Healing children’s war wounds: Spiritual and Social Center of Caritas Berdychiv UGCC consecrated in Berdychiv
March 6, in Berdychiv, Zhytomyr region, the Spiritual and Social Center of the Charitable Foundation Caritas Berdychiv of the UGCC was consecrated by the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, together with Bishops Yosyf Milian and Andriy Khimyak, auxiliary bishops of the Kyiv Archeparchy of the UGCC.
The Spiritual and Social Center will be named after St. Josaphat and will become a space for social service of the Berdychiv Protopresbytery of the Kyiv Archeparchy.
“Our Caritas exposes the motherly face of our Church, particularly here in Berdychiv. It is also a space of international ecumenical solidarity. For the Church is a community that knows no borders. As the body of our risen Savior, the Church is a space for exchanging graces,” said the Father and Head of the UGCC.
The center’s first project is a sensory room for healing the wounds of children of war, including children with disabilities. His Beatitude Sviatoslav states that projects aimed at serving children are unique and special because children of war are the most socially vulnerable class of Ukrainian society.
“Among the various centers of our social ministry, this center in Berdychiv will be special because it wants to serve children first. And children are our future, the future of Ukraine. To heal the wounds of children of war is a special and noble mission,” the Patriarch emphasized.
Particularly, His Beatitude Sviatoslav thanked all the employees and partners of the social center: “Thank you to those who will rejoice and grieve with children and listen to them every day. You will help parents raise children who carry war traumas in their souls. We will heal their wounds together.”
It is worth noting that apart from the sensory room, Caritas Berdychiv UGCC organizes other activities for children: from creative clubs to working sessions with a psychologist for those who suffered from the war. The social center also has a social wardrobe, a place where anyone in need can borrow clothes.
The UGCC Department for Information
