Who does my gift support?

Youth Ministry 

Our young people face an ever more difficult challenge to live out our Byzantine Catholic faith in the current culture. Your contributions to the stewardship appeal help facilitate the development and implementation of dynamic programming, retreats, camps, and gatherings designed to deepen the faith of our young people.


 

Active Priests

Father Lukas Mitro, his wife, Stephanie, and their two children, Kristina (4), and Terezia (3) arrived in September from Košice, Slovakia to help meet the urgent priest shortage in the Eparchy of Parma. After his marriage to Stephanie, Father Lukas was ordained a deacon in 2013 and a priest in 2015. Father Lukas was a mission priest and a social worker at the Dorka Social Center in Slovakia, supporting adults and children to secure the nuclear family and assisting young adults aging out of foster care. He served as the Associate Priest at St. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in Košice, Slovakia before coming to the United States. When Bishop Milan approached Father Lukas about joining the Eparchy of Parma, he did not hesitate to respond to the call. Father Lukas is assigned to the Holy Resurrection Church, in Euclid, Ohio. Supporting this year’s Stewardship Appeal will ensure that the eparchy can sponsor more priests like Father Lukas to serve the needs of our church.

Retired Priests

Father Robert Kelly entered the seminary in 1996 at the age of 49. Bishop Schott ordained Father Bob in 2000 and he has served at St. Stephens, St. Gregory, St. Andrews, St. Michaels and the last 6 years at St. Mary’s in Marblehead, Ohio. Father Bob was a single man when he adopted his daughter, Nicole. He raised Nicole as a single parent. His grandson, Brayden, serves in the U.S. Navy and is stationed in Coronado, California. At 72 years-old, Father Bob is a retired priest who is actively serving our people until the Eparchy is able to grow the number of active priests. Father Bob believes the care of retired priests should be a very important aspect of the Stewardship Appeal. He states, “Retired priests are truly deserving of care and support as they have spent their entire life serving our people.”

 

Seminarian Formation & Education

New to the Eparchy of Parma this fall is a discernment program for young men considering the priesthood. Currently four young men are involved, two from the Eparchy and two from Slovakia. The goal of this program is to help spiritually form and guide young men into a deeper relationship with Christ and the church they would eventually be serving.