I ask you – why do you go to – the Ukrainian Catholic – Church? Surprised that I ask you that question?! Yes, your reply is to give honor to God and to abide by the laws of the church. But the question remains…
Who are you? The Reverend Father identified you as ‘anhlomovni’. But isn`t everyone living and working in these United States ‘anhlomovnyy’?
You were born four-five decades ago. Take your pick of the area – you know your humble beginnings on this earth. Your parents or grandparents were Lemkos, Boykos, Rusnaks, or Ruthenians but – the Reverend Father said you are Ukrainian ‘z kosty і krovy’. You are first, second, or third generation. You are literate; whereas, your parents couldn’t read or write in their native language.
Your parents were uneducated and they labored under most trying conditions. Your father worked very long hours in the deep, dark and dangerous bowels of the earth digging for coal. Your parents were pioneers. They created Ukrainian communities. They built Ukrainian churches with their distinctive architecture and they had Ukrainian priests to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. They maintained schools, orphanages and convents; established fraternal organizations and instituted the Ukrainian press. Now, why did your parents do all this? They did this because they were a minority and they desired to eradicate this complex for you and your children. They laid the cornerstone for belonging to the Ukrainian diaspora.
What do you do? You moved to a city where the eyes and ears of the world are focused upon it continuously. Or, you live a great deal better in suburbia than you did in the hometown. Nevertheless, you are a minority. The cornerstone laid by your father in your heart made you search for people with Ukrainian sounding surnames. You found a Ukrainian community but no church. You are a pioneer just like your father and helped to found a congregation to hear and sing the Divine Liturgy in the language of your father.
The Reverend Father called you ‘anhlomovni’ and he wants to accommodate you with the Liturgy in English in a Ukrainian Catholic Church! He reasons that you do not speak or understand the Ukrainian language fluently; therefore, you require the Liturgy in English. Ask yourself, is that the reason for your search for a Ukrainian community and church? Really, you could have melted into the population and no one would have known the difference. But – no – the city is composed of many ethnic groups and the cornerstone permanently in your heart made you do otherwise.
You attend the Ukrainian Catholic Church to hear the Divine Liturgy (not the Mass) in the Ukrainian language. Thus, you abide by the Synodal Decrees signed by the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy.
Rose O. Siokalo Washington, D.C.
