PLANNING IN THE ARCHEPARCHY OF PHILADELPHIA: THE PREPARATORY PHASE

September 18, 2021

Over the next year, with prayer, mutual listening and discussion, the global Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is elaborating a general pastoral plan that should serve as a framework for the long-term pastoral plans of individual eparchies. At the same time the eparchies are engaging in their own discernment regarding where the Lord is leading them. The Preparatory Phase of the Archeparchy’s planning process anticipates certain important concrete steps that need to be taken immediately. In this phase the Archeparchy will already incorporate many elements expected to be proposed by the Pastoral Council of the UGCC by the end of 2022.

As the members of the Philadelphia Archeparchy continue to share the news about our salvation in Christ, we focus on bringing the Paschal proclamation to the suffering world around us: “Christ is risen from the dead, conquering death by death, and to those in the tombs giving life.” We will best witness to this joyful and liberating message if we live it in personal relationships that reflect the love of the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the heart of the Church’s pastoral vision. We also need to address practical issues that are necessary for the Church to flourish. The goal of this preparatory phase is to position the Archeparchy for long-term pastoral planning by December 2022 while strengthening existing evangelization and pastoral initiatives and developing new ones. At the end of the preparatory phase, our Philadelphia Archeparchy should be better prepared to fulfill its mission “to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28, 19).

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