Category: Mission

Several episcopal changes

Today, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of pastoral governance of the Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians (Australia) presented by Bishop Peter Stasiuk, C.Ss.R. At the same time the Pope nominated a new bishop of the eparchy Father Mykola Bychok, C.Ss.R., until now the parochial vicar of the parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, NJ.

Father Bychok was born on 13 February 1980 in Ternopil, Ukraine. He entered the Redemptorist order in July 1997 and received his formation in Ukraine and Poland and earned a Masters in Pastoral Theology. Bychok professed his perpetual vows on 17 August 2003 and ordained priest in Lviv on 3 May 2005.

After ordination he served as a missionary in Russia, a local Redemptorist superior, pastor of a parish in Ukraine, Treasurer of the Redemptorist Province in Lviv and since 2015 in St. John the Baptist Parish in Newark, NJ.

Prayers for Father Mykola Bychok as he begins a mission for God and the Church.

Additionally, Pope Francis nominated as bishop of the Eparchy Holy Family of London of the Ukrainians in Great Britain Bishop Kenneth Anthony Adam Nowakowski, transferring him from the Eparchy of New Westminster of the Ukrainians in Canada.

Bishop Kenneth Anthony Adam Nowakowski was born on 16 May 1958 in North Battleford in Saskatchewan (Canada).

The Bishop’s initiation formation for priesthood was with the Redemptorist order in Toronto and in Rome at the Angelicum. He was ordained a priest on 19 August 1989 for the Eparchy of Saskatoon. Later he studied Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Rome) and directed the Ukrainian Catholic Refugee Office in Italy.

After several points of service for the Church as vice chancellor in Ukraine, rector of the Ottawa Seminary, Caritas Ucraina, he was elected bishop of New Westminster on June 1, 2007.

Make Disciples of All Nations, not just those of our family

From a 2016 sermon of His Beatitude Sviatoslav of Kyiv and Halych:

Today’s question is: What does it mean to be a faithful member or believer of the UGCC? This is a question of identity of the Church and us. The Kyivan Church of the third millennium—who are we? What do we do as members of this Church?

Here in our midst are members [of the Church] from the whole world. We have with us brothers and sisters from Australia here today. This question has broad answers. What makes us Ukrainian Greco-Catholics? Being Ukrainian? Today about 1/3 of our parishes in the diaspora [in North and South America, Western Europe, Australia] are comprised of members not of Ukrainian heritage and who don’t speak Ukrainian. This is why we translated our new Catechism into languages they understand: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, many others….

What is the mark of identity of the UGCC? To be Galician? I tell you as the Major Archbishop of Kyiv, no! There are many who want to make our Church into a Galician enclave in the Western part of Ukraine. His Beatitude Lubomyr once said something very interesting: “we need to put aside the heresy of being just Galician.” [Let me assure you, I say this with all respect, being a Galician myself.] Our identity, the identity of our Church is faith in the salvific things that our God has placed in the history of the Kyivan Church and all the good things and gifts and treasures from God: theological, liturgical, artistic.

Today we must spread these to the whole world.

And today when our missionaries leave the Lviv Theological Seminary [where the homily is being given] to occupied areas, in Crimea, or to Melbourne or to India, they can think to themselves… I am going to find [seek out, like lost sheep] Ukrainians, I am going to call back the lost sheep of Ukraine.

But Christ is calling us to something higher. He says go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to be Greco-Catholic, faithful member of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church.

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Saying Farewell to Kostya and Iryna

We invite everyone to a farewell reception for our wounded soldier Kostya Shkapoyed and his wife Iryna. The reception will be in St. Michael’s Church hall 569 George St, New Haven on Sunday, October 27th at 12:00 noon. Kostya’s treatment at Yale has been completed and he and Iryna are returning to Ukraine. Let’s give him a nice send off and wish him and Iryna well as they return home.

Запрошуємо всіх на пращальну зустріч з нашим пораненим воїном Костянтином Шкапоєдом і його дружиною Ірою. Зустріч відбудеться в неділю 27 -ого жовтня о год. 12:00 у залі при церкві Св. Михайла 569 George St, New Haven. Лікування в Yale закінчилось, Костя і Ірина повертаються до дому.  Прошу прийти попрощатися з ними ї побажати їм всього найкращого на майбутнє.

