March for Life - Friday, January 29, 2021

Sybertsville, PA

Father Anthony Skurla, O.F.M., fell asleep in the Lord after a short illness on December 28, 2020. A friar of Holy Dormition Byzantine Catholic Friary in Sybertsville for more than 72 years, he was well known for his ministry at the friary and his service to many Byzantine churches.

Father Anthony was born to Andrew and Mary Uchal Skurla in Syracuse, New York May 27, 1928. His early education, both elementary and secondary, was in the public schools of Chisholm, Minnesota. He was prepared for the priesthood at St. Basil College, Stamford, and St. Mary Seminary, Norwalk, both in Connecticut.

After making his solemn profession on September 7, 1952, he was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1954 by Most Reverend Constantine Bohachavesky at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Philadelphia.

At the friary, Father Anthony held the following offices and appointments: Master of Novices, Custodial Counselor, Local Superior, Provincial Counselor, and Provincial Custos. From 2011 to 2017 he served as chaplain to the Byzantine Carmelite Nuns of Sugarloaf, and upon retirement in 2017, he resided at Mt. Macrina Manor Nursing Home in Uniontown.

A kind and gentle priest, Father Anthony was blessed with a most pleasant disposition marked by his constant smile, an out-going personality, and a pleasing sense of humor. He was preceded in death by his brothers, George and John, He is survived by his nephew, Archbishop William C. Skurla, Metropolitan Archbishop of Pittsburgh; and many nieces and nephews and their families.

Visitation will be from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 2, in Mt. Macrina Monastery Chapel with all COVID-19 restrictions applying. The Panachida Service will follow with limited space for visitors, then interment in Mt. Macrina Cemetery.

All arrangements are under the direction of the DONALD R. CRAWFORD FUNERAL HOME.

Eternal Memory! Vičnaja jemu pamjat!

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Lk. 2: 14
“The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mt. 20: 24

Dear Friends,

The first verse is the song of the angels on the night of the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It’s the programme of heaven for us, the inhabitants of earth.

The second verse is the programme of Jesus, who “for us humans and for our salvation, took flesh and became human” as we state in the Nicene Creed.

The Church Fathers expressed the meaning of these verses – the incarnation, salvation, the passion, the resurrection – in the expression “the economy (or plan) of salvation.”

These salutary verses are the answer to the question that theologians and we ask ourselves, “Cur Deus homo?”

It is also our question about the mystery of the incarnation, the cross and salvation, about the mystery of our life, problems, sicknesses, wars, catastrophes, earthquakes and Coronavirus epidemics.

We shall all continue for ever asking these questions, and the real answer is always that of Jesus and the Gospel. My life has meaning when I realise in my life the angels’ song and Jesus’ word. That means that my life consists of glorifying God and being an agent of peace and joy among human beings. And I shall also act in solidarity with men and women on this earth, together to build a better world, based on the values of faith, hope and charity.

That is Christmas. Happy Feast! Holy year 2021!

Gregorios III

Bishop Gerald Nicholas Dino, Eparch Emeritus of Phoenix, fell asleep in the Lord on November 14, 2020. Born in 1940 in Binghamton, New York, he was ordained a priest for the Eparchy of Pasaic on March 21, 1965. On December 6, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of the Eparchy of Van Nuys, and on March 27, 2008 he was consecrated a bishop and served until his retirement at age 76 in 2016.

Syriac Patriarch Gregoire III Laham of Damascus is pictured in a file photo during the consecration service of a chapel in the Jesuit College Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt, Germany. Germany's bishops have pledged to improve the integration of Eastern Catholics in their church, as part of ongoing plans to help migrants and refugees. (Credit: Harald Oppitz/KNA via CNS.)

CruxNow.com - (Jonathan Luxmoore, Oct 19, 2020, catholic news service)

Germany’s bishops have pledged to improve the integration of Eastern Catholics in the predominant Latin-rite church, as part of ongoing plans to help migrants and refugees.

“The Catholic Church in Germany is changing and the life of our parishes becoming more diverse — faithful from Eastern Catholic Churches are living with us and finding their home here,” the bishops’ conference said. “This diversity of Catholic Church traditions should be kept alive, so migrants and refugees can be integrated into our community without losing their own identity.”

“They belong to the Catholic Church but come from different Eastern church traditions. Their developed patterns of liturgy and church law deserve to be valued and cherished.”

The statement, signed by Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg, chairman of the bishops’ Migration Commission, and Auxiliary Bishop Dominicus Meier of Paderborn, the bishops’ representative for Eastern Catholics, accompanied new guidelines for pastoral care of Eastern Catholics lacking their own priests and pastors.

