Department of Chaplaincy of UGCC disowns those who seized the church in Kolomyia

The Department of Military chaplaincy of the First Curia of the UGCC states that it has nothing to do with the seizure of the UOC church in Kolomyia, reports the official site of the UGCC.

The Department's statement said that the clergy of the UGCC in Kolomyia "acted on the initiative of the public, interested persons and clergymen who are not subordinate to the Department of Military Chaplaincy of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC."

The department called the chaplains seizing the church "groupings" and stressed that they "do not coordinate their activities with those representatives responsible for the military chaplaincy from their dioceses or Churches and have no blessing from the church authorities".

The head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has called the seizure of the church "an unfortunate situation", saying that "chaplains must stop blocking the church and transfer the right to defend the interests of the church community to their bishop". At the same time, the head of the Uniates did not condemn the criminal nature of the chaplains' actions, calling them just "a mistake". He did not say anything about what forms of reprisal the representatives of the Greek Catholic Church would bear, and whether the Church Tribunal would consider this case.