The head of the UGCC held a meeting with the new head of the Military Chaplaincy Service of the AFU

on October 31, the head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, met with the newly appointed head of the Military Chaplaincy Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Oleksandr Vovkotecha. The key topics of discussion were the systemic development of the Chaplaincy Institute, improvement of training of UGCC ministers, as well as cooperation in the field of rehabilitation and spiritual restoration of veterans and their families.

According to the UGCC Information Department, the meeting was also attended by Senior Lieutenant Rostislav Vysochan, chief specialist of the department of interaction with religious organizations of the Military Chaplaincy Service of the AFU. During the conversation, the parties discussed further systemic development of the chaplaincy service, in particular the issues of improving the training of chaplains. In this context, they discussed the expansion of cooperation between the National Defense University of Ukraine and the spiritual educational institutions of the UGCC.

A separate topic of conversation was cooperation in the field of rehabilitation and spiritual restoration of veterans and families of military personnel. The Head of the UGCC emphasized the importance of integrating the course “Healing the Wounds of War” into the training of chaplains. According to him, this course is an effective tool to help the wounded and support the families of the fighting, dead, missing and captured soldiers.

We will remind, earlier we reported that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved changes to the “Regulations on the procedure for issuing a mandate for the right to carry out military chaplaincy activities” in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the new amendments, the UOC priests are finally banned from performing chaplaincy activities in military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.