Vatican.va - The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto of the Byzantine Rite Slovaks (Canada) presented by His Grace, Marián Andrej Pacák, C.SS.R., and appointed as Apostolic Administrator to the vacant see of the same circumscription His Grace, Kurt R. Burnette, Bishop of Passaic of the Ruthenians (USA).

Ukrainian Catholics worship together, determined to keep age-old liturgy alive

MOUNT ANGEL, OREGON — A shady drive, lined with mossy Douglas fir trees, leads to the Goff family farm, with its century-old farmhouse and groves of filberts.

On the last Sunday in August the afternoon scene included the glint of the altar servers’ gold robes, chairs arranged under birches, masked worshippers patiently waiting and clutches of children making the most of the last moments before the liturgy began.

Father Richard Janowicz stood in prayer at a makeshift altar.

The priest, longtime pastor of Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Springfield, made the trip to the Goff farm to celebrate a Mass with the Andrey Sheptytsky Ukrainian Catholic Apostolate of Portland. This was the group’s first anniversary.

After the Mass, Father Janowicz described the apostolate as being a little like the hopeful, would-be founders of a mission that doesn’t yet exist. “They have a great dedication to keeping the prayer life and to grow, despite the many challenges of this past year,” he said.

The apostolate includes people like Nada Holovcuk, who worshipped in Ukrainian-rite churches in Bosnia as a child.

“When you go to a service you grew up with, it’s close to your heart,” she said.

Fund-raising tops $136,875

By the Rev. John M. Fields | www.ukrweekly.com

PHILADELPHIA – The Pennsylvania anthracite coal region town of Shenandoah is some 4,550 miles, as the crow flies, from the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine. And Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, is some 4,750 miles from Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. Yet despite time and distance, these towns and cities have a unique relationship, which has its beginning in the latter half of the 19th century.

As immigrants from Eastern Europe came to the United States in the 1880s, a large number of Ukrainians settled in the northeastern Pennsylvania coal region. In the Schuylkill County town of Shenandoah, these new arrivals to America established in 1884 the first Eastern Catholic Church in the United States. From this Ukrainian Greek-Catholic parish, the Church experienced rapid growth as more immigrants from Ukraine arrived and, with the arrival of Bishop Soter Ortynsky in 1907, Philadel­phia became the home of this developing Church.

Oregon, Ohio - Three hundred and fifty years after she first wept in compassion for peasants in present-day Slovakia, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Klokočov is coming to Oregon.

St. Michael the Archangel Byzantine Catholic Church, 4001 Navarre Ave., Oregon, will display a copy of the weeping icon beginning Monday through Aug. 30. The local parish is the latest site on a regional pilgrimage that began in June under Ohio's Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma.

St. Michael Parish welcomes the public to view and venerate the icon each day between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

A two-dimensional image of Mary, wearing a crown and holding a similarly crowned Jesus, the icon depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary of Klokočov is spiritually significant in a faith tradition that holds icons themselves as spiritually significant, as St. Michael's Rev. Robert Stash explained in an interview anticipating the arrival of the icon on Monday.

The St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church gathers for liturgy while having to adhere to a 15 person capacity limit. (Article and Photo by Taylor Clark)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Under the latest Anchorage Emergency Order, churches and other types of gatherings are once again put on capacity limits. Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said that the vast majority of churches are complying or working with the muni to figure out a way to hold services. One following the mandates the best they can while still holding services is the St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church, led by Father Joseph Wargacki.

Under the order, 15 people are allowed at indoor gatherings. On Sunday’s liturgy, there were 11 adults, five children, and one infant present in the main chapel, including people helping with the service. Father Wargacki said they’re doing what they can to keep folks safe, but the number of people inside at one time can fluctuate.

Continue Reading at ktuu.com.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops News Release - July 21 at 7:39 AM

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is inviting all Christians and people of goodwill to join in a Day of Mourning on Friday, July 24 for the conversion of the #HagiaSophia in Istanbul back into a mosque after serving for over eighty years as a museum. The museum was a place of encounter and dialogue between people of all faiths and cultures. The Greek Orthodox have asked that every Church toll its bells, every flag be raised to half-mast and that the Akathist Hymn is chanted in the evening. For Catholics unfamiliar with the Akathist Hymn, the recitation of the Rosary is recommended, as both prayers entreat the Mother of God for her intercession.

https://www.goarch.org/-/july-24-day-of-mourning