From 6 to 9 October, Lviv will host the 19th International Forum “Ecumenical Social Week” entitled “From Polarisation to Social Solidarity: Shaping a Culture of Unity and Justice”. The event will bring together over 200 participants from Ukraine and abroad.
The forum is organised by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Representation in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Catholic University and international and Ukrainian partner institutions are also involved in organising the event. Registration for participation is open until 2 October.
The organisers stress that this year’s week is intended not only as a platform for discussion of the problem of social polarisation, but also as a space for developing practical solutions and building horizontal links between churches, state institutions, civil society, the academic and cultural communities, and international partners.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has been going on for more than a decade, has exposed the weakness of existing international security mechanisms and called into question previous assumptions about the stability of the European order. In these circumstances, the active role of civil society, state institutions, churches, and educational and cultural communities in restoring trust, strengthening solidarity and shaping social justice becomes particularly important. We are convinced that the Forum will help foster a culture of unity, justice and solidarity, in which differences in experience do not become a cause of division, but are transformed into a basis for dialogue, mutual responsibility and joint action,” the organisers note
Forum participants will discuss, in particular, whether contemporary Ukraine can become a kind of “laboratory of the future” for Europe and the world — a place where questions of unity, security, justice, solidarity and moral leadership arise with particular urgency, while at the same time having global significance.
The programme includes discussions on a number of key topics: a new formula for social unity in response to the war and future challenges; the transition from polarisation to solidarity without sweeping conflicts under the carpet; the role of different communities in “stitching together” a society traumatised by war and divergent experiences.
Special attention will be paid to the role of churches and religious organisations as moral compasses, the impact of the global security crisis on the internal cohesion of societies, and the shaping of a new architecture of international partnership and security alliances.
Other topics include the importance of education and culture in creating shared meanings, the development of new narratives capable of uniting people, as well as the place of young people in processes of social transformation and their initiatives.
The 19th Ecumenical Social Week is positioned as an international forum for reflection, dialogue and joint search for ways to strengthen social unity in the context of war, social polarisation and changes in the international order.
The organisers of the forum are: the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of UCU, the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Representation in Ukraine, the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD). Partners: the Ukrainian Christian Academic Society (UHAT), the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary (UBTS), the UCU School of Journalism, the UCU Leadership and Management Institute, the UCU Institute of Church History, the UCU Institute of Religion and Society, the National University “Lviv Polytechnic”, the Conference of European Churches (CEC).