Father Mark Morozowich Reflection on the Year for Priests
TUESDAY, JUNE
23, 2008 – PATRONAL FEAST LITURGY OF GREAT VESPERS
The Ambrose Romanos Singers have graciously agreed to
sing this yearÍs Great Vespers in celebration of the
Nativity of St. John the Baptizer at our Ukrainian Catholic
Southside Pittsburgh parish (109 S 7th Street, 15203) for
their Patronal Feastday. Fr. Ivan Chirovsky and his
parishioners invite everyone to join them in praying with a
professional choir in celebration of this feastday at 7:00
pm on Tuesday, June 23rd.
YEAR FOR
PRIESTS IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Pope Benedict XVI has declared June 2009 to June 2010 as
the Year for Priests. The theme for the priestly year is
"Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests." Its
purpose is to encourage what the Pope calls "the yearning
for spiritual perfection" in priests. To this end, it was
reiterated that St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859)
is the patron and model for priests in the Roman (Latin)
Catholic Church.
Papal Letter to Priests
YEAR FOR
PRIESTS IN THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic Church
with their Head and Father, His Beatitude Patriarch Lubomyr
(Cardinal Husar), have proclaimed January 2009 to December
2009 as the ñYear for Priestly Vocationsî paying par-ti-cu-lar
attention to the development and growth of our Church which
requires good spiritual leaders who are properly prepared
and duly appointed to the priest-ly ministry. The bishops
invite all Church members, the so-called royal priest-hood,
to meditate on the sacred nature and importance of the
vocation to the ministerial priesthood, as well as to
reflect on what we as a broader church com-munity can do to
help our priests be exemplary ministers for the glory of God
and the common good of the entire Church and our people.To
this end, the priest-martyr Omelyan (Emil) Kowcz (1884-1944)
has been declared the patron and model for priests in the
Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Five ways parishoners, whether Byzantine or Latin, can
support their priests are to:
Pray and fast for them;
Participate in parish liturgy and social events and
be active,
Have realistic expectations about each priest
allowing him to have his own preferences, peculiarities
and limitations, letting him be himself, with his own
gifts and talents,
Teach yourself to believe the best about them and
ignore the gossip, since negative people can do a lot of
damage „ not just to the priest, but to the entire
parish;
Find visible and concrete ways to show them your
appreciation and to affirm their ministry, because some
gesture you might consider ñsmall,î may actually mean
the world to a priest.
