Pastors are called to help people heal from corruption – message of the Synod of Bishops

Pastors are called to help people heal from corruption, and the Holy Sacrament of Confession is a special hospitalto cure human conscience from all sins,”goes the Address of the Synod of Bishops of Kyiv-Galician Major Archbishopric of the UGCC" On overcoming of moral illness of corruption” as of April 6.

The conscience of every honest person is a space in which acts the Lord’s grace in human life,” the document reads. “This voice awakens us, making us capable of perceiving good and evil, and also capable of making decisions according to God's will for us and our neighbors. If this inner core that the Holy Scripture also calls the heart is morally destroyed, “aperson can no longer feel that corruption is evil.”

"The Holy Sacrament of Confession is aspecial hospital to cure human conscience from all sins,”claim the message authors.“In this sacrament,  our Savior, through the ministry of his priest, as the evangelical Good Samaritan, pours the healing flow of God's mercy on our wounds, helping us release from the captivity of out sinful habits, and gives us the necessary grace to resist the destructive power of corrupt society. May every believer before coming to repentance sincerely examinehis conscience before the Lord, to see if he might be guilty against public justice and love of neighbor through participation in corrupt practices, through the creation of corrupt schemes or promoting them, through giving , receiving bribes or extortion etc. Awareness of the sin is a sign of a living conscience, which is the first step to healing. So, the humble confession of sin to God in the presence of a priest in the Sacrament of Penance must be accompanied by a sincere desire to break up with the sin and a willingness to generously compensate for the damage caused to other people and society as a whole. And let pastors be watchful over the conscience of the faithful and in the administration of the Sacraments of Penance, and pay attention of those repenting to sin of corruption, explaining its great danger that in some cases may even become an obstacle to the salvation of their immortal soul.”

The Synod of the UGCC also urges the faithful to pray for by people enslaved by the sin of corruption.

"A good initiative in the race for purification of the society from this evil can be  the parish “Book of honesty,”to which will be added the names of people who voluntarily give up giving and receiving bribes or perform other corruption practices,” said the bishops.