Photo via mw.ua

Ukraine Prime Minister ready to work with Council of Churches

On 11 April 2008, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko met with members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUC CRO), reports RISU. She stated that the government will deal with problems of the functioning of churches and religious organizations, first of all, allocation of land for buildings, restitution of property, reduction of gas rates, and the social needs of ministers.

At the beginning of the meeting the members of the AUC CRO gave the head of the government a jointly-signed letter with a list of current issues in the area of church-state relations about which the members of the AUC CRO have informed the structures of state authority recently. Among the suggested themes which consequently became the topics of discussion were the following: the renewal of rights of religious organizations to the permanent use of land lots, the prohibition of the privatization and sale of former religious buildings which are in public and communal property, the establishment for religious organizations of prices on gas used at the level of tariffs foreseen for the general population, the designation of religious organizations as legal persons with the right to found institutions of education in forms and levels of accreditation, and so on.

Tymoshenko stated that the government will resolve problematic questions of the functioning of churches and religious organizations in Ukraine.

At the instructions of the prime minister, in the near future churches and religious organizations will pay for natural gas according to rates which were set for the general population, but not for businesses, as it is today. As Tymoshenko noted, the government will gradually increase pensions for the clergy. “Many ministers of the church obtain a pension below the living wage. From April 1, the minimum of pension payments and help was raised to the level of the living wage. The next step will be calculating pensions for the clergy taking into account their work experience,” noted the head of the government.

Tymoshenko considers that religious organizations have the right of the return of their property which is now in the possession of the government or the community. For this reason, in her opinion, already in the nearest future it will be necessary to develop and introduce necessary changes to domestic legislation.

The prime minister is convinced that it is necessary to involve the elements of religious and spiritual education in the system of education in Ukraine. “All reforms are begun with spiritual formation and spiritual education – without it there is no future,” she noted. Thus, in the opinion of the leader of the government, it is necessary to consider world experience.

The prime minister called the representatives of the AUC CRU to be actively involved with the development of changes to the Constitution of Ukraine in the section regarding the guaranteeing of freedom of religion and the activity of religious organizations.

As part of the meeting, in his speech Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), thanked the current authorities for the fact that the pensions of clergy have been increased to the level of a livable minimum. This, according to the words of the head of the UGCC, is a sign of a proper estimation of their long-term work for Ukrainian society. Thus, the head of the UGCC said that the main and substantial basis of building cooperation between the church and the state is partnership. “Both sides have to understand that they together work for the good of the nation, each fulfilling its own task,” he said. Such an understanding, in the opinion of the patriarch, will help resolve all questions of the coexistence of the church and the state.

New iPad POLL! VOTE NOW! Will you buy new iPad?

[04/17/2008]

Print Version