Bishop Mykola Bychok met through Zoom with the heads of Ukrainian Communities in New Zealand

Monday, 31 January 2022, 15:55

January 30, 2022 Sunday: Bishop Mykola Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne, held an online meeting at Zoom with the heads of Ukrainian Communities in New Zealand. In addition to the bishop were present Fr. Andriy Mykytyuk, Ms. Olga Vorobey (Wellington), Ms. Renata Margevka (Christchurch) and Ms. Yuriy Gladun (Auckland), who briefly described the activities of Ukrainian communities in the New Zealand Islands. They shared the achievements and challenges facing the Ukrainian community.

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The main topic of discussion was the presence of a priest in New Zealand, because after the departure of Fr. Igor Kolisnyk, CSsR faithful in New Zealand were left without any pastoral care. The biggest obstacle to resuming priest visits at the moment is the closed borders due to pandemic of coronavirus.

In his address, Bishop Mykola said: “As a new bishop, it is a great responsibility for me to take care of the faithful scattered throughout our eparchy, which includes Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. We live in a time of many challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, as soon as the borders of New Zealand will open, we are ready to pay pastoral visits to all our faithful in this country.”

All present thanked to Bishop for the opportunity of such an important meeting and expressed hope and desire for close cooperation between the Church and the Ukrainian Community for the benefit of our people in New Zealand in the future. In the meantime, there is an opportunity to join the online services. This meeting was organized by Fr. Andriy Mykytyuk at the request of Bishop Mykola. Fr. Andriy regularly visited New Zealand from 2012 to 2015 pastorally.