“The activity of the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center will strengthen the relations of Greek Catholics in the Diaspora with Ukraine,” Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh)

In an interview for the magazine “Patriarchate,” Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh), the head of Administration of the Patriarchal Curia and secretary of Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, stated that a way to strengthen the connection of faithful outside of Ukraine with their native church in Ukraine is through the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center, which was founded recently as part of the Patriarchal Curia. According to the bishop, “the task of this center is to organize pilgrimages to holy places in Ukraine, and also to offer pilgrimages to prominent sacred objects of world Christianity.” In response to a question about the cooperation of the Patriarchal Curia with eparchies and exarchates in the diaspora, the head of the administration of the Patriarchal Curia noted that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was unique as it has structures not only on native territory but also all over the world: in western Europe, in North and South America, and even in Australia. As Bishop Bohdan said, one from the substantial tasks of the Patriarchal Curia is to “maintain a direct link between different parts of the church and to strengthen the unity in the global space. A person who connects all of us is the patriarch – the head and father of our church. He is a visible symbol and the principle of the unity of all faithful of the UGCC in Ukraine and abroad.” The head of the administration of the Patriarchal Curia also commented on the value of the work of the Information Department in communicating with faithful of the churches who live abroad: “Exactly due to its [Information Department] activity we can know instantly about the life of the church in Argentina, in the United States, or in Australia, and faithful and clergy outside Ukraine can receive the latest information about the church’s life on native land. Of course, communication within the church needs to be improved. We hope very much that our eparchies and exarchates abroad will send more information about church and public life of the Ukrainian society, so that that the life of Ukrainians around the world can resonate in their native land. And this life – as we know from pastoral visits of eparchies and exarchates abroad – is no less interesting or rich in content as on native land!” noted Bishop Bohdan. We remind that the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center of the UGCC was created on May 8, 2009, as part of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC by the decree of Patriarch Lubomyr as a response to the initiative of the Patriarchal Community of St. Prince Volodymyr Equal-to-the-Apostles to better organize pilgrimage activity of the UGCC and to provide for the pilgrims’ spiritual needs. In February and March of this year the monitoring group of the center examined 44 pilgrimage sites in western Ukraine. In the near future the center will begin work on creating a web resource with extensive information about the pilgrimage places and pilgrimage routes. And person, group, or tourist company will be able to sue the pilgrimage center’s passportized routes.

Information Department of the UGCC