Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Transfiguration

УКРАЇНСЬКA КАТОЛИЦЬКA ЦЕРКВА ПРЕОБРАЖЕННЯ ГОСПОДНЬОГО

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“We want our initiative to shatter the barrier of apathy …”

FrBogdan“We want our initiative to shatter the barrier of apathy and awaken people’s
consciousness to individuals who are starving” (Bp. Bohdan Dziurakh)

We enter into Great Lent with a mix of eagerness, anticipation, and self-doubt. St. Paul and St. Augustine both wrote about how difficult it was to live a holy life, even though they well knew what it entailed and wanted to live it.

Lent provides a concentrated time when we can more fully center on living that life, even though we doubt ourselves and know how many times we have failed. During this Lenten season our bishops ask that we bring our prayers to action, especially our prayers for the poor and forgotten.

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The Church—The Gathering Place|Церква – місце спілкування


ChurchEaster2017(Interview with Fr. Oleh Kindiy, Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv – continued)

Many people we interviewed replied that they believe in God but they don’t need a “middle man”. Others go to church when it’s empty. Still others attend for certain “rituals”: baptisms, weddings, or funerals. The majority generally don’t consider Church as community.

This is because, for instance, we teach catechism to children but only rarely in parishes do we have catechetical programs for adults. The Early Christians knew well that Church was a place to continuously deepen our faith, but we today have yet to recognize this. In terms of knowing God, there are no boundaries. On the other hand, at times people demand something from the Church, but when they are invited to, for example, a Parish Bible study, or a group to discover the beauty of the Byzantine Liturgy, they won’t take that next step; few respond to the additional offerings of their church.

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The Church—The Gathering Place | Церква – місце спілкування

ChurchEaster2017The following is from an interview with Fr. Oleh Kindiy, Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv

People who attend Church don’t always consider themselves a part of a community. It’s easier for them to think of the Church as the priest or choir, ie: something beyond themselves. Doesn’t this remove personal responsibility?

I often ask people what percentage of the Church is made up by the clergy: priests, monks, bishops etc. The answer is between 30-50%, suggesting that lay people are only a segment of the Church that is primarily constituted by clergy. They are surprised when I tell them that clergy make up less than 1% of the Church. Lay people do not realize that they are the majority; they expect the priest to do everything: gather people and assign jobs for each to accomplish.

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Celebrating 70-years of UCWLC at our Parish | До 70-ліття нашого відділу ЛУКЖК

UCWLC-logoIn spite of the demands of wartime, Canada’s Ukrainian Catholic women established the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada in 1944.

Three years later, recognizing the wisdom of a national organization, the women of our Parish decided to establish a UCWLC branch in Kitchener and join this impressive and unprecedented initiative.

This week, we honour their 70 years of service to our Church, our parish, and the Kitchener-Waterloo community.

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Why go to church? [Pt. 11] Що відбувається на Службі Божі?

Communion imageSometimes people say their own prayers during Liturgy …
These people aren’t feeling their role in the community event that is Liturgy. They simply have not grasped what is taking place at the Liturgy and naturally they would want to spend that time doing something that is spiritually engaging …

What is the meaning of other Services in our Church, besides the Divine Liturgy?
In our rite, we have a great number and variety of services. Each has its own worth. Too often, we make the mistake of measuring other liturgies as “less than” the Divine Liturgy.

Each liturgy is a glorification of God. We sing various biblical texts, hymns, chants—thus achieving the pinnacle of human ability; the celebration of God.

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Празник празників! Feast of feasts!

EasterThere is no more important celebration on the Christian calendar than today: the feast of the Lord’s resurrection. Among the many, many words that have been spoken and written about this day, none surpass those of the 4th century, St. John Chrysostom (who is credited as the author of our regular Divine Liturgy. His homily is traditionally proclaimed every Easter.

Let all the pious and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward …

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Why go to church? [Pt. 8] Що відбувається на Службі Божі?

Communion imagePeople often complain that they don’t understand what is going on during the service. Here are two suggestions:

  1. During the Liturgy, follow along in the prayer books – either in Ukrainian or English.
  2. Find someone who can explain the text, because it was written a long time ago and has archaic terms and unfamiliar phrases. But I’m convinced that these prayers are actually very current today. Their genius lies in that, despite being ancient, they continue to appeal to human emotions and resonate with us.

For example, during the Divine Liturgy the priest says, “We hand over our life and hope to you, Lord, Lover-of-humanity”. This phrase is brimming with significance!

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Що відбувається на Службі Божі? Why go to church [Pt. 7]

But are some sections of the Liturgy more important than others?
No. Absolutely not. I’m not a fan of the (sadly) popular approach of dividing the Liturgy into more or less important segments. Because the Liturgy is a totality in itself and every separate section makes sense only in relation to the whole. If you fragment the unity then everything falls apart, shatters, and we cannot understand what is there.

The Gospel reading, the offering of the gifts, the eucharist, the dismissal, as much as the singing, the incensing of the priest—everything—is absolutely essential.

And for that matter, that we celebrate the Liturgy …
(Supposed to be celebrating)

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Why go to Church?

church-photoIn the upcoming weeks we will be turning our attention to the Divine Liturgy. In the bulletin we will be excerpting articles which help explain this central liturgical event.

The articles come from the magazine KANA (Dec., 2016) and offer us various perspectives. If you have your own questions about the Divine Liturgy, please send an email to Fr. Myroslaw and we will try and answer them in an upcoming bulletin.

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