In Barcelona a festive announcement was made about Ukrainians getting their own parish

Concelebrants with the hierarch were Rev. Serhiy Znak, pastor of the newly proclaimed parish of Saint Bishop Martyr Josaphat for Ukrainians in Barcelona, which functions in  the Church of St. Monica, Mn. Josep M.Turull, rector of the Synodal Barcelona Seminary, and Rev. Yosyf Sera, chaplain of the seminary.  The Divine Liturgy was attended by professors and seminarians of the Barcelona Seminary, among which there are also Ukrainian seminarians.  Among the present were seminarians from the Ukrainian Papal Institute of the Holy Intercession in Rome, who at one point had studied together with the sub-deacon Yuriy in the Patriarch Yosyf Slipyi Ternopil Higher Spiritual Seminary.  Also attending were the parents of sub-deacon Yuriy, Anna and Yaroslav Stasiuky who live in the village Sosnivka, Chervonohrad region of Lviv oblast.

On the following day, during the Divine Liturgy, Bishop Dionysii (Liakhovych) consecrated sub-deacon Yuriy as a deacon.  At the beginning of the Liturgy, Monsignor Josep Maria Turull read the Decree of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, on creating a separate Ukrainian parish and the Decree of naming Rev. Serhiy Znak as its first pastor.  Concelebrants were High Monk, Yuriy Syvyk, a Redemptorist, and Rev. Volodymyr Kalabishka.

During the sermon, in Catalan, Bishop Dionysii greeted the attendees, including friends of Deacon Yuriy.  “A deacon is appointed to serve the community.  And Jesus Christ Himself is with us as the one who serves.  He came in order to serve and to give up his life as a barter for many.  And Christians today can be recognized by the degree of their love, their service.  Therefore all of Christian life is in its own way – a deaconship,” noted Bishop Dionysii.

The Apostolic Visitator expressed his joy and gratitude for the creation of a separate Ukrainian parish and the assignment of Rev. Serhiy Znak as its first pastor.  “First of all, I would like to thank Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach and Monsignor Yosyf Turull for accepting the Ukrainian seminarians and for teaching them.  Thank you very much for giving the Church of St. Monica for the permanent use of the UGCC community. Now we have the first harvest of this work!  I thank you all, who in any way contributed to our celebration today.  I greet all the seminarians and all colleagues of our brethren Church.  We have a different rite, but the Faith, the Baptism and Christ Himself is the same.

After this, the Apostolic Visitator turned to those present in Ukrainian.  “Today I remember the first difficulties of our community in Barcelona, but through thorns, we do reach the stars.  Right now we have two Ukrainian Greek-Catholic congregations in Barcelona.  One is at the Church of the Redemptorists on Balmes Street, and the other is the newly-proclaimed Ukrainian parish at this Church of St. Monica.  This church and its spacious accommodations which the Barcelona Archdiocese granted to the Ukrainian community, is something we are very grateful for, and we express to the Archdiocese our very sincere gratitude.”

It is noteworthy that Barcelona is second only to the city of Madrid in terms of the number of Ukrainian immigrants in Spain. 

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