Military Chaplains Perfect Skills in Providing Pastoral Care in Preparation for and during Fighting
On April 10 the clergy who will provide pastoral care for members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine gathered at the Pushcha Vodytsya Center for Medical Rehabilitation and Sanatorium Treatment.
The Department of Social and Humanitarian Policy Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine told RISU that the meeting was attended by 43 priests and ministers of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.
The priests heard reports on historical analogies of Russian aggression and social-psychological aspects of the forming of an image of an enemy from the side of Russia.
The participants of the meeting were familiarized with the basics of protecting state secrets, the organization of medical support during warfare, the particularities of the psychological conditions of military personnel in the preparation for and during fighting, and were given recommendations on psychiatric and psychological assistance in the field.
Workshops on first aid and ways of working with negative behavioral manifestations of troops in preparation for fighting were held. The priests were reminded of the foundations of international humanitarian law and the experience of pastoral care of the military during peacekeeping operations.
Father Mykola Kvych, who participated in helping sailors during the blockade of military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Crimea and who was captured and detained by Russian invaders, spoke to the participants.
In May 2014 a second round of meetings is scheduled for other representatives of churches and religious organizations who could not participate in the first round.
