More effort on a Greek Catholic catechism

Efforts have been made on this before. There is already a project underway by the UGCC in Australia with much chatter about it on forums, blogs, and the like. It's quite in vogue in certain circles to parse through the current catechism to pick out things and ask whether they are relevant or "binding" to Eastern Catholics. One group takes the document as an inviolate whole while the other feels comfortable using it as a doorstop.

(RISU) - "For a few years now we have worked on presenting the Catechism to the faithful of our Church– to explain the truths of the faith, considering both the teachings of the holy Church in general and the specifics of own tradition." So said Patriarch Lubomyr, Head of the UGCC, in an interview for Radio Resurrection, commenting on the decision of this year’s Synod of Bishops to establish a Patriarchal Catechetical Foundation "Catechism of the UGCC." "In the Catechism these truths of the holy faith will be properly explained, so that every believer will be able to use it, not only theologians. We are working on this project, and much has already been done. We hope in the near future to hand on this Catechism, this explanation of the truths of our faith, in an appropriate printed form to our faithful," the Head of the UGCC continued.

According to Patriarch Lubomyr, the realization of this project will have financial costs. They are in particular related to the fact that for the writing of the Catechism researchers are brought from different countries and it is necessary to cover the cost at least for their business trips. "We also have to be conscious that the UGCC exists in different countries, on different continents where the faithful of our Church already do not speak Ukrainian as easily as, for example, we who live here in Ukraine. We want to pass also to them the treasure of our faith, to explain what they believe in, because they also are members of our Church. This means that we will be forced to translate this Catechism into other languages. We have to do this not only for the sake of the members of our Church but also to share with others the features of our reception of the holy faith," the Head of the UGCC explained. The Patriarchal Catechetical Foundation, according to His Beatitude Lubomyr, has to collect the necessary money to be able to carry out this large project of writing and translating the Catechism of the UGCC into other languages.

"A Church which did not live through persecution, destruction, liquidation, and oppression for decades or even centuries usually has at its disposal certain means with which it can pay for its own necessities. Our Church in this century is in a very difficult financial position, because all the goods which the Church had which were given to it in the past and with which it could pay all necessities were taken away, and to the present they still have not been returned to us. So the unique source which we have is the offerings of our people, sacrifices from a good heart," His Beatitude Lubomyr said, speaking about the decision of the Synod to establish the Patriarchal Catechetical Foundation "Catechism of the UGCC."