EUCLID, Ohio — Bishop Milan Lach celebrated a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on February 2, 2020 at Holy Resurrection Parish in Euclid, Ohio. The newly merged parish welcomed around 90 Roman Catholic Seminarians from the nearby Borromeo Seminary of the Diocese of Cleveland, who were present to receive a taste of Byzantine tradition and spirituality. During the Liturgy the Bishop baptized Mark Raymond Stachowiak.

Cultivate intimacy with your Savior with “Return to Me,” a Lenten formation program sponsored by St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Whiting, Indiana. The parish will host an online webinar series on prayer Thursdays during Lent beginning February 27 at 7 p.m. CST (8 p.m. EST). Learn how scripture, the Jesus Prayer, silence, and the liturgy offer the language you need to speak with and hear the Lord who loves you.

Lenten opportunity for ByzanTEENS! We are inviting you on March 15 at 2:00pm to St. Joseph Church in Brecksville to the Culture Projects. We are happy to host a trio of young adults from the Culture Project to speak on “Human Dignity.”

The Culture Project International is an initiative of young people set out to restore culture by proclaiming the dignity of the human person and the richness of living sexual integrity. Bishop Nelson Perez of the Cleveland Diocese about initiative said: “These missionaries are offering teens an encounter with young people who are a demonstrating a life of countercultural virtue.”

For more information, call Fr. Bruce Riebe at 440-526-1818 or by email at stjoebyz(at)sbcglobal.net.

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio — On January 26, 2020, the last Sunday of January and the very first Sunday of the pre-lenten period, Bishop Milan Lach celebrated Divine Liturgy at St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Church in Brecksville, Ohio. After the Liturgy, Bishop Milan met with the parishioners for a coffee social and talk where he explained the necessity and goal of establishing a Fund for the Support of Clergy Families.

PARMA, Ohio — About 60 people gathered on Saturday morning, January 25, 2020, to pray at Holy Spirit Cemetery in Parma at the Memorial of Unborn Children and then participated at the Divine Liturgy.

FLUSHING, Michigan — On Sunday, January 5, 2020, the parish families of Saint George in Bay City, MI and Saint Michael in Flushing, MI, met to celebrate a Traditional Rusyn Christmas Eve Supper.

Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma will celebrate the final Divine Liturgy at Holy Transfiguration (a.k.a. St. Andrew) in Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio on February 09, 2020 at 2 p.m. All current and former parishioners are encouraged to attend the closing liturgy. A final liturgy is organized to give community members the opportunity to say farewell.

Refreshments will be served afterwards. If you plan to concelebrate, please contact Fr. Bruce Riebe ( stjoebyz(at)sbcglobal.net).

The Horizons Media 30-minute documentary, "From Mariapoch to Mariapoch: A Journey of Discovery" is scheduled to air on EWTN Friday February 7 beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST. The film tells the story of a young man’s journey to Eastern Europe where he explores the spiritual and ancestral roots of his Eastern Catholic Church, which survived decades of persecution during communism. The film was shot on location during a 13-day pilgrimage, led by Horizons and Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio.

VATICAN — Pope Francis appointed today His Excellency Archbishop Cyril Vasil, SJ as the new Apostolic Administrator "sede plena" of the Eparchy of Kosice in Slovakia. Archbishop Vasil has previously served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in Rome. The appointment was published by the Holy See Press Conference on Monday, January 20, 2020 at noon.

PARMA, Ohio — As our Church begins its journey for the next 50 years, our future is marked by one thing above all: hope. Our foundation remains the same as the past: Jesus Christ.
With Jesus Christ and hope, we believe our Church has a future. We will strengthen our parishes and missions to better serve the faithful throughout the Eparchy. We will continue to form our priests and clergy to help them better minister to the faithful. We will prepare a new generation of priests to serve for the next 50 years. Our ministries will be expanded and improved to help bring people closer to God.
Your gifts to the 2019-2020 Stewardship Appeal are directly impacting and allow the Church to minister and support people and strengthen programming in a number of ways. To date, the Stewardship Appeal has raised $131,957 with an additional $5447 pledged. The Eparchy has reached 53% of its goal of raising $250,000 with 618 very generous donors.
Good stewardship is an important expression of one’s faith. May your generosity to this year’s Stewardship Appeal be a testament to your faith. Thank you and may God reward your spiritual and financial generosity and sacrifice.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On Sunday January 19, 2020, Bishop Milan Lach, SJ visited St. Nicholas Croatian Byzantine Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio. A pastoral visit is the annual visitation of the bishop to parishes in order for him to know them better and more personally. It is a fatherly inquiry in order to strengthen the faithful and the parish priest, and to keep them on the right course by correcting any possible deviations from the truth of the Gospel.

MARBLEHEAD, Ohio — On Sunday January 12, Bishop Milan Lach celebrated a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at St. Mary Parish in Marblehead, Ohio. During his homily, bishop Lach spoke about the importance of repentance and encouraged the faithful to live lives of prayer, especially for friends and family members who have left the church. Fr. Robert Kelly, pastor of St. Mary, concelebrated and presented Bishop Milan with an icon on behalf of the parish in honor of his pastoral visit. The visit concluded with a coffee and donut social, where Bishop Milan met with many of the parishioners.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Roman Catholic bishop Nelson J. Perez held the 61st Annual Address of the Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland at the January 9th lunch meeting. The bishop spoke candidly on a variety of topics as he updated the participants on current events within the Diocese of Cleveland. Among the invited guests was Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, along with staff of the Eparchial Chancery. Representative nuns from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery were present as well.

BRUNSWICK, Ohio — Bishop Milan Lach conferred the sacraments of initiation to Magdalene Jane Cizmar on the Feast of Theophany, January 6, the day Byzantine Catholics celebrate the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the river Jordan. Magdalene Jane Cizmar is a newly born daughter of Fr. Jan Cizmar and his wife Jane. Fr. Jan Cizmar is currently the administrator of St. Emilian Byzantine Catholic Church in Brunswick, Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On January 5, Bishop Milan Lach SJ celebrated Great Vespers with the Great Blessing of Water at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Parma. After Great Vespers, Ruthenian Byzantine Catholics, like other churches of the Byzantine-Slavic tradition, maintained the same customs on the eve of Theophany as on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Lord and they gathered around a festal dinner for a second time. On January 6, the Feast of Theophany, Bishop Milan celebrated morning Matins and the Divine Liturgy at St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

CLEVELAND — In an effort to nurture vocations, the Eparchy of Parma began a new program for young men discerning the priesthood. As of Jan. 1, four young men will live in the cathedral rectory and share a life of common prayer and community. They will include David Bratnick, former videographer for Horizons Media, Guillermo Barillas of St. Michael Parish in Flushing, Michigan, and Benjamin Ancocik and David Rinik, both from Slovakia. READ MORE.

GUATEMALA CITY — A priest and three seminarian candidates from the Eparchy of Parma joined a delegation from St. John Chrysostom Parish in Houston on a mission trip to Guatemala over Thanksgiving week. The capital, Guatemala City, is divided into zones. Zone 18, on the outskirts of the city, is reputed for its high crime rate and extreme poverty. It is common here to see children raised by older siblings because economic hardship has driven parents to seek employment in other areas of the city or country. Another common reality is fatherless families. The violence that continues to plague Guatemala 24 years after the end of the civil war has taken many among the young male adult population. READ MORE.