Thought I would share this with you about my parish. Sadly, they called St. Stephen's Byzantine Catholic Church a RC parish (its actually Ruthenian), and they forgot to mention you have to have tickets to see the 3 pm Divine Liturgy on Sunday (as otherwise there would be too many people; the parish isn't that big). And the 5 bishops coming to concelebrate is questionable. I haven't heard that at the parish. I know Arcbbishop CYRIL will be there, possibly the local RC bishop (Bishop Olmstead), but I don't know who else would come, lol. I tried finding the picture they had in the newspaper with this article online, but I couldn't find it. One of these days I will get pictures (maybe this Saturday even), and share them with you. It is beautiful!
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0112phxchurch12.html Melkites build first Valley church
Linda Helser
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 12, 2006 12:00 AM
PHOENIX - Perhaps it was divine intervention or maybe just planets aligning in a positive array that brought about the nearly impossible on Greenway Road.
Either way, the Rev. Peter Boutros doesn't see how his spirited Melkite congregation could have failed when it came to building its first real church from scratch in Arizona.
"When you put good people together, this is what happens," said Egyptian native Boutros as he surveyed the almost finished St. John of the Desert Melkite Greek Catholic Church in north Phoenix. The church will be dedicated Sunday.
Since 1983, followers of the Melkite faith in the Valley have been yearning for a church building to call home, not a converted garage or shared sanctuary of a Roman Catholic church.
But money was short. Followers numbered only slightly more than 40 families, a fair portion of whom were relatively new not just to Arizona but to the United States.
"In the Melkite church generally people come from four or five countries including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Jerusalem," said Boutros, 61.
At first the Melkite followers worshipped in local Roman Catholic parishes, such as St. Stephen Byzantine, St. Joan of Arc and St. Thomas the Apostle.
In 1985 the parish was assigned its first full-time priest and in 1986 the congregation purchased a property on Osborn Road that included a garage, which they renovated to resemble a church.
Over the next dozen years, the church families became committed to finding a property so they could build a real church from the ground up.
Boutros, a former electrical engineer, had become their priest in 2001. With $400,000 in building funds, Boutros designed and became the general contractor for the long-awaited new church when ground was broken this summer.
But even a miracle worker couldn't have built a stunning, 4,000-square-foot sanctuary with entryway, social hall, small kitchen, gift shop, offices, conference and bathrooms for that amount.
It took the donation of three acres on Greenway Road from congregation members Shirley and Paul Davis to pull off the unbelievable.
"It's all about giving back," said Paul Davis, 73, a property manager for more than 50 years.
Not only did Davis donate the land, he's also done much of the labor on the complex.
Five bishops will co-celebrate the divine liturgy and dedication at 3 p.m.
. I wish all people who wanted could come, but there isn't enough room. I don't know how exciting it will be anyways, half the parish is going to have to sit in the hall and watch the DL on a big TV. And the delegates from the other parishes in the Eparchy get to sit in the main parish (I'm not complaining, lol, they are our guests, I just wish we could all fit in there).
. When you were here, we may have still had regular windows. Recently, we just had stained glass put in (someone donated it I guess). So now it is impossible to see in. I have thought about recommending the removal of the chairs for the service, but I don't know if Fr. Peter will like it. I do too think it is sad to have tickets, but thats the way it has to be since we will have so many people there (otherwise, not all our regular parishoners might not even be able to see it, and IMHO, they should get to see this).
. Now, they are uncovered, as all that is finished. I will PM you wil Fr. Peter's email. That is the best way to get in touch. The past two weeks he hasn't mentioned we needed anything, but it can't hurt to email 