On Meat-fare Sunday (8 February), Bishop Michael Kwiatkowski visited the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Surrey, British Columbia. Grateful to the pastor and parishioners of Precious Blood Roman Catholic Parish, the small Ukrainian parish has been holding services and parish events at Precious Blood for a few years now.
Upon his arrival in the Eparchy a year ago, Fr. Mykhailo Postolyuk has been serving as Parish Priest of Holy Cross as well as the new Saint Joseph the Spouse mission parish at the Adoration Chapel of Saint Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Maple Ridge, BC.
The Divine Liturgy began at 2:00 PM as it does every Sunday and Bishop Michael asked the parishioners to stay behind for a small discussion.
The Bishop thanked them for coming to the service and said that he was truly impressed with their singing of the Ukrainian/English Eucharistic Liturgy. He expressed his admiration for them that although the parish still struggled after losing its original church some years ago, they remained determined to make the best of the situation. They continue to have weekly Sunday services at the temporary location and Fr. Mykhailo offers some online services, Bible study and catechism lessons during the weekdays. One of the important recent developments was that Fr. Mykhailo, with his family, was now moving into a parish apartment nearer to the Precious Blood location. (He had been living at the rectory of another Eparchial Parish – Holy Dormition Byzantine - in Richmond.)
The meeting after the Divine Liturgy offered the Bishop and parishioners, with their parish priest, to have a good discussion about where the parish “is at” and what might be some of the best changes or moves to make in the near future. This was also put into context the overall resources and needs of the Eparchy of New Westminster as a whole. Everything from Liturgy times to relocating to growing the community was talked about. In conclusion everyone raised a prayer to the Lord, through the intercession of Mary the Mother of God, to guide them all in making the best possible decision for the good of their community.
