Featured Articles

A Visit to Our Lady of Good Help Maronite Parish

A Visit to Our Lady of Good Help Maronite Parish

by Brent Kostyniuk I have just come from a spiritually uplifting, spiritually rewarding experience—Mass at Our Lady of Good Help Maronite church in Edmonton, presided by Msgr. Joseph Salame. The Maronite Church is one of 22 Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with Rome. Its spiritual head is His Beatitude Bechara Boutros A-Rahi Patriarch of Antioch and the Entire East, who resides in Bkerke, Lebanon is BaBea. The Maronite Church follows the Antiochian or West Syrian Rite, along with the Syro-Malankar and Syrian Churches. The Mass was truly moving. For the most part, it gives praise to God in wonderful…
Read More
Paschal Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Paschal Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Most Reverend Archbishops and Bishops, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, Venerable Brothers and Sisters, Dearly Beloved in Christ of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Christ is Risen! The first-born male from the virginal womb—Christ, who, as a man, has been called Lamb and unblemished, not having the stain of sin. He is our Pasch and, as true God, is called perfect. Paschal Canon, Ode 4, Second Hymn Beloved in Christ! Once again we gather in Ukraine and throughout the world to greet one another on the glorious feast of our Lord’s Resurrection: “Christ is risen!” This joyful greeting for us Christians…
Read More
Called to Unity

Called to Unity

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ike many Ukrainian Greco-Catholics, I am pleased that Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill finally met in Havana February 12, even though the negotiations that preceded this encounter included some unseemly concessions. After all, for the last three decades such an encounter was always described as impossible because of the very existence of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church. I note that Pope Francis praised Patriarch Kirill’s humility, but the latter did not return the favor. After all, it was clearly the Pope who humbly agreed to the time and place for the meeting, in order for it to finally happen after decades…
Read More
“Two Parallel Worlds” – An Interview with His Beatitude Sviatoslav

“Two Parallel Worlds” – An Interview with His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Saturday, February 13, 2016 [Note from RoyalDoors - the original Ukrainian text is below] On February 12, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, the leaders of two Churches, met at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. The meeting took place in a closed setting. It lasted more than two hours. The meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill concluded with the signing of a Joint Declaration, which elicited mixed reactions on the part of the citizenry and Church representatives of Ukraine. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Head of the UGCC, shared with us his impressions of the meeting in general and of the…
Read More
Sr. Petronella Dybka, SSMI – A Gift

Sr. Petronella Dybka, SSMI – A Gift

by Brent Kostyniuk Sometimes you are given a gift but don’t realize just how special it really is. The gift may be something you received a long time ago, or perhaps it simply blends in so well, you hardly realize it is there. The gift could be an heirloom of unrealized value which has always been in your family, passed down through the generations. Or the gift could be a person, a person who somehow exhibits all of these traits. For nearly five decades, St. Basil Parish in Edmonton has had just such a gift—Sister Petronella Dybka, SSMI. Back in…
Read More
Tradition

Tradition

by Brent Kostyniuk In the movie Fiddler on the Roof, the village milkman, Tevye lives his life according to the dictates of Tradition. However, he often does not know the reason for a particular tradition, only that it must be followed. While Tradition plays an important part in Tevye’s life, it is a vital element of Christian theology, especially Eastern theology. In his book, The Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes about the significance of tradition for Eastern Christians, notably as it contributes to its changelessness, its loyalty with the past. “This idea of living continuity may be summed up…
Read More
Pastoral Letter of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of Canada on the Occasion of the Nativity of Our Lord 2015/2016

Pastoral Letter of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of Canada on the Occasion of the Nativity of Our Lord 2015/2016

To the Very Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Religious Sisters, Seminarians and Laity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada: Christ is Born! Glorify Him! The unapproachable God, out of mercy, wished to become visible for us. He comes in the flesh, to be born as a human being of the most pure Virgin, in the city of Bethlehem. Therefore, let us hasten with devotion to receive him. (Sessional hymn, prefeast of the Nativity) It is the middle of the night. You are sound asleep in bed. Suddenly you are awakened by knocking at the door. Who could it be at…
Read More
54 Ways to Be Merciful During the Jubilee Year of Mercy

54 Ways to Be Merciful During the Jubilee Year of Mercy

Practicing mercy in our lives actually does take practice Source: Aleteia The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” —Matthew 9:11-13 God, who is merciful, desires our mercy. Here are 54 ways to keep to mercy during the Jubilee Year. Try randomly selecting one each week and putting…
Read More
St. Philip’s Fast

St. Philip’s Fast

The American Shopping Season is at hand. Some people will spend it jostling for bargains; others will pass the time lamenting the commercialization of Christmas. The Eastern Churches, on the other hand, encourage their faithful to prepare for this feast by fasting. Each of these Churches has a pre-Nativity Fast, but each Church observes it to a different degree. Like the feast of Christ’s Nativity itself, this fast originated in the West. In ad 380 he Council of Saragossa in Spain mandated daily church attendance beginning on December 17. Pope St Leo the Great (400-461) described four Fasts, one in…
Read More
The Nativity Fast in the Home

The Nativity Fast in the Home

The Shopping Season is at hand. Some people will spend it jostling for bargains; others will pass the time lamenting the commercialization of Christmas. The Eastern Churches, on the other hand, encourage their faithful to prepare for this feast by increasing their involvement with the things of God. Please download this wonderful guide to help you prepare for the glorious coming of our Lord! PDF - Christmas-Fast-in-the-Home Source: Eparchy of Newton      
Read More
No widgets found. Go to Widget page and add the widget in Offcanvas Sidebar Widget Area.