Volunteers with the Ukrainian Relief Project New Haven

Some of our volunteers working to help our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
We are grateful for their time, talent and humor in this great effort.

This is only a portion of our volunteers for the Ukrainian Relief Project New Haven! So many more help in their own communities and come to St Michael’s to deepen the collaboration and coordination.

May God reward them for their good work.

Ukrainian Relief Project New Haven Update for March 26

On Friday, March 25, Carl Harvey (one of the coordinators of the Ukrainian Relief Project) was in Danbury meeting with people who are helping the Ukrainian Relief Project.

Here’s Carl Harvey’s review of Friday:

“Ihor Rudko, our UAV National Commander, CT Commissioner of Veterans Affairs and I met with the owners of a Plumbing company in Danbury this morning at 11:30. They have 6 pallets of humanitarian aid that they collected last weekend that will be coming to New Haven tomorrow (TODAY, Saturday, March 26). We also visited St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Danbury where we met with the Grade 5 and 6 students, their teachers and Principal plus Governor Lamont, the Mayor of Danbury and the state representative.

“They have collected all of the kinds of items that children in Ukraine need and packed them in a knapsack. They also included a personal note in the knapsack that they have donated.

“It is NO exaggeration when I tell you that there are at least 800 plus knapsacks in piles in this very large assembly room. It is a PHENOMENAL sight to behold. It is going to require a 40 foot container to transport all of it to a specific church in Poland to help the Ukrainian refugees that have arrived in the town where this church is located close to the border. Chris Komody and I have already discussed how we will proceed to get this shipment over there.

“We will also be getting a container from Eagle Leasing tomorrow morning (TODAY) to store the boxes that we already have and ready to ship.”

Thank you for your continued interest and generous work for our Ukrainian sisters and brothers.

In friendship, let’s keep all in prayer.

New Byzantine Catholic monastery in the USA

From the UGCC Eparchy of St. Nicholas – Chicago:

I am writing to share with you exciting news that five sisters from Ukraine are finally arriving to the USA on July 12th, 2021. Please welcome s. Yefrosynia, s. Varvara, s. Fevronia, s. Makryna, s. Olympia!

Two years ago, St. Nicholas Eparchy purchased 4 acres of land in Richmond, IL with a church and community center attached to it, and a separate five-bedroom house. This is going to be our new Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God and a new home for our sisters.
The sisters are happy to invite everyone who want to deepen their faith through individual and community prayer. Their goal is to restore the Eastern monastic tradition and serve as a spiritual center and shrine for all visitors. Additionally, the sisters are experienced in working with youth, children, and young adults, and therefore, will be helping the Eparchy in its catechesis efforts.

I also want to mention that our sisters are blessed with many talents – they sing wonderfully, stage exceptional verteps, make beautiful vestments for clergy and do beekeeping. To introduce themselves and learn more about the Eparchy and Eparchial community as well as to share their monastic experience and plans for the future, the sisters will be visiting Chicago area parishes throughout July-August 2021.

Yours in Christ,
Bishop Benedict

Update on food collection and donation

The parishioners of St Michael the Archangel Church have generously donated food items for those in need. A good amount has been donated over the past few months for which we are grateful. This we can say this is a collaboration in the outreach to our brothers and sisters in New Haven.

The food items have been donated to Social Justice ministries at St Mary’s and to Amistad Catholic Worker House both in New Haven. We will continue this fruitful collaboration with these Catholic groups in the Elm City.

May God reward with eternal life for your generosity.

Mykola Bychok ordained bishop

 

Vladyka Mykola (Bychok), the newest bishop of the UGCC consecrated today on the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit to be Bishop of the Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand.

May God grant many years.

Keeping parish on mission and budget

Dear Parishioners of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church:

It is apparent that parishioners will not be able to attend the Divine Liturgies in our church at least until April 30. Realizing that this is a very extraordinary and difficult time in all aspects of our life today, we humbly ask for your continued financial support by mailing in your donations until such time that the physical presence of our parishioners in church is restored. These weekly donations are the main source of income for our parish and are needed to meet our mission and our budget. Thank you for your generosity.

Please be so kind as to place your donation into your weekly donation envelope and enclose that into an envelope addressed to:

St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church
569 George Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Let us pray for the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary so that she may cover the whole world with her Spiritual Veil and guide us through this turbulent time.  And please be assured of my continued prayers for the spiritual needs of all our parishioners.

Very truly yours in Christ,

Fr. Iura Godenciuc

American Melkite Appointed New Secretary at Vatican

VATICAN – Holy Father Francis has appointed Bishop George Demetrio Gallaro as the new Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. Published on Tuesday February 25, 2020, at noon Italian time in the Sala Stampa, the former Bishop of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi di Sicilia was appointed to the rank of titular Archbishop as well.

George Demetrio Gallaro was born on January 16, 1948 in Sizilien Pozzallo, Italy. After his seminarian studies at the seminary of Noto, he moved to the United States and was ordained a priest in 1972 in Los Angeles. He worked as a parish priest in various parishes of the Eastern Rite in the United States, and in 1987 he was incardinated in the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton.

Archbishop Gallaro taught Canon Law at the Melkite Seminary in Massachusetts and he also served as a professor of Canon Law at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh, PA. On March 31, 2015 he was named by Pope Francis as a bishop of the Italo-Albanian Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi. He was consecrated a bishop on June 28 by the bishop of Lungro Donato Oliverio as principal consecrator, and the bishops Dimitrios Salachas and Nicholas James Samra as co-consecrators.

Axios!