Annual Report. PATRIARCHAL CURIA UGCC 2019

41 "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them" (Mt 18:20). Youth needs a place where they can meet together (not just on Facebook), pray together, sing together, and share their faith openly. Christian Youth festival "Wind of hope" , organized by the Youth Commission of the UGCC Patri- archal Curia, with over 10, 000 young people attending, turned out to be one of the largest Christian youth festivals in East- ern and Central Europe. "This year we broke a record on the number of participants — totaling 10 000 participants versus 7 000 planned", proudly reported the head of the Youth Com - mission Rev. Rostyslav Pendyuk. The festival has become the brand name for the UGCC youth annual gathering, a place of witnessing of Christ and sharing one’s experience. What con- tributed to the success of the festival this year was the involve- ment of a large number of volunteers who actively engaged in the preparation phase (logistics, marketing, content) and our partners from Ukraine and abroad. The motto of the Festival was "Most important is to be a human" (a quote by the late Cardinal Liubomyr Husar). Our true humanity can be discov- ered by practicing our faith and constantly searching for God in our lives. The Committee of the festival offered many inter- esting open discussion forums for youth in different UCU venues such as: a spiritual platform with par- ticipation of priests, media evangelizers and youth ministry leaders; an intellectual platform which was led by Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, Mrs. Sophia Opats- ka, Mr. Myroslav Marynovych; a music platform hosted by Christian music bands DykoBraz, Kana, PopryVse, SofiBand, Qua Vadis, Antytila. Overall, there were over 70 events presented by 150 speakers. Here are some of the most interesting topics presented at the festival: "The power of knowledge — the role of higher education", "Contemporary youth in the Church", "Love — there is no place for business", "Languages of love", "Bible or Google?", "Social media — space for evangelization". Christian Youth festival "Wind of hope" , organized by the Youth Commission of the UGCC Patriarchal Curia, with over 10, 000 young people attending, turned out to be one of the largest Christian youth festivals in Eastern and Central Europe A special guest of the festival was Monsignor Rossana Sala, a secretary of the Papal Synod on Youth, who shared his valu - able experience on preparation of the Synod in Rome. Monsi- gnor Sala participated together with Roman Catholic Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia H. E. Jan Sobilo in a lively discussion about the role of the Church in the life of modern youth. "This Fes- tival is a practical realization of the Papal Synodal decisions on youth and the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit! This is a perfect format!", stated Monsignor Rossana Sala to the organizers of the Festival.