Any crisis can be beneficial – UGCC Bishop Borys Gudziak comments on the post-quarantine reality
Challenges, opportunities, reinterpretations and changes were discussed on April 24 at an online forum of responsible people organized by the Patriarchal Commission for Youth Affairs of the UGCC.
The theme “Post-Quarantine Era: New Reality” brought together representatives of the Church, business, culture, community and government. We bring to your notice a few insights from the report of Archbishop and Metropolitan Bishop of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak. This is reported by the Press Service of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC based on the materials of "Dyvensvit".
There is no crisis that cannot be benefited from. It will be a pity if we miss this crisis. After all, in the economically developed world, Christianity is now in retreat. Last year in America, for every person who joined the Church, 6 people left it. Therefore, we must now see what is really life-giving, and what is only a layer of epochs and cultures that does not speak and is even harmful. This is where the main focus should be ― what is important and how to cherish it in yourself and among yourself. Therefore, such a forum and such communication is a new opportunity to hear each other.
The standard Is Jesus Christ
There are many challenges and the biggest one is for the Church to be a Church. If we consider the Ukrainian migration aspect, we have lost 80 % of the faithful. This is the first challenge. The standard for this is the Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ. And this standard is better visible at critical times.
We won't go back, and we don't need to go back to what happened.
We were researching the underground of the Ukrainian Church. What a phenomenon! It is a big mistake that when leaving the underground, we looked nostalgically at what was before WWII, wanting to return to what we considered normal, familiar. And now we all need to understand: we will not go back and we do not need to go back to what we used to have.
Look at how we are now entering horizontal communication. This is what the Church needs. The territoriality of parishes and dioceses does not matter as much as it used to. Now you can watch the Service from any Church in all countries and continents.
The most important thing now is to cooperate, communicate, and remove filters
The most important thing now is to cooperate, communicate, and remove filters. We need to be open and sincere and restore a healthy concept of parenthood. This is one of the problems in the world. Men today step back from the responsibility of parenthood. Question: what kind of parents are they? What kind of spiritual fathers are priests and bishops? We must focus on our relationship with God. Christ invites us to be like Him ― sons and daughters of the Father. Therefore, we must have exalted eyes to God.
I see in my life that this time is an opportunity to rethink. The person must be heard healed. At the deepest level, only the Lord can heal us. Only in God can we free ourselves from trauma. The crisis allows us to call this name, to talk about it horizontally.
