The mission parish of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Comox Valley in Vancouver Island invited Bishop Michael to participate in their annual parish praznyk which was moved to Sunday the 7th of September 2025. Thanks to kindness of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Victoria, Most Rev. Gary Gordon and, and the local pastor, Fr. David Smith and his parishioners, the Ukrainian Catholic mission parish has been holding services at the parish of Christ the King Parish church in Courtney, BC.
Joined by Sisters Angelica and Janice of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immculate, who have house near the Eparchial Centre of the Eparchy of New Westminster, Bishop Michael began the visit with a drive to Horseshoe Bay north of Vancouver to take the ferry across the Georgia Straight to City of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Its about a 5-hour trip including the drive, boarding process and the voyage across the Straight of Georgia. They arrived in time for Saturday evening Great Vespers at Saint Michael the Archangel Parish Church in Nanaimo. Following vespers and a brief tour of the newly renovated parish centre and gardens, the local Parish Priest Fr. Stepan Vytvytskyi and his wife Evelina invited everyone to a birthday party of their daughter Emily who turned 2 that week.
The following morning, the parish in Nanaimo maintained their regular Sunday morning schedule with the first Divine Liturgy in Ukrainian and the second Divine Liturgy in English. The parishioners were pleased that both Bishop Michael and the Sisters attended both services as well as the fellowship gathering afterward to meet the parishioners. During his homily at both services, Bishop Michael touched upon the events occurring in the liturgical calendar. It was the Sunday before the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the eve of the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. He suggested that there were two important messages that stood out in association with these two feasts. One was the Cross of Christ was a symbol and, in fact, the means by which the Lord God showed His immeasurable love for us His creatures by coming into the world to not only show us the way and set us on the right path again, but to pay the only possible price for our redemption by giving His life for us upon the cross. The Feast of the Nativity of Mary showed us that the Lord’s plan for the salvation of the Human race began long, long ago and slowly by subtle and yet extremely significant events such as the Nativity of Mary and the Annunciation His prefect plan of salvation is realized. The same it is in our personal lives. The Lord Who loves us so very much realizes His plan for our salvation and for the blessings by which He wishes to shower us throughout our life in subtle and often unnoticed ways. We may be aware of this, or we may not understand it until we look back and see the hand of God all the way through. [Like the popular little story of “footsteps in the sand”]
That afternoon, they drove up north to the Ukrainian Catholic ‘mission’ Parish of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Courtney (Comox Valley). Since the church is under renovation, the evening Liturgy and the reception were both held in one of the halls of the vast parish complex. For this Praznyk celebration, Bishop Michael and Fr. Stepan were also joined by Fr. Yuriy Vyshnevskyy, the Dean of the territory, who drove up from the Provincial Capital of Victoria. Where he is also the Pastor of St. Nicholas Parish. As the parish is made up mainly of newcomers, the operative language was Ukrainian. During the Divine Liturgy, two girls also received their “First [Solemn] Holy Communion” which added to the spirit of the event.
The reception dinner afterward was a typical Ukrainian event – great food and lots of it! The borsch, piryshky, pyrohy and deserts were mainly made by the parishioners and brought in to create an amazing buffet. It was a late night, especially for those who had to drive back to Nanaimo and Victoria, but everyone returned home with buoyed hearts.
The following morning, back in Nanaimo, St. Michael the Archangel parish held their festal liturgy for the Nativity of the Mother of God. Bishop Michael was pleased to celebrate this Liturgy and expressed his delight that so many parishioners and guests came out on a weekday to participate. Following the service and before catching the ferry back to the mainland, a good number of those that attended the service made their way to the Fairway Market for a breakfast to celebrate the feast and, in a special way, the wedding anniversary of Fr. Stepan and yimost’ Evelina.
This little report is being written on the ferry back to the mainland. It was a filled few days, but this “weekend” concludes with a great deal of satisfaction that the Eparchy is slowly growing and the Lord is truly watching over His people and providing them with pastoral care and sacramental grace of His Church. The goodwill and enthusiasm of the faithful, as well as their willingness to volunteer and help in any way possible is truly inspirational.
