Representatives of the UGCC spoke at the congress of the Maritime Apostolate in Scotland
From October 2 to 5, the 25th World Congress of the Catholic Mission, “Stella Maris” (Star of the Sea), took place in Glasgow (Scotland). The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was represented by Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Fr. Oleksandr Smerechynskyi, and Fr. Mykola Hryvnak.
The congress was supposed to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. The event was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Maritime Apostolate, launched in the city of Glasgow, from where the Catholic Church began to work with sailors systematically. The apostolate’s mission is to take care of sailors and their families and provide them with social and pastoral support.
This year’s congress gathered 180 delegates from all over the world. They discussed the challenges of the modern post-Covid world. However, a separate discussion panel was devoted to the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainians are the largest maritime nation in Europe. Therefore, the delegates pondered the problem of Ukrainian sailors going abroad and discussed the risks of a humanitarian disaster due to blocking Ukrainian ports.
The UGCC Department for Information
