Ah, summer. Warm weather, barbecue, and road trips. I have many fond memories of summer trips with my parents and brother. Over the years we'd get in the truck and travel to Calgary, Banff, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Radium, Kananaskis – and of course the weekly visits to my Baba and Dido out in the country. We had a great time exploring the Calgary Zoo, the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens, mountains and hot springs.
Interestingly enough I don't remember ever going to church on vacation, or even when we visited my grandparents in the country (unless it was Christmas or Easter). I didn't think much of it then – in fact as a kid I'm sure I thought I was the luckiest to get to skip church – but now that I'm older I wonder why we didn't take the opportunity. I mean, it isn't actually hard to find a Catholic Church and I find it so interesting to visit churches that aren't my home parish. And after spending a fair amount of time traveling across Canada, the U.S., Europe and even as far as Australia, I've visited a lot of foreign churches. It's almost become a game of sorts to see if I can find, not just a Catholic Church, but a Ukrainian Catholic Church (or even an Orthodox one) in the place I'm traveling to. I have to tell you, I've been more successful than I thought. Here are some pictures of Ukrainian Catholic Churches I've visited, in some unexpected places:
Going through the places I've found Ukrainian Catholic Churches got me thinking: what about other places in Canada and the United State that I've visited? Did I miss Ukrainian Catholic Churches in some of those cities? And if not, what are some options of other Catholic Churches? My friends, the results of these musings are below! Behold, a list of Catholic churches, Ukrainian and otherwise, in some popular travel destinations across Canada and the United States:
VANCOUVER: Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church ( 560 West 14th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.)
TORONTO AREA: St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church (143 Franklin Ave, Toronto, ON)
CAPE BRETON ISLAND: Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church (49 West St, Sydney, NS)
***For the rest of Canada, check out the eparchial websites below:
UNITED STATES:
LOS ANGELES: Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church (5154 De Longer Ave, Los Angeles, CA)
NEW YORK: MANHATTAN – St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church (30 E 7th St, New York, NY)
BROOKLYN – St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church (261 Nineteenth Street, Brooklyn, NY)
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family (4250 Harewood Rd NE, Washington, DC)
This is not an extensive list by any means – I haven't even gone outside North America – but hopefully you can see how easy it actually is to find a Ukrainian Catholic Church, or at the very least Byzantine Catholic Church. Seriously, I mostly just typed "Ukrainian Catholic Church" into Google Maps to find the above churches.
So now I issue a challenge out to you! If you're traveling this summer see if you can find a Ukrainian Catholic Church at your destination to visit on Sunday. Take a picture and post it on Instagram with #ByzyTravellers. Don't forget to tag us in your posts – @stnicksyouth.
Here's to a summer of exploring our churches on vacation!
Joyanne :D
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