Lviv – The final round of the All-Ukraine Olympics on the Foundations of the Christian Faith was held at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in western Ukrainian Lviv on 15 January 2004. The competition progressed from parishes to deaneries to eparchies (dioceses) to the metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). Approximately 1000 children from 10 regions of Ukraine (8 eparchies and 2 exarchates) took part in various levels of the competition. A special commission, operating with the blessing of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, honored the very best among the competitors.
The contest was conducted at the initiative of the UGCC’s Patriarchal Catechetical Commission and UCU’s Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute. One of the event’s goals was to encourage children to learn more about the truths of the Christian faith and to spread knowledge about the life and activities of two heads of the UGCC in the 20th century, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and Patriarch Josyf Slipyj.
“By bringing children and young people to a deeper understanding of the truths of the faith, we deepen the whole life of the church,” said Sr. Luiza Ciupa, director of UCU’s Catechetical-Pedagogical Institute. “Through these children, we enter into many homes. Together with them, whole families are motivated to deepen their understanding of the truths of the faith.”
“Every person should try to increase the good name of their homeland in the world,” said Lviv resident Liudmyla Lupii, winner of the Olympics in the 12- to 15-year-old age group. “This contest allowed each of us to go more deeply into that teaching of the church which, by its essence, gives a correct understanding of the basis of the glory and majesty of our homeland, and our glory as its citizens. I think that this contest helped us gather our strength. It’s possible to say that something happened here that is the beginning of the rebirth of our homeland.”
Photo:
Sr. Liudmyla Panasiuk, head of the Catechetical Commission of the UGCC’s Donetsk-Kharkiv Exarchate, traveled to Lviv with her students. Iryna Ivaniuk from Donetsk (in a red sweater) was one of the laureates of the Olympics.
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Ukrainian Catholic University
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Lviv, 79011, UKRAINE
