Fifteen Years of Greek-Catholics in Dublin!

Father Serge Keleher had been serving in the Eparchy of Toronto, Canada, for twenty years or so, when he was offered a post at what was then Keston College in Kent, which studied the plight of religious believers in Communist countries and was interested in the situation of the Greek-Catholics in Ukraine. This opened the way for Father Serge to move home to Ireland; he could commute from Dublin to Keston on a weekly basis, and was also closer to Eastern Europe, which his work often required him to visit. However, there seemed to be no Greek-Catholics in Ireland at the time. In 1988, the USSR was crumbling and the situation of the Greek-Catholic Church was becoming well known. Father Serge had first visited Ukraine in 1981, but he now found himself called upon to go to Ukraine several times a year. Some friends in Dublin were particularly interested in the situation of the Greek-Catholics in Ukraine, and wondered what might be done. In 1992, learning that Father Serge would be observing his Silver Jubilee of ordination that year, people insisted on organizing a Divine Liturgy for the occasion. Archbishop Joseph (Raya) was in poor health and could not make the trip, but Bishop Basil of Stamford and Bishop Vsevolod of Scopelos came, as did other friends. The group here in Dublin organized chanters to sing the Divine Liturgy in Greek. Bishop Basil gave the sermon, and Bishop Vsevolod presented Father Serge with a beautiful pectoral cross as a memento of the occasion (he wears it every year on Pascha). That stimulated further interest; at first there was Divine Liturgy once a month and then each Sunday. Then several years ago the church we had been using was closed. Archbishop Connell decided that the Divine Liturgy should be held in Saint Kevin's Oratory, where we have been ever since. The Brothers of Saint John of God presented us with our icon-screen; most of the icon-prints on the screen came from Greece. By 2000, Ukrainians were beginning to come to Ireland in significant numbers; they found our community and began to come to Church. So far, Father Serge has baptized 135 children. As one would expect, Pascha is the annual "gathering of the clan", when Greek-Catholics from various places in Ireland come for the midnight service, which is usually held in the main church of the Pro-Cathedral. In January 2001 Bishop Peter (Stasiuk) of Melbourne, Australia, was able to visit us, serve Pontifical Liturgy, and meet with Archbishop Connell. He returned in 2003 for Pentecost Sunday. Bishop Paul, then of London, was of great help and encouragement to us. Then in 2004 Bishop Hlib was appointed to look after us, as well as the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic communities in Italy and Spain. Bishop Hlib visits us every year and stays in close touch with us by e-mail and by telephone. God has blessed us with good friends in several different countries. There are also Irish Greek-Catholics in the USA, in Canada, and in Australia and they take an interest in our parish; we hope this web-site will enable these friends to stay in closer touch with us. We ask all those who read this to keep us in their prayers.