Christ is among us!
1. VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is offered to the glory of God by Luba Romaniw for a special intention.
2. AFTER DIVINE LITURGY: Dear parishioners and guests, after each Divine Liturgy, coffee and hard rolls are available in the church hall.
3. The Philip’s Fast (Pylypivka): We are making the 40-day fast that began on November 15, the day after the feast St. Philip to spiritually prepare Nativity of the Lord. We keep the Philip’s Fast because we believe that doing so it can help us to better understand and appreciate all of God’s saving plan for each of us.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church teaches her faithful that “Penitential fasting practices, repentance and abstinence that aim to satisfy the sins committed and to achieve the highest level of perfection is the oldest tradition in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church” (CCEO: 882, §1).
To observe the Fast, we do not eat meat or foods containing meat on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Definitions: Abstinence means that we do not eat a certain type of food, for example meat and oil, or any other foods that have that as an ingredient. Fasting means that we eat less food. Those exempt from fasting and abstinence: children under the age of 14; adults over the age of 60; those who are gravely ill, pregnant women, post-partum mothers, breast-feeding mothers, travelers (if travel time exceeds 8 hours), those engaged in heavy labor, those who eat from the table of others, the poor who live from charity.
Further reading: The Winter Pascha (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press) by Thomas Hopko.
4. FOOD DRIVE: Judy Ellis leads the mercy project which provides food items to the needy. A container is in our church vestibule for non-perishable food. This collection will be taken every week. Father Iura will distribute the food to those in need. Thanks for your support.
5. St Gianna Center of New Haven: The parish is collecting diapers, seats, strollers and gift cards to be given to the St. Gianna Center of New Haven (www.giannacenter.org). Useful diapers sizes: 3, 4, 5. Gift cards are needed from Walmart or Target. Please place the gift card in an envelop marked “St. Gianna Center” and give it to directly Fr. Iura. Also, NEW car seats/ strollers are needed (sorry, old car seats/strollers can’t be accepted due to legislation). Items can be placed in the labeled box at the entrance of the Church. The St. Gianna Center is a ministry of Catholics in New Haven helping at-risk pregnant women and their children. Thank you for your generosity!
6. KofC: The Knights of Columbus Blessed Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Ukrainian Council will hold its next regular meeting on Monday, December 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the lower level of the Church Hall, KofC meeting room. All men of parish are invited to attend.
7. VETERANS POST 33: The next meeting of the Ukrainian-American Veteran Bishop John Stock Post 33 of New Haven will be held on Sunday, December 17. We will begin the meeting immediately following the second Divine Liturgy. The meeting will be held in Classroom 2. For more information, contact the Post Commander Carl Harvey at 203-389-6076 or crharv384@optimum.net.
8. END OF YEAR REPORTS: All donations and contributions must be received by Monday, December 25th to be recorded on the annual statement for the Year 2017.
9. ANNUAL STAMFORD CHARITIES APPEAL: Please don’t forget to donate for the Charities Appeal. Please make your check payable to the Diocese of Stamford but do not send the check to Stamford, give it to Fr. Iura. We need to get proper credit for our parish’s pledge. We sincerely ask all parishioners to make a generous contribution.