Dialogue and unity: the mission of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Here is a summary of an article by Andrea Gagliarducci published by Acistampa in Italian on the recent meetings of representatives of the Synod of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Rome. The article is here. Thanks to Fr. Athanasius McKay for his notes.

“Pope Francis wants the Eastern Catholic Churches to grow, develop and flourish.” The Pope distinguished Eastern Catholic Churches from “Uniatism” as a method. Churches are not methods.

Instead of the old individual ad limina meetings, this represents a new methodology of the Pope and his curia meeting with the Major Archbishop and his synod together.

“It was clear to everybody that the war is a foreign aggression and that Ukraine is the victim.”

“The problem with ecumenism in Ukraine and in the whole territory of the ex-Soviet Union, is that decolonization has not yet happened. The Churches were often servants and instruments of the state authorities.”

“[our goals: the patriarchate, the beatification of Sheptytsky, etc.] are closer than they were three days ago.”

The Latin Church understands the concept of “Ecclesia particularis” as “local Church.” But at the meeting we had metropolitans from Canada, Brazil, USA, Poland. We are not a local Church but an “Ecclesia sui juris”, which is a global reality. This is a Byzantine concept of Catholic universalism.

“Metropolitan Sheptytsky was the first to fully realise the global nature of our Church. When he was metropolitan, our Church only had three eparchies in Western Ukraine. Now we have 34 eparchies throughout the world. It is also thanks to Metropolitan Sheptytsky, who was the first to make pastoral visits to the faithful throughout the world. We are harvesting the fruits that Metropolitan Sheptytsky planted.”

George Weigel speaks at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Philly

Below you will find the link to George Weigel’s presentation on June 2, 2019 at the Hall of the Ukrainian Catholic Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Philadelphia. The presentation was part of the enthronement ceremonies for Archbishop Borys Gudziak.
 
“The Catholicism of the future, whether it draws its liturgy, spirituality, and polity from the Christian West or the Christian East, will be a Catholicism that is deliberately chosen and embraced, not a Catholicism that is inherited. And Catholicism will only be chosen and embraced when it is offered and proposed. That means that this Archeparchy and its suffragans … must become once again a missionary enterprise: a Church in which everyone understands himself or herself to be a missionary disciple who was given the Great Commission at baptism; a Church in which every one of those missionary disciples understands that he or she is entering ‘mission territory’ every day—at home, at work, in the neighborhood, in our lives as citizens, and in our lives as consumers” (George Weigel).
 

Helping the poor – a work of charity

Helping the poor – a work of charity

For the Pascha season we have been collecting some personal care items for the poor at the request of The Director of the St. Vincent DePaul Homeless Shelter in Waterbury. This is a ministry for the ministry to the homeless.

Our final day for taking up the collection is TOMORROW, Pentecost Sunday (June 9).

Would you consider donating to this work of charity? We are looking for: soap, tooth brushes, tooth paste, deodorant, Q-tips, men’s underwear. These items can be put in the basket at the entrance of the church in the marked box.

Paul Zalonski (of our parish) will drive the donations to the Homeless Shelter in Waterbury.

Helping Kostyantyn and Iryna.

We have a mission given to us by Jesus: to heal and visit the sick (Matthew 25). The Myrrh-bearing women come to mind.

Here is some information on the help that many parishioners and friends of St Michael the Ukrainian Catholic Church (New Haven) is giving to Kostyantyn Shkapoed and his wife Iryna.

Kostyantyn, a wounded Ukrainian veteran, is receiving medical treatment in New Haven through the assistance of many parishioners and several others spearheading treatment from other places.

Will you be a Myrrh-bearer for Kostyantyn and Iryna?

Click to enlarge the flyer.

The Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople
–May 29, 1453.

One of the worst tragedies in the history of humanity was the fall of the Byzantine Empire, which put an end to centuries of culture, philosophy, education, and morality.

The Fall of Constantinople and the Rise of the Ottomans began a new era of oppression, barbarianism, authoritarianism, and slavery.

To the defenders of the Great City, the past Emperors, Patriarchs, and Military Leaders of the Byzantine Empire: MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE ETERNAL!

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