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Christianity in Ukraine

newsletter

Please remember our brothers and sisters in Ukraine in your prayers. 

Flag of UkraineA 2021 survey found that an impressive 82% of Ukrainians declared themselves to be religious. Ukraine has the world’s second-largest Eastern Orthodox population after Russia.

72.7% of the population declared themselves to be Orthodox and 9.7% Catholic. Of those Catholics  8.8% were Greek Rite Catholics following the Byzantine Rite, and 0.9% Latin Rite Catholics (like us).

On the world level, there are approximately 4.5 million Ukrainian Greek Catholics, including the 3.85 million in Ukraine. In the UK the community is served by the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy (diocese) of the Holy Family of London. The faithful in the Eparchy here number some 13,500 people.

Out of the Orthodox population in Ukraine roughly 58.3% of the population were members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (which was declared separate from Moscow in recent years), and 25.4% were members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Fr Matthew

Be joyful, keep the faith!

newsletter

Dear parishioners and friends,

This year, St David’s Day coincides with Shrove Tuesday. St David’s famous words to his followers were “Be joyful, keep the faith!”. Lent offers us an opportunity to do just that – to be renewed in our faith so that our joy at Easter may be renewed many times over.

Please give Lent your serious attention. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving – these are the Church’s traditional ways of Lenten renewal. What might that mean in your life?

~ Fr Matthew

Bidding prayers for 7th Sunday of year C (20 February 2022)

bidding prayers

Priest: As we suffer the troubles of our world, we turn to our heavenly Father and pray that the Church may be a sign of hope and light.

Reader: The response to our prayers is “Hear our prayer”

  1. As we walk the synodal pathway, may we be generous in sharing openly and listening to each other and the Holy Spirit, so that the Church is purified and increasingly shows the truth and beauty of Your presence in the world.

Pause

Lord in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

  1. Keep us safe from war, and enter into the minds and hearts of those who plot it, so that they constructively follow the paths of diplomacy and seek justice and peace.

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Lord in your mercy: Hear our prayer. 

  1. We pray for those who have suffered death, injury, or damage and lost homes during the recent storms. May they quickly find the help and support they need.

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Lord in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

 

  1. We pray for Pat McConnell, Michael Matthews and Rita Watts who have died recently. May they, and all our relatives and friends who have died these last years, be welcomed into the joy of your heavenly kingdom. May those who grieve their loss hold fast to the knowledge that their lives are changed, not ended, and thatbtheir love for those they have left is as strong as ever.

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Lord in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

  1. We pray for those we know who are sick that they may find healing, and we pray also for those who care for them, that they may have the skills and compassion to bring that healing and to support their families.

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Lord in your mercy: Hear our prayer.

            In the silence of our hearts we pray for all the other needs we are aware of.

            Pause

We ask Mary to join our prayers to her own, us as we say:

Hail Mary ….

Priest: Heavenly Father, hear our petitions as we cry from the depths of our hearts. We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ, Our lord.

Amen.