Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh) summarizes his visit to the USA

Thursday, 11 December 2008, 21:54

"The first result – we had the chance to inform our donors, our bishops and laity, about the process of construction of the Patriarchal Cathedral. This is very important, because this information assists in informing donors about the work executed and at the same time encourages them to make new donations. Second – there was a chance to conduct a joint meeting in which took part Bishop Paul (Chomnycky) and Bishop Basil (Losten), and also the directors of the Ukrainian credit unions. Now they together will produce mechanisms to support the construction of the cathedral by those means which can be provided. The third summary point is an update on the composition of the Diaspora Department of the Informational-Financial Support of the Construction of the Patriarchal Center. His Beatitude Lubomyr appointed the vicar general of the Stamford Eparchy Chancery, Fr. Ihor Midzak, as the new head, who thanked Myroslav Rozdol'skyj, former head of the department. The fourth summary point was the chance to meet with individual donors, such as Bishop William Murphy, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, which already twice donated 100 thousand dollars, and communities, in particular the community of the Church of Saint John the Baptist of the UGCC in Newark, which this year donated 53 thousand dollars." So Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh), head of the Supervisory Council of the Construction of the Patriarchal Cathedral, in Kyiv summed up the results of his visit to the USA. As we reported before, Bishop Bohdan was in the USA from December 1 to 7, 2008. The primary goal of the visit was to meet with the members of the Diaspora Department of the Informational-Financial Support of the Construction of the Patriarchal Center to notify them about the status of construction of the Patriarchal Cathedral and discuss subsequent steps for gathering funds on the territory of the USA. In addition to the meetings described above, on Monday December 1, Bishop Bohdan in Philadelphia met with Archbishop Stefan (Soroka), Metropolitan of Philadelphia of the UGCC, who displayed a willingness to take wider part in gathering funds as soon as possible, in particular through the distribution in all parishes of the metropolitanate of special "bricks." "Thanks to the personal assistance of Metropolitan Stefan, I think that this action, My Brick on the Construction of the Cathedral, will be successful," said Bishop Bohdan. Information The Pan-American Committee for the Development of the Patriarchal Center and the Diaspora Department of the Informational-Financial Support of the Construction of the Patriarchal Center have officially operated on the territory of the USA since August 13, 2007. His Beatitude Lubomyr, Head of the UGCC, confirmed the statutes of the Diaspora Department and the Pan-American Committee. The address of the Diaspora Department: 14 Peveril Rd., Stamford, CT 06902. Telephone for information: 203–324–7698.

Information Department of the UGCC

In the photo: Bishop Bohdan with Bishop William