24.06.2008, [16:10] // UGCC //RISU.ORG.UA
On June 18, 2008, at the initiative of Assistant Minister of Defense of Ukraine Volodymyr Antonovych Dibriva, on the premises of the Ministry of Defense a meeting of the military administration with the following representatives of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was held: Bishop Mikhail (Koltun), head of the Department of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC for Pastoral Care in Power Structures of Ukraine; Fr. Lyubomyr Yavorskyi, assistant of the department; and Fr. Stepan Sus, head of the Center of Military Chaplaincy of the Lviv Archeparchy of the UGCC. During the meeting the parties discussed modern conditions in the area of military chaplaincy and outlined future prospects for the subsequent cooperation of the Church and the Administration of the Military Forces of Ukraine in this direction. During the meeting Bishop Mikhail underlined a positive point in that the awareness of the need to develop the military chaplaincy is not only an initiative of the Church hierarchy but the fact that the importance of the role of the priest in work with personnel of the Military Forces is supported by the authorities of the Ministry of Defense.
Father Stepan Sus during the meeting shared his own experience of ministry in the military environment and presented a general picture of the military chaplaincy in the Lviv Archeparchy.
The Assistant Minister of Defensive expressed his hope for subsequent close cooperation of the Church and the state. Considering this, he suggested conducting systematic meetings with representatives of all the traditional Churches of Ukraine with the purpose of creating a coordinating group the task of which would be to work out basic principles of military chaplaincy and developing a legal base for introducing chaplaincy in the Military Forces.