The Parish

For the choir, parish life begins with singing the Divine Liturgy — typically Sundays, 10:00 a.m. On the last Sunday of each month, children of the parish, along with students of Josyf Slipyj Elementary School, join the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church Choir in celebrating the Divine Liturgy. Some young choristers even sing a few solos. In joining the Parish Choir, the children are immersed in Ukrainian Byzantine Rite tradition and hopefully, this experience will encourage them to sign up with the senior choir when they get a little older.

Holiday services are always highly anticipated. The Feast Day of St. Nicholas, patron saint of our parish, calls for the celebration of an Episcopal Divine Liturgy. Following the service, everyone gingerly makes their way down to the church hall for a communal lunch celebrating the holiday (praznyk). Just before the first bites are taken, the choir leads parishioners in sung prayer and hymns to the patron saint. Other holidays in the choir’s repertoire include: Christmas Eve Divine Liturgy of the Feast of the Nativity, Good Friday Jerusalem Matins and the Divine Liturgy of Easter.

It’s not alway about singing. When called upon by the women’s league, choristers have put their varenyky-pinching expertise to good use assisting in the production of pillow-soft, delectably-seasoned varenyky. (As an aside, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that the varenyky of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church are among the best in the city.) Whether it’s making after church sandwiches, baking homemade sweets or helping out with church bazaars, choir members like to lend a helping hand whenever they can.

Our choristers bring their worldly expertise to the parish. Before live-streaming of liturgies became the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Parish Choir was ahead of the game. Thanks to Zenon Waschuk, one of our chorister’s with professional expertise in sound and recording, Christmas Eve Divine Liturgy, Jerusalem Matins, Easter Resurrection Divine Liturgy and Christmas concerts have been live-streamed for many years. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, once again thanks to Zenon, our parish seamlessly pivoted to live-streaming Divine Liturgies during the emergency lockdowns.

And currently, long-standing choir members Zenon Waschuk, Roman Waschuk and Andrij Kudla Wynnycky are working on a documentary film of the history of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church. Titled Our Shrine, the documentary is currently in production. Follow this project on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OurShrineFilm.

The St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church Choir reports to the Parish Council and choir representatives contribute to Council deliberations.

The choir is eternally grateful to the clergy of the church, particularly the late Rev. Dmytrij Pankiw and current pastor, the Rev. Dr. Roman Lobaj, for their continued and unwavering support.