UGCC Translation of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Irish

[Kosta]

In the last few years, I’ve wanted to learn the Irish and learn about my (paternal) Irish ancestry. Although the last member of my family who had any knowledge of Irish was my Great Grandmother (and I believe that was limited to just about the Our Father), I want to learn the language regardless. I was quite surprised, thus, to read about the ministry of Fr. Serge Kelleher and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ireland. I was really surprised to read on a website that Fr. Kelleher and the UGCC released a bilingual edition of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in both Irish and Ukrainian (it might’ve been Church Slavonic if I recall correctly) and on a blog that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has also celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Irish, too. However, despite searching the internet for any online copy or anywhere where I could purchase a copy, I just can’t find anything at all. I’ve considered writing a letter to the main office of the UGCC in Ireland and asked an Eastern Catholic friend of mine to help me write an email in Ukrainian (their website is entirely in Ukrainian: that’s why I think it might be better to communicate with them in Ukrainian), but we’re all so busy this semester. I figured that I might have a shot of finding someone who can answer my question here. Is there anyone, anyone at all, that has any sort of connection to the Ukrainian Catholic Church anywhere in Ireland and knows where I could purchase a print copy of this bilingual edition? On second thought, does anyone also know if such a copy exists online as well? Thank you.

Yours in Christ,
Kostas

 

[SyroMalankara]

Try posting this on ByzCath.org forums, many of +Rev. Fr. Serge’s friends are active there.

 

[Kosta]

Try posting this on ByzCath.org forums, many of +Rev. Fr. Serge’s friends are active there.

Thank you. I sent the exact same message into one of their forums, but it says that I have to wait until someone approves me. Do you by any chance know if that takes awhile? I have to admit that their site is a bit different from what I’m used to: I wasn’t even allowed to view other peoples’ profiles.

 

[babochka]

Thank you. I sent the exact same message into one of their forums, but it says that I have to wait until someone approves me. Do you by any chance know if that takes awhile? I have to admit that their site is a bit different from what I’m used to: I wasn’t even allowed to view other peoples’ profiles.

I don’t know how long it usually takes, but if it isn’t done in a day or so, let me know and I can ask the question for you.

 

[Trekker47]

Hey, a little off-topic but I thought I’d chime in to say that it’s great that you want to learn Irish, it’s a really lovely language (though the pronunciations are a bit weird 'til you get the hang of it ). I speak Irish reasonably well so if you ever have a question about something in the language feel free to ask.

 

[Kosta]

I don’t know how long it usually takes, but if it isn’t done in a day or so, let me know and I can ask the question for you.

Thank you for your offer. Fortunately, my message was posted this afternoon. I’m just waiting on a response. However, I still can’t view peoples’ profiles, not even administrators to ask them why I can’t view other peoples’ profiles. Is that a feature for everyone? I really don’t think it’s because I’m in any sort of trouble: I signed up a few months ago and asked a question, but it was never accepted so I lost interest in the website. This is my first actual post, so I doubt I’m being disciplined for something. If you ever have the time, do you think you might be able to ask an administrator why I can’t view peoples’ profiles?

Hey, a little off-topic but I thought I’d chime in to say that it’s great that you want to learn Irish, it’s a really lovely language (though the pronunciations are a bit weird 'til you get the hang of it ). I speak Irish reasonably well so if you ever have a question about something in the language feel free to ask.

Go raibh maith agat! Unfortunately, I’m having a terrible time at it, but I’m the first to admit that I don’t put much time into it. I haven’t done much more than learn a few phrases here-and-there. One of my best friends had a desire to learn it, but he decided to devote his time to learning Persian (another language I like: I probably know much Persian than Irish despite not being remotely Persian, Tajik, or Afghani). The only person I know who has put any real effort into learning it is a friend of mine, who is Chinese and loves the language deeply. He’s the one that helps me the most, because I have no family or connections to any sort of community. For me, having familial ties and community are the most important part of learning any language. That’s why I relearned Greek as a preteen and it’s been so easy: my household is bilingual, I have strong ties to Chicago and Washington D.C.‘s Greek community, and my university offers it as a language. Unfortunately, I lack all of those criteria although I get frequent invitations to the Washington, D.C. Irish speakers’ club’s meetings. I should go one of these days.

I suppose I want to have a copy of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom simply for the preservation of knowledge, and for that “someday.”

 

[babochka]

Thank you for your offer. Fortunately, my message was posted this afternoon. I’m just waiting on a response. However, I still can’t view peoples’ profiles, not even administrators to ask them why I can’t view other peoples’ profiles. Is that a feature for everyone? I really don’t think it’s because I’m in any sort of trouble: I signed up a few months ago and asked a question, but it was never accepted so I lost interest in the website. This is my first actual post, so I doubt I’m being disciplined for something. If you ever have the time, do you think you might be able to ask an administrator why I can’t view peoples’ profiles?

Yes, that’s a feature for every new poster. I think you have to have a minimum number of posts or a minimum amount of time, but I’m not sure what it usually takes to get off that status. You also won’t be able to send private messages.

 

[Kosta]

Yes, that’s a feature for every new poster. I think you have to have a minimum number of posts or a minimum amount of time, but I’m not sure what it usually takes to get off that status. You also won’t be able to send private messages.

That’s a rather unfortunate feature, because I found a thread where people who were part of Fr. Kelleher’s flock discussed their parish and I couldn’t send them personal messages or view their profiles to see if they have any sort of contact information visible.

However, I have a new update, glory to God! For anyone following this story at all, on Monday evening, I found the last known location of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church of Dublin. The location on the Byzantine Catholic forum was the Monastery of Saint Alphonsus of the northern suburb of Drumcondra. I emailed the nuns there, and early this morning (probably more like mid-afternoon Dublin time), