St. Peter and St. Paul Parish, Ansonia, Celebrates 100Th
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Liistten carefulllly tto tthe voiice of God.. God may be calllliing you tto tthe Priiestthood or Relliigiious Liife.. Whatt wiillll your answer be? . OFFIICIIAL PUBLIICATIION OF THE UKRAIINIIAN CATHOLIIC EPARCHY OF STAMFORD ССіівваачч SSoowweerr VOL XXXIIII; No.. 7 STAMFORD,, CONNECTIICUT 06902 JULY 26,, 2015 www..stamforddiio..org www..stamforddiio..org ST.ST. PETERPETER ANDAND ST.ST. PAULPAUL PARISH,PARISH, ANSONIA,ANSONIA, CELEBRATESCELEBRATES 100TH100TH ANNIVERSARYANNIVERSARY OFOF CHURCHCHURCH EDIFICEEDIFICE CONSTRUCTIONCONSTRUCTION On the weekend of June 27 & 28, 2015 the parish community of Saint Peter & Saint Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ansonia, CT celebrated a rare milestone in the long history of the parish – the 100th anniversary of the construction and blessing of their church building. The parish itself has its beginnings in 1894 making it one of the oldest Ukrainian Catholic communities in the United States. In that year local immigrants, mostly from the area of Lemkivshchyna in present day Poland and Ukraine, desired to form a parish. The first church was blessed in 1897 but it quickly proved to be too small for the growing com- munity. A new piece of land was purchased in 1915 and work was begun on constructing the present brick structure following building plans obtained from an architect in L’viv, Ukraine. Construction took two years to complete and the church was finally blessed by Bishop Constantine Bohachevsky in 1924. The noted Ukrainian artist, Theodore Hladky, dec- orated the interior of the church. As the present pastor, Very Rev. Archpriest Edward Young says: “We will continue to celebrate our faith in this beautiful building designed in western Ukraine and built here.” The 100th anniversary celebrations began on Saturday morning, June 27 with the celebration by Bishop Paul, of a Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am in church commemorating Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky and the twenty-six contemporary Ukrainian Blessed Martyrs beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2001 during his pastoral visit to Ukraine. At 2:00 pm Bishop Paul, along with the pastor, Rev. Edward Young and assistant pastor, Rev. Stepan Yanovski, celebrated a Moleben to the Mother of God following which they and the faithful solemnly processed out of church and down the main steps to the cornerstone of the church, which was set in place in 1915. There, Bishop Paul led the community in a prayer of remembrance and thanksgiving for all of the deceased builders and benefactors of the church over the past century and then blessed the original cornerstone with holy water. Following this Bishop Paul, the con- celebrating priests and the faithful proceeded to the nearby wall of the parish rectory for the sealing and burial of a time capsule to mark the church building’s first century. Among the items inserted into the time capsule was a copy of the current parish list of the parish as well as a jubilee program and holy cards that were printed to mark the occasion. The capsule and the beautiful granite marker that was placed on top were the generous gifts of the Wakelee Memorial Funeral Home and its director, John Zaleski. The day’s events finished with an informal buffet reception in the church hall, prepared by the ladies of the parish. On Sunday, June 28, the Feast-day of Ss. Peter & Paul, a hierarchical Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Bishop Paul at 10:00 am in church. The Parish President, Scott Walker, along with parish children, Amelia Douglas, Marko Gebuza, Melania Korynovsky and Peter Monks greeted Bishop Paul at the main entrance of the church with bread & salt and flowers. Rt. Rev. Mitred Msgr. John Terlecky, Rev. Edward Young and Rev. Stepan Yanovski concelebrated the Divine Liturgy. The responses were led by the parish cantor, Volodymyr Kit. Following the church service a celebratory brunch was served at the Oronoque Country Club in Stratford, CT. A longtime parishioner, Susan Monks, served as MC for the short program, which included an artistic portion presented by the parish children and a thought-provoking keynote address delivered by Msgr. John Terlecky. Several eparchial priests from neighboring parishes joined the parishioners for the brunch as well as two special friends of Saints Peter & Paul Parish: Rev. Joseph Bertha, pastor of St. John, the Baptist Ruthenian Catholic Church in Trumbull, CT and Rev. Patrick Burns, pastor of Holy Saints Orthodox Church of America Parish in Ansonia. For one hundred years this venerable house of prayer with its copper domes and cross has been majestically perched on top of one of the highest hills of Ansonia. As it was noted by a former pastor, Msgr. John Terlecky, in an interview with a local newspaper: “The people in Ansonia can see it every day. It’s a physical presence in their lives as much as a spiritual presence in ours.” Our prayer is that Saints Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church continue to be that physical and spiritual presence in Ansonia for another hundred years! На многая і благая літа! 22 JULY 26,, 2015 SOWER POPE FRANCIS LLIIGGHHTT OONNEE CCAANNDDLLEE ANGELUS Jerry Costello St. Peter''s Square for The Christophers Monday, June 29, 2015 A MARRIED COUPLE MAkES SAINTLY HISTORY Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! Improbable as it may seem, the Church will finally get around—for the very first time—to declaring that a married couple Today the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul is celebrated, as you know, by the universal Church, but par- are saints (with a capital S, that is). True, they are hardly an ordinary couple; their daughter, St. Therese of Liseux, is one of the Church’s ticularly with joy by the Church of Rome, because in their witness, sealed in blood, she has her very foundations. best known saints. But in October of this year, in conjunction with Rome bears special appreciation and gratitude for these men of God, who came from a distant land to proclaim, at the Synod of Bishops on the family, Louis Martin and his wife, the cost of their lives, the Gospel of Christ to whom they were totally dedicated. The glorious legacy of these two Marie-Azelie (Zelie), are scheduled to be added to the ranks of Apostles is a source of spiritual pride for Rome and, at the same time, it is a call to live the Christian virtues, espe- those named saints—the first husband and wife to be canonized cially faith and charity: faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, which Peter first professed and Paul proclaimed together in Church history. to the Gentiles; and charity, which this Church is called to serve with a universal horizon. What was it that made the Martins such special people, In praying the Angelus, we connect the memory of Sts Peter and Paul to that of Mary, the living image that set them apart from the rest of us? After all, they seemed to have of the Church, the bride of Christ whom the two Apostles “made fruitful by their blood” (Entrance Antiphon in the lived such routine lives. J.J. Ziegler, writing in Our Sunday Visitor, Mass of the Day). Peter knew Mary personally and conversed with her, especially in the days preceding Pentecost paints a portrait of a fairly successful couple who plied their trades (cf. Acts 1:14), and he was able to deepen his understanding of the mystery of Christ. Paul, in proclaiming the ful- from their home. Louis, who was a skilled watchmaker, and Zelie, fillment of the plan of salvation ‘in the fullness of time,’ did not neglect to remember the ‘woman’ from whom the a talented maker of fine lace (she lived all her life in the Alencon Son of God was born in time (cf. Gal 4:4). In the evangelization of the two Apostles here in Rome, there are also area of France, known for its lace), lived above a storefront they the roots of the deep and secular devotion of the Romans to the Virgin, invoked especially as Salus Populi Romani. worked at together. Mary, Peter and Paul are our travel companions on the quest for God. They are our guides on the path of faith and But there were a few special events in their lives that, in holiness. They direct us to Jesus, urging us to do everything He asks of us. Let us invoke their help, that our hearts retrospect, make them stand out—such as the first time they saw may always be open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and to an encounter with our brothers and sisters. each other. One day in 1858 they were walking across a bridge in In the Eucharistic Celebration, which was carried out this morning in St Peter’s Basilica, I blessed the Alencon, passing by each other. Louis was 34; Zelie was 26. And Pallium of Metropolitan Archbishops from various parts of the world who were appointed in the last year. I renew at that moment, Zelie heard a voice inside her. “This is the man,” it my greeting and my best wishes to them, to their families and to those accompanying them on this important occa- said, “that I have prepared for you.” sion, and I hope that the Pallium, while strengthening the bonds of communion with the See of Peter, be a stimu- Both of them, growing up in France at a time of spiritual lus for ever more generous service to the people entrusted to their zealous pastoral care. In the same liturgy I had rebirth, had tried to enroll in religious communities, and both, some- the pleasure of greeting members of a Delegation in Rome on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarch, our beloved what mysteriously, were rejected.