Ukrainian Catholic Church.

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1 No 798 (430) Ukrainian Catholic Church. Parish of St. John the Baptist - Perth. Parish Priest - Fr. Wolodymyr Kalinecki 20 Ferguson St. Maylands. WA 6051; ph/fax (08) ; mobile w.kalinecki@oz .com.au Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate -Sr Nicodema Zemliak - 16 Ferguson St, Maylands ) Editor - Luba Valega - luba_valega@hotmail.com 08) mbl PARISH WEEKLY NEWS 22nd 29th April 2012 This is a weekly Parish newsletter for all to read to inform you of what is happening in our Parish and share with you some interesting reading. This week-readings Epistle Acts 5:12-20 Gospel John 20:19-31 St Thomas Sunday (Julian calendar) tone 1 =========================================================================== Epistle Acts 5: Meanwhile, the apostles were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon s Hall and they did many remarkable miracles among the people. 13. The other believers didn t dare join them, though, but all had the highest regard for them. 14. And more and more believers were added to the Lord, crowds both men and women. 15. Sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that at least Peter s shadow would fall across some of them as he went by! 16. And crowds came in from the Jerusalem salem suburbs, bringing their sick folk and those possessed by demons; and everyone of them was healed. 17. The High Priest and his relatives and friends among the Sadducees reacted with violent jealousy 18. And arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19. But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail and brought them out. Then told them to go to the Temple and preach about this Life. Gospel 20: That evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors, in fear of the Jewish leaders, when suddenly Jesus was standing there among them! After greeting them, 20. He showed them his hands and side. And how wonderful was their joy as they saw their Lord! 21. He spoke to them again and said, As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. 22. Then he breathed on them and told them, Receive the Holy Spirit. 23. If you forgive anyone s sins, they are forgiven. If refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven. 24. One of the disciples, Thomas, was not there at the time with the others. 25. When they kept telling him, We have seen the Lord, he replied, I won t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands - and put my fingers into them - and place my hand into his side. 26. Eight days later the disciples were together again and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before Jesus was standing among them and greeting them. 27. Then he said too Thomas, Put your finger into my hands. Put your hand into my side. Don t be faithless any longer. Believe! 28. My Lord and my God! Thomas said. 29. Then Jesus said to him, You believed because you have seen me. But blessed are those who haven t seen me and believe anyway Jesus disciples saw him do many other miracles besides the ones told about in this book, but these are recorded so that you will believe that he is the Messiah, the Son of God and that believing in him you will have life. - Reflection of the week An anthropologist studying the habits and customs of an African tribe found himself surrounded by children most days. So he decided to play a little game with them. He managed to get candy from the nearest town and put it all in a decorated basket. at the foot of a tree. Then he called the children and suggested they play the game. When the anthropologist said "now", the children had to run to the tree and the first one to get there could have all the candy to him/herself. So the children all lined up waiting for the signal. When the anthropologist said "now", all of the children took each other by the hand ran together towards the tree. They all arrived at the same time divided up the candy, sat down and began to happily munch away... The anthropologist went over to them and asked why they had all run together when any one of them could have had the candy all to themselves. The children responded: "Ubuntu. How could any one of us be happy if all the others were sad?"ubuntu is a philosophy of African tribes that can be summed up as "I am what I am because of who we all are." Bishop Desmond Tutu gave this explanation in 2008 :"One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality Ubuntu you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." Rt Rev Olexander Kenez - Words of wisdom When the road that lies before you seems uncertain and unknown, may faith uphold your heart and be your guide. Find rest. O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him The Book of Psalms Page 1

2 To the Clergy, religious and faithful of the Eparchy of Ss. Peter and Paul, Melbourne, Australia and Oceania Christ is Risen, Truly He has Risen. We gather together this Easter, to celebrate the Risen Lord, the Resurrection of Christ. We have come with different expectations and backgrounds. Our daily lives differ; our aims and expectations in life are different. There is one thing that is the same. We have come here to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We can sit quietly in the pew and not engage in the liturgy, or we can be an important and active part of the celebration. This is our choice. We must remember everybody in the community has a role to play. We heard the priest read the Easter message of St John Chrysostom, at Resurrection matins. It was written some 1,600 years ago. In many ways it could have been written today. St John Chrysostom addresses an issue in his Church which is still an issue for us today. He said to the people that came, that everybody was welcome, not just the inner circle, or the regulars, but everybody, no matter who they are. He says that Christ welcomes everybody to His celebration. It is His invitation not anybody else's. To be honest, we may well pay attention to this ourselves. Perhaps that is why this letter has been read out at the Paschal vespers since the great saint wrote it. Our Patriarch said exactly the same thing when he wrote his pastoral letter "A vibrant parish, a place to find Christ". We want to discover the Risen Lord, not a basic Judeo-Christian ethic, but Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins and conquered death by rising on the third day. If we are to be a Church, this is the basis on which a fundamental reform of the culture of the Church is going to take place. Perhaps being open minded is the key to adapting the culture of Church to the society in which we live. In this way the culture and sociology of the church can and will adapt to the reality of daily life. This open mindedness has to work both ways though. Many of us will have to learn that things like, community, love and inclusiveness are more important than selfishness and materialism. Community prayer on a Sunday may be lacking where it should be a part of our reality. This plan, called Vision 2020, is an eight year plan. There are different issues that we have to look at. The first perhaps is, do we as a community of Christians look at the basic handbook for Christians, the bible, for that matter, do we have a bible in our room? It is a valid question. Every one of us needs to be able to say honestly that we understand the bible message. How we do this will be an individual matter. Do we want to read it as a group, or individually is our choice. WE now have the catechism of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. If we read this together with the bible, it will lead us to living a way that directs us to having a relationship with Jesus Christ. An English language edition of this catechism will be available towards the end of the year. His Holiness the Pope gave special mention of the new catechism of the UGCC being a very significant pastoral achievement. We will be talking more about this in all of our parishes as the year goes on. An important thing that happens at Easter time is the family gathering. For many of us this is a time when the extended family gathers together, and we celebrate. The food in Easter basket represents that which we denied ourselves during Lent. The Pascha represents the Risen Christ. We celebrate our faith; we celebrate our family and those we love. This celebration is prayer. Let us have no doubts about it. It is as much prayer as the family prayers are during lent and the rest of the year. During this Easter season, may the Lord bless us. May each and every one of us be the reason why somebody who has not prayed for a long time, comes to Jesus. + Bishop Peter. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Patriarch Sviatoslav: Christ's priesthood has its source not in man, but in the divine person and ministry of the Son of God Christ's priesthood has its source not in man, but in the divine person and ministry of the Son of God. The priest is called to be a light ray of eternity in the interim, a living icon of the Saviour's presence among the people of God, the presence that throughout history the Church was a source of strength and invincibility for the Ukrainian believer, His Beatitude Sviatoslav stated in his Epistle to the UGCC clergy on Holy Thursday on March 29, The head of the UGCC calls the hierarchs to reflect together on a common task: to make all people partakers in eternal life. He cites examples of famous priests. He said Metropolitan Andrey, using Father Markian Sashkevych as an example, emphasized that the content of his work was to go to the people, and Blessed Bishop Omelyan Kovch wanted to be among the people even in death camps. In his opinion, a priest can perform his mission only if he will be with his people always and everywhere. Only then is he able to nourish the faithful with his preaching of the word of God, using it to show specific life circumstances of modern life and bring people closer to the holy sacraments, he says. The priest should know his faithful, share with them all aspects of their lives, to be with them and follow their life paths. Patriarch Sviatoslav argues that modern culture creates new ways to separate the clergy from the faithful, to steal from our community the living and active presence of the Good Shepherd, to separate them from God. According to the Primate of the Church, by becoming close to his people, a zealous pastor brings them closer to Christ, shares the joy and grief, burdens and victories. UGCC Information Department Page 2

3 Easter celebrations 2012 in Perth Good Friday13th April Easter Saturday 14th April Page 3

4 Blessing Baskets on Easter Saturday Easter Sunday

5 Blessing baskets outside

6 Day. Date. Time. Feast. Special Feast Days - Julian Calender Sun Тоне 1 22ndApril, :30 am Holy Liturgy St Thomas Sunday Mon. 23rd April, 2012 No Holy Liturgy Tues. 24th April, :30 am Holy Liturgy Wed 25th April, :30an Holy Liturgy Anzac Day Thurs. 26th April :30am Holy Liturgy Chornobyl Day Fri. 27th April, am Holy Liturgy Sat 28th April, pm Holy Liturgy In English Sun Тоне 2 29th April, :30 am Holy Liturgy Myrrh Bearing Women Shop 44, Centro Dianella Plaza, Tel Specialising in weddings, funerals and all special occasions. If ordering flower arrangements mention you saw advert on Luba s newsletter from Perth and you will receive 10% discount. (sorry no discount on Interflora) Dianella Flowers and Baskets are supporters for our Ukrainian Church of St John the Baptist Perth. Gardening Roster for church grounds Please put your name on the list to volunteer to help mow the lawns and do some gardening at the Parish. If everyone helps then you may only need to do this one or two times a year. Please try to do the lawns at the beginning of each month or when it needs it. Please let Luba or Lynette know if you can help. Thank you for your assistance. Much appreciated Gardening Roster: APRIL??? Cleaning Church Roster: Sat 14th April Nataliya Liakishev thank you Sat 28th April Nadia Mandyczewskyj ***************************************************************** Hope everyone had a blessed and happy Easter To all who baked Paskas, went to church services during Lent, helped and supported at the Palm Sunday fete, bought paskas, painted pysanky, cooked the lunch, came to the Easter services and to the choir and Suzanna Prushynsky who sang so beautifully on Easter Sunday to a packed church And to those who couldn t make it because of illnesses May the Resurrected Jesus bless you all Christ has Risen Христос Воскрес A RESTORATION (Maintenance) fund has being organised for our Church renovations. This is separate to the yearly upkeep (podatok) fund. If you wish to donate, please see Luba Valega. The Church building is in need of repairs and so the Parish Council is asking for your support. Special donation from- Dr Lesa Melnyczuk-Morgan $1,000 - as a thankyou to many parishioners and Fr Wally for the support for the forthcoming book Silent Memories and for the many wishes and support for my Doctoral Research. I have been very grateful for the help and kindnesses of Ukrainians sharing their life stories and others who simply responded with a prayer Total now $ Donations Church Many thanks for your kind donations. May you receive God s blessings ====================================== Important dates Sat 21st April blessing graves at Karrakatta 2pm lawn section. Bring chairs for your elderly parents to sit during the Easter memorial service. - If you wish your house to be blessed, please ring Fr Wolodymyr and make an Appointment. -