In this ministry, I need your help and you deserve to be informed. As Paul teaches, based on the example of Jesus himself, my vocation as Metropolitan is to be a servant of servants, not an ecclesial or secular CEO: “For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus” (2 Cor. With the active involvement of our clergy, religious, and laity, the carefully recorded desires expressed by representatives of our parishes during the Sobors are leading to action.Īll aspects of our Pastoral Plan are animated by your voices. These four teams are responsible for making “the rubber hits the road.” These intentions will not remain on paper. They became the foundation of our first formal planning meetings in August 2021 and led to the creation of four teams of more that 50 laity, religious, and priests who will ensure the implementation of financial, social, and ministerial strategies. The four Sobors (councils) conducted in 20 served to collect your input on topics like communion and unity, catechesis, liturgy and prayer, and service to those in need.

They are showing the personal and human side of the Archeparchy, especially through the top-notch videos!Ī key development of the last months has been our Archeparchial Planning, part of the Pastoral Plan of the global Ukrainian Catholic Church. I hope you enjoy following news from various parishes and communities as much as I do. It is recognized by many of you but also outside of our community, especially by our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. Mariana Karapinka, along with the married team of Halyna Vasylytsia and Deacon Andrii Rubel, work to transform and develop the Archeparchial Communications Office. Five of the six missionary priests are husbands and fathers, and their families take active roles alongside them. Some have already embraced long-term assignments. Their presence is a blessing and a joy!įathers Ruslan Borovyi, Andriy Chornopysky, Ihor Kolisnyk (CSsR), Yaroslav Lukavenko, Ostap Mykytchyn, and Roman Oliinyk have served in over a dozen parishes throughout the Archeparchy substituting for pastors wherever needed. They bolster our parishes and ministries, gladly facing the challenges of new circumstances. By now, many of you have met at least one of them. They are open to God’s call and have an impressive range of talents. Thank God, in the spring and summer, eight new missionaries - six priests, a subdeacon and a lay woman - arrived to begin serving in the Archeparchy, the culmination of almost two years of preparatory work. We shared the hope of bringing new clergy from Ukraine to address this dire need. Many of our priests have had little or no time off for years. We all need and want priests to be in our parishes sharing our joys and be compassionately present in our pain. Last year’s Christmas letter identified the severe clergy shortage as the single greatest obstacle to our ministry. Here in America, during the first year of the pandemic, our Metropolia lost 22 of approximately 300 clergy and religious (not all from the coronavirus) - a mortality rate of 7% over twelve months during which we had no new ordinations nor vocations to our religious orders. Covid continues to rage in many counties, especially Ukraine. This is particularly true in Christmas and in the family celebrations and challenges that are before us.Īll of humanity has suffered. God comes to meet us in our real-life joys and hardships. You show how the Lord continues to encounter us. You welcome each other, and me, warmly in our parishes and schools. I thank you because you reach out to each other. I thank you for your faithfulness in the arduous pandemic circumstances. Should supply their needs, so that their surplus may also supply your needs. It is appropriate for you who began not only toĪct but to act willingly last year: complete it now. “ For your sake our Lord Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich, so that by

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