Anniversary celebration in Kharkiv: St. Vincent’s Feast and 25th anniversary of parish foundation

The Parish of St. Vincent de Paul in Kharkiv celebrated its Dedication Day on September 27, 2020, as well as the 25^th anniversary of the parish foundation.

Guests arrived to us from Kyiv for that event: Fr. Leonid Kuklyshyn, CM, Visitor of the Vice-Province of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, accompanied by Secretary of the Vice-Province Fr. Mykhailo Talapkanych, CM. The solemn Holy Mass was celebrated by Ordinary Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia Diocese Pavlo Honcharuk.

In order to meet the quarantine requirements, the Holy Mass took place in front of the church, while all the faithful could find their places at the church square. The anniversary celebration began with a bishop’s welcoming speech and reading out loud congratulatory letters written by Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission Tomaz Mavric, CM, Fathers of the Mission from different countries, fathers from neighboring parishes and Carmelite nuns from Pokotylivka.

The whole Holy Liturgy was filled with a thanksgiving prayer for our parish, melodic singing of a multilanguage choir and joy of the celebration. In his sermon, the Bishop urged us to keep our hearts always open for Our Lord so that they could become small temples which would derive their faith from our Church of St. Vincent de Paul, wherein we could know God and receive Him in sacraments. Moreover, we prayed in a special way for peace in our country, for a quick end to that war in the east of Ukraine.

At the end of the Holy Mass, parishioners said words of gratitude to the Bishop, honorable quests and Fr. Jan Martincek, CM, who had been our parish priest for the last 10 years. Special words of appreciation went to Fr. Jan Vakulchak, CM, to whom we all said goodbye because of his new nomination to service in Sniatyn.

Concluding the solemn Holy Mass, the Bishop gave his blessing to everyone present there and expressed his heartfelt wishes to every parishioner and fathers. He pointed out it was not enough for us to love God, meaning that all people around us should love Him as well.

So, we express here our great gratitude to all who helped us arrange and hold the celebration. Thank you for our joint prayer at that small anniversary.

To add more, everyone, who attended the celebration, received a commemorative fridge magnet showing our church.

We are deeply grateful to God for our parish! May our patron saint St. Vincent de Paul always be to us an example of love to God and our neighbor!

Parishioners of Church of St. Vincent de Paul