for the world, which was created by God. The Head of the Eco-Bureau has presented to the heads of the diocesan catechetical commissions the Ecological Church Calendar- the Year of faith and cooperation so as to preserve water, which contains quotations from the Holy Scripture and various instructional materials that will be useful for the ecological catechesis of children and adults, which were developed by the representatives of the Bureau. Moreover, Volodymyr Sheremeta made an announcement that soon there will be published the collection of ecological sermons.

Moreover, at this meeting there was considered the issue of organization and holding of competitions that will take place at the initiative of the representatives of UCU. In such a way, Fr. Pavlo Khud, Head of the Information and External Relations Department of UCU, told that the UCU, together with the Lviv regional Minor Academy of Sciences and a portal about social media, the Watcher (watcher.com.ua), announced a competition for high school students "Christian Values and Social Media". The participation in the competition is open to students of 9-11 grades, to the participants of the Olympiad in Christian ethics, to the students of parish catechetical schools, departments of the religious studies of minor academies of sciences, Catholic schools and schools of social entertainer or members of young Christian communities. The contest consists in children’s necessity to create a project using social media (Facebook, Vkontakte, Foursquare, Twitter, etc.) with the offers of how to better use the social media so as to promote Christian values and to create social environments for their peers.

Up until the 25^th of March 2013, members submit their ideas and project vision for the consideration of the board.  Text description should be of no more than a sheet of A4 page and has to be sent to the following e-mail: [email protected] (with the designation - competition "Christian Values and Social Media"). And besides, at the initiative of the UCU together with the Lviv regional Minor Academy of Sciences and the portal "Historical Truth", there will be held the historical contest "Unidentified history of my land". The works for the contest may submit by the students of 9-11 grades, those who are enrolled in secondary schools, Minor Academy of Sciences, school youth or youth members of scientific societies. The project, which reveals the unknown history of a particular location, is presented to the board.

The Heads of the catechetical diocesan commissions were also reporting on the process of preparation for the contest "Song of the Heart 2013". The Deputy Head of the Patriarchal Catechetical Commission sister Louise Tsyupa, SSMI, reported that for the participation in this song contest, already volunteered children from Australia and Slovakia. According to Sister Louise, such a contest will attract attention towards the children of migrants. Sister reported that on the 27-28^th of September, in Rome, there will be held the World Congress of catechists within the frames of the Year of Faith, which will also be attended by the catechists from Ukraine.

UGCC Department of Information