2024 Christmas Cards now available! Income goes to help refugees through the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Transcarpathian Oblast of Ukraine – https://www.missionboronyavo.org/ Picture of the card cover is below. Your recipients will be prayed for at the Cathedral in Uzhhorod on Christmas Day.
As has been the case since 2022, the income from the Christmas Cards will be going directly to the Eparchy of Mukachevo, which will use it to help over 400,000 displaced persons from eastern Ukraine who have taken refuge in the Transcarpathian Oblast of Ukraine, which is next to Slovakia. The eparchy helps with rent for housing; clothing; school supplies for children; psychological support for refugee children and adults in Eastern Slovakia and Ukraine; food parcels; and expenses for heating with firewood. Inflation in Ukraine is currently at 8.4% (in the US it is 3.3%), so the dollars that we send over go very far. In addition, we continue to collect Liturgy stipends (Mass offerings) for celebration of your intentions in Ukraine; support for the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Pure Virgin, and their Orphanage in Korolevo; and assistance for the Theodore Romzha Seminary.
Sister of Saint Joseph lighting a candle in the Greek Catholic church in Krakow, Poland
The cards cost $15 for a packet of five. Please have your orders in by Tuesday, December 10th to insure that you receive them in time for Christmas giving. Please note you can enclose your prayer list/s with your card order (see enclosed) OR you can choose to return them after you receive your cards but no later than December 20th. This gives us time to scan and e-mail them to Ukraine. Please encourage family, friends, and other parishioners to order our cards. Thanks to your generosity and help from our local radio station KKOB, we have collected almost $174,000 so far to help with these relief projects since the war began in February, 2022. That is amazing given that we are a little group of volunteers!
As you know, the war continues, with terrible numbers of soldiers killed, wounded, and permanently maimed on both sides, and countless civilians killed or wounded in Ukraine.
Pilgrim Virgin of Our Lady of Fatima arriving in Kyiv, Ukraine
As we begin to plan for Christmas, let us remember that Saint John Paul II said at his homily in Fatima in 1982 that consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means “having recourse to her motherly heart, which beneath the Cross was opened to love for every human being.” We ask that you pray to the Prince of Peace that the hearts of leaders would be turned to God’s mercy so that Christ the King will rule in the hearts of all people, and that Orthodox and Catholics alike will find peace in the heart of the Mother of God.
We ask for your continued prayers and are grateful for your support. God bless you and thank you for helping our work!
https://www.missionboronyavo.org/
Miraculous icon of Our Lady of Boronyavo, crowned by Pope Leo XIII
Father Christopher Zugger 
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