Shevchuk predicts “hard decades” for Ukraine due to demographic catastrophe
The birth rate has fallen to 0.6 children per family. The head of the UGCC called for helping the Ukrainian family, but without coercion “as in totalitarian regimes.”
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, stated that because of the war the Ukrainian family faces “very difficult decades.”
According to Shevchuk, studies on the condition of the Ukrainian family have caused “very serious concern” among the leadership of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “The Ukrainian family has been deeply wounded by the war. These wounds are varied. Perhaps we have not yet fully realized them. They will probably manifest themselves over the coming decades,” the UGCC head said.
Shevchuk cited catastrophic figures for Ukraine’s birth rate. According to him, demographers speak of 0.6 children per family, while 2.1 children are required for population replacement. “This means that under conditions of war the Ukrainian family has stopped giving birth to children. And this is a tragedy,” he stated.
Among the reasons for low birth rates, Shevchuk named the forced separation of families, when men are fighting at the front while women are in safer regions of Ukraine or abroad.
According to him, young people must be educated in the ability to create a family, but this must be done without coercion.
“No one can be forced to have children, just as no one can be forced to love. And a child is the fruit of love. We need to help our family give birth to children,” Shevchuk emphasized. He warned that families should not feel pressure: “That is how totalitarian regimes always act. But we must truly help and support the fruitfulness of our Ukrainian family.”
Separately, the UGCC head spoke about a new form of church ministry – “pastoral care of grief,” which has emerged under wartime conditions. “Often in such circumstances of grief human speech falls silent, words are lacking. And in those moments the most important sign, perhaps the role of the Church, is to be near, to be together, sometimes even to hold a hand and weep together,” he said.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk in his video message indicated that Jesus Christ incarnated to become a Ukrainian warrior.
