Church rebuilding, war on minds as Arnold parishioners observe Feast of St. Vladimir

Understanding suffering was part of the message the Rev. John (Ivan) Chirovsky brought Saturday to an audience in the social hall of St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church in Arnold.

Chirovsky, director of spiritual formation at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh’s Perry North neighborhood, appeared for the church’s observance of the Feast of St. Vladimir, which was Friday.

Vladimir was the ruler of Kyivan Rus’. A political and religious figure, he made the country Christian in the year 988 and was declared a saint after his death in 1015, Chirovsky said.

“He brought the faith to what later in history became the Ukrainian people, the people of Belarus and the people of Russia,” he said.

Chirovsky, a son of Ukrainian immigrants, knows the small St. Vladimir congregation has been suffering and looking for meaning since December, when a fire destroyed their church.

“It’s a price we pay for a community that gets revived and renewed,” he said. “They are excited about rebuilding. That doesn’t come for free.

“It may take a while, but it looks like they’re on the right track,” Chirovsky said

In addition to Chirovsky’s remarks, and food including stuffed cabbage and haluski, the event included a raffle of 40 to 50 donated baskets, silent auctions and a 50-50 raffle. Proceeds will go toward rebuilding the church on Kenneth Avenue at McCandless Street.

The 74-year-old stone church was surrounded by a fence Saturday, bits of burnt debris still littering its front steps.

The Rev. Yaroslav Koval said they estimate rebuilding the church will cost about $2 million.

Despite still needing to raise about $500,000, he said they expect work to begin in October or November and take about 18 months to complete.

The new church will be smaller than the one it replaces. Koval said the church has about 45 members, and the new building will accommodate up to 80; it had held about 400.

“We believe we will do this,” Koval said.

Among those attending the feast was Frances Szarnicki, who retired from Harmar to Florida eight years ago. She was baptized at St. Vladimir in 1950 and married there to her husband, James, in 1981. James Szarnicki died in January.

Szarnicki said she and her husband drove by the church after the fire.

“All we could do was stare,” she said. “It was just horrible.”

But being at the social hall Saturday with her son, Stephen, brought back many wonderful memories of them making pierogis there along with her daughter, Lynne Rau. Her children continue that legacy through their food truck business, the Pittsburgh Pierogi Truck.

“We spent many hours here making pierogi to support the church,” she said.

With the social hall adorned in the Ukrainian national colors of blue and yellow, the ongoing Russian war on their homeland was not far from mind.

In addition to the fundraising efforts to rebuild the church, Lesya Jurgovsky of Forest Hills was selling embroidered shirts, jewelry and belts that were made in Ukraine. Those proceeds will be used to support the Ukrainians fighting to keep their country with things such as food, medical supplies and clothing.

She also made eight baskets that were raffled to support the rebuilding of St. Vladimir.

Jurgovsky, a native of Ternopil in western Ukraine, came to the U.S. in 2004. She is a member of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church on Pittsburgh’s South Side, which also is headed by Koval. She still has many family and friends in Ukraine.

“I need to help. I need to do something,” she said. “If I go over, I cannot help them. I can help them from here more. If I go over there, I’m just another body.”

Donations to aid Ukraine are accepted at St. John between 8:30 a.m. and noon every Wednesday.

“I’ve met many wonderful people through these five months. I’ve met amazing people,” she said. “Some of them live in my neighborhood, and I never met them before. We met and became friends.”

Jurgovsky said she will keep doing whatever she can to help as long as there are those who need it.

“It makes my soul, my heart, feel better,” she said.