Parish announcements this week

Christ is in our midst!

Vigil Light: This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by the Ivantsiv family for all deceased members of the Harvey Family.

Asleep in the Lord: Juris Patrylak fell asleep in the Lord. Please remember him in your prayers. ETERNAL MEMORY!

Rectory Office: will be closed from Monday March 4 until Friday March 8. Fr. Iura will be away for the eparchial clergy retreat at Mount Alvernia Retreat Center, Wappingers Falls, NY, with Bishop Paul.

Luncheon/Fundraiser honoring Iryna Friz, Ukraine’s Minister of Veterans Affairs Ukrainian American Veterans of Posts 3,14 of Connecticut and Saint Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in New Haven invite everyone to a luncheon/fundraiser honoring Iryna Friz, Ukraine’s Minister of Veterans Affairs to be held TODAY in St. Michael’s church hall. Minister Friz arrived in Connecticut on Saturday, March 2 to visit the Veterans Hospital in West Haven, the New Haven VETS Center in Orange, and the CT Veterans Home in Rocky Hill. She returns to Ukraine on Monday, March 4.

TODAY, there will be only one Divine Liturgy beginning at 10:30 a.m. The luncheon/fundraiser will begin at 12:00Noon. in St. Michael’s church hall. In addition to lunch, a brief concert will be presented. Brief remarks by Minister Friz will follow. There will be an update on the Wounded Ukrainian Soldiers Project and on the veterans’ recent trip to Ukraine. All proceeds will be used to benefit Ukraine’s wounded soldiers and veterans. Tickets are $25.00 per person. Admission for youth under 18 is free.

We invite everyone to this special event. We ask for your support for Ukraine’s wounded heroes. For information and tickets please contact Fr. Iura Godenciuc at 203-865-0388, Post 33 Commander Carl Harvey by calling 203-389-6076; email: carlharvey79@gmail.com, or Myron Melnyk 203-397-2087; email: mmelnyk@yaghoo.com.

MEETING CANCELLATIONS:  Due to various scheduling conflicts of members being in Washington and others being out of state, as well as Father Iura being at a mandatory Eparchy retreat days, both the Parish Council meeting and the Knights of Columbus meeting on March 4,  are hereby canceled.

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Cheesefare Sunday Liturgy and Luncheon

Christ is in our midst!

As a reminder, tomorrow, Cheesefare Sunday, March 3, there will be only one (1) Divine Liturgy in English and Ukrainian at 10:30 a.m.

This Sunday is known by three titles:

1 – Cheesefare Sunday because it is the last day that we eat dairy until Holy Pascha
2 – Forgiveness Sunday because the Church celebrates Forgiveness Vespers, asking for mutual forgiveness as we enter upon the journey of Great Lent.
3 – Sunday of the Casting out of Adam and Eve because during the Holy Season of Great Lent we live is remembrance of our sins and of death which resulted from the fall of our first parents.

Welcoming Minister Iryna Friz

The luncheon/fundraiser will begin at 12:00 Noon. in St. Michael’s church hall, 569 George St., New Haven. In addition to lunch, a brief concert will be presented. Brief remarks by Minister Iryna Friz will follow. There will be an update on the Wounded Ukrainian Soldiers Project and on the veterans` recent trip to Ukraine. All proceeds will be used to benefit Ukraine’s wouded soldiers and veterans. Tickets are $25.00 per person. Admission for youth under 18 is free.

We invite everyone to this special event. We ask for your support for Ukraine’s wounded heroes.

To reserve your ticket NOW, please contact

    • Fr. Iura Godenciuc at 203-865-0388,
    • Carl Harvey at 203-389-6076
    • Myron Melnyk at 203-397-2087

Pope’s prayer intention for March

For March, the Pope’s prayer intention is:
 
That Christian communities, especially those who are persecuted, feel that they are close to Christ and have their rights respected.
 
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.

Gudziak’s Homecoming

George Weigel published today in First Things his essay, “Homecoming,” on Archbishop Borys Gudziak’s recent appointment to be the Metropolitan Archbishop for the Ukrainian Archeparchy in Philadelphia.

Weigel is the author of the well regarded biography of Pope John Paul II. He is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington, D.C.’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.

Blessed Vitaliy Bayrak

It was on this date in 1907, that Father Vitaliy Bayrak was born. He was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Basilian priest.

Having entered the monastic life and making his profession of vows, Bayrak was ordained a priest in the Monastery of Zhovkva on August 13, 1933. His abbot assigned him to do parish work and gave him several jobs in the monastery. In July 1941 he was elected and blessed as Abbot of the Monastery in Drohobych, to replace Fr. Yakym Senkivskyy who had been martyred by the Bolsheviks.

Father Bayrak was arrested by the NKVD on November 13,1945 and was sentenced to 8 years hard labor. He was beaten to death by a Communist camp guard on April 21,1946.

Father Bayrak was Beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on June 27,2001. It is 112 years ago today since his birth. Depending on the liturgical calendar Blessed Vitaliy’s feast day could be 21 April or 16 May.

Blessed Vitaliy Bayrak, pray for us.

Byzantine monastic life in the USA

There is a new springtime for Byzantine monastic life in the USA happening now. Recently there was the tonsure of a new monk for the Holy Resurrection Monastery in Wisconsin.

Here is a story on a recent monastic ceremony for Father Deacon Paiisi, (Patrick Firman).

There is great need for the witness of men and women taking up the sacrifice of living the monastic vows in community saying to all of us that living the tenets of the Holy Gospel is possible and reasonable.

Our prayer this Lent ought to be for the grace to see another monastery established, particularly here in the Northeast, perhaps in Connecticut.

Preparing for Great Lent–Meatfare Sunday

Today the Byzantine Catholic Church observes the last day for eating meat and meat products til Pascha –this is Meatfare Sunday. It is also called Last Judgement Sunday because of the proclamation of the Gospel of Matthew’s 25th Chapter (vv. 31-46).

Eggs and dairy products are permitted for the coming week. This limited fasting prepares us gradually for the more intense fasting of Great Lent.

The aim of our fasting is meant to free us from bondage of sin and death, from the self-centeredness that causes human misery and keeps us from serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in “the least of these.”

“As Father Alexander Schmemann reminds us in his book GREAT LENT (Ch. 1:4), sin is the absence of love, it is separation and isolation. When Christ comes to judge the world, His criterion for judgment will be love. Christian love entails seeing Christ in other people, our family, our friends, and everyone else we may encounter in our lives. We shall be judged on whether we have loved, or not loved, our neighbor. We show Christian love when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. If we did such things for the least of Christ’s brethren, then we also did them for Christ (Mt. 25:40). If we did not do such things for the least of the brethren, neither did we do them for Christ (Mt. 25:45).”

#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ

Sunday, 2/24, Meatfare Sunday  —First and Second Finding of the Precious Head of the Holy, Glorious Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist.

9:00 a.m. +Gregory Dubno requested by the Family
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46, Tone 5

Monday, 2/25, Our Patriarch Tarasius
9:00 a.m. A Special Intention

Tuesday, 2/26, Holy Bishop Porphry of Gaza
9:00 a.m. +Myroslaw Trojan (Pan.) requested by Nadia Trojan

Wednesday, 2/27, Our Ven. Confessor Procopius

Thursday, 2/28, Our Venerable Confessor Basil

Friday, 3/01, Our Ven. Martyr Eudokia

Saturday, 3/02, Holy Martyrs Eutropius and Kleonicus
9:00 a.m. +Ivan (3rd Anniv.) Halyna (12th Anniv.) Lobay (Pan.) requested by Maria Lobay

Sunday, 3/03, Cheesefare Sunday
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Romans 13:11-14:4
Gospel: Matthew 6:14-21, Tone 6