"We need to change people's attitudes towards the disabled" - Barbara Wojcik

The round table "Models of socialization of disabled people on the basis of experiences in L'Arche communities" was held on October 3, as part of the 7th ESW. The event was attended by leaders of the L'Arche community in Ukraine and abroad.

The moderator of the round table, Natalia Bordun, Director of the Institute of Leadership and Management at UCU, stressed that people who want to be around the disabled and remain children even in adulthood have particular success in working with disabled people.

Michelle Dormal, Head of the L'Arche Community, France, related the origin of the community in France. "Jean Vanier visited the monk Thomas and met a lot of disabled in his community. As he was leaving, people asked him to return. This was the beginning of L'Arche.” Barbara Wojcik, National Head of L'Arche in Poland, shared how the life of disabled people is organized in the Polish community. She told about common prayers, dinners and celebrations with "friends" of the community, volunteers and assistants. However, Ms. Wojcik sees a broader main task for L'Arche: "We need to change people's attitudes to disabled people, so that they understand their talent and are not afraid of them. We have to share their gifts with the world, so that it can learn openness from them."

Sung prayer for Ukraine

In the Church of the Holy Eucharist, as a part of the ESW an evening of choral spiritual singing "Prayer for Ukraine" took place on October 2. The choristers performed traditional hymns in new arrangements and folk songs.

The presenters of the spiritual concert, Anastasia Voytyuk and Dmytro Bartkovo, introduced the choirs and their programs. The chamber choir of the Church of the Holy Eucharist SOLI DEO was the first to perform. They sang "Our Father" and "Hail Mary." When the chorus performed the song "The duck sails on Tysa river," everyone rose and paid
tribute to fallen heroes. The choir Eterija, choir of the Lviv Regional Stavropigion Brotherhood of St. Andrew STAVROS, and the liturgical choir of the Armenian Cathedral in Lviv, SAHMOS, also presented their programs during the evening of spiritual singing. The evening "Prayer for Ukraine" ended with a joint performance of the song "God alone is great."

Social responsibility in overcoming social crises

The round table "The Social Responsibility of a Sociologist and Social Worker as a Sign of Professionalism" was held on October 2 during the 7th ESW. According to Ruslan Savchynsky, with a Candidate’s degree in Social Sciences, the main task of any social institution is to satisfy the needs of society. Sociology in this issue is no exception. "The
professional modern sociologist is a person who not only transmits information, but provides the information with which society can make decisions," Ruslan Savchynsky noted.

Larysa Klymanska, Doctor of Social Sciences, Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Lviv Polytechnic National University, marked the problems of modern Ukraine and emphasized the special weight of the word in crisis situations. Iryna Kurlyak, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Head of the General and Social Pedagogy Department at UCU, addressed the problem of coming out of life crises that an individual faces. 

A specialist in training social workers, Nina Hayduk (Lviv Polytechnic), shared her vision of conflict resolution. "Understanding is possible only through mediation. The basic principles of dialogue should be respect and recognition of each individual," she said.

Seminar of the Ukrainian Christian Academic Society (UCAS) "Memory, History, Identity" held

On October 2, as part of the 7th ESW, a seminar of the Ukrainian Christian Academic Society, "Memory, History, Identity," was held. The event was moderated by Taras Dmytryk, Executive Secretary of the UCAS and Head of the Lviv Stauropegion Brotherhood of St. Andrew UAOC, and Dr. Antoine Arjakovsky, the Founding Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at UCU and now Research Director of Bernadine College,.

Archbishop Ihor (Isichenko), Archbishop of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy of the UAOC, spoke about religious myths which are used by Russian ideologues in the information war against Ukraine and outlined fighting tactics against the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Fr. Mykhailo Dymyd in his report "From the Union of Hearts to a Joint Eucharist" compared the Maidan with one of the most important Christian sacraments, holy Communion. He claims that the revolution was effective thanks to sincere prayer and unity of intent.

Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zoria), Archbishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, UOC-KP, drew attention to the crisis in traditional family values. And Father Ihor Shaban, head of the UGCC for Promoting Christian Unity, spoke about common baptism and expressed hope that this meeting would be a good basis for future interfaith dialogue.

Antoine Arjakovsky’s book "Waiting for a Pan-Orthodox Council: Volume II" presented

On October 2, a book by IES’s Founding Director, Antoine Arjakovsky, "Waiting for a Pan-Orthodox Council. Volume II," was presented at UCU. The publication of the book was praised by Taras Kurylets, doctoral student at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas; Andriy Yurash, religious expert, Associate Professor at Ivan Franko University; Oleksandr Sahan, Ph.D., Professor at the G.Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy; and Vitaliy Khromets, Associate Professor of the Cultural Studies Department, M.P. Drahomanov National Pedagogical University.

Taras Kurylets spoke about the importance of the book and the difficulties associated with its publication: "The book is written in language at a highly scholarly level, which is why there were difficulties in translation, in particular, theological terms. It raises a huge range of issues on relevant problems, from social and religious to philosophical."
"The author not only states the facts but provides advice to people who are working on assembling a council," Oleksandr Sahan said. "This is a stimulus to thought. This is theology, church ideology that makes us seek peace
with ourselves and the outside world," Andriy Yurash says. Vitaliy Khromets noted the importance of the book: "Its idea will inspire inter-Christian dialogue and theological studies in Ukraine."