The faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) will join with their Latin Rite brothers and sisters in celebrating the year of Jubilee, but will do so in the spirit of their own tradition and heritage.
In Great Britain, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has an Eparchy, or diocese – the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London. The Eparchy is led by Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, the Eparch, who explains how the faithful will be empowered to experience the Jubilee Year 2025 more deeply:
“While the celebration of jubilee years is primarily a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, while observing it, do so according to their own ecclesiastical heritage. Therefore, the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church created a corresponding Jubilee Committee which developed a plan of activities for the global Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.”
The central event of the Jubilee Year for the faithful of the UGCC is the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Rome on Saturday, 28 June 2025, which will be led by His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the Head and Father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, with the participation of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, clergy, religious, and faithful from all over the world.
In addition to pilgrimages to Rome, long considered the centre of the Jubilee Year, the Papal Bull Spes non confundit – “Hope will not disappoint” – encourages the faithful to make pilgrimages to other shrines and designated Jubilee Pilgrimage Churches.
Spes non confundit also instructs the Diocesan, or Eparchial Bishop to celebrate a Divine Liturgy as a solemn opening of the Jubilee Year on Sunday, 29 December 2024. The Eparchy will celebrate this in the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile in London at 10am. Bishop Nowakowski will celebrate the liturgical rite, which will include the reading of selected portions of the Holy Father’s Bull, followed by the reading of decrees proclaiming Jubilee Pilgrimage Churches within the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London. The ceremony will conclude with the opening of the designated church doors, symbolising the commencement of the Jubilee Year.
The Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile in London and the Church of Saint Andrew and Our Lady of Pochayiv in Edinburgh are the two churches that have been proclaimed Jubilee Pilgrimage Churches for the Eparchy. Pilgrims who wish to obtain a full Jubilee indulgence must visit either of these churches and fulfil all the requirements for the indulgence – receive the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, participate in the Holy Liturgy, receive Holy Communion, and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father. These requirements need to be followed between 29 December 2024 and 28 December 2025 to obtain the indulgence.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has its own logo and icon for the year as well as more information on the spiritual fruits of the Jubilee Year.
We will make this information available in our Jubilee section in due course. You can download the UGCC announcement and further information here.
