Ukrainian Catholic Church of Saints Joachim and Anna to be consecrated in Front Royal by Archbishop Gudziak

On Sunday, June 4, Front Royal is going to be honored by a visit from the Most Reverend Borys Gudziak, the Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy (archdiocese) of Philadelphia.  The Archbishop will be in town to consecrate the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Saints Joachim and Anna, located at 1396 Linden Street in Front Royal.

Photo courtesy of Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

Saints Joachim and Anna began in 2015 as a mission of the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C., and acquired the Linden Street property in November 2021.

The parish, which currently has 41 registered households, is served by Administrator Fr. Robert Hitchens, originally of Pennsylvania, and parochial vicar Fr. Andrii Chornopyskyi, originally of Ukraine, who take turns driving out from D. C.   Divine Liturgy is Sunday at 10:30 a.m., preceded by Confession.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Pope of Rome.  Byzantine Christianity was established among the Ukrainians in 988 A.D. by St. Volodуmуr.  The Ukrainian Catholic Church has been in communion with Rome since the Union of Brest (1596).  From 1946 until 1989, however, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was illegal and persecuted by the communist regime, as Ukraine had been annexed by the Soviet Union.  Archbishop Borys was born in 1960 in New York to parents who were World War II refugees from Ukraine.  The Ukrainian Catholic Church first arrived in the United States in 1884, following the first Ukrainian diaspora.  The current war in Ukraine has sent over 8 million people worldwide as refugees and over 5 million internally displaced. Over 250,000 have been allowed into the United States.

Here in Front Royal, only about 20% of the parish of Saints Joachim and Anna have a personal connection with the “old country.”  It, like other Eastern Catholic Churches, is growing because many are attracted to its ancient traditions, the beautiful Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which was first written down around the fourth century A.D., and its vibrant community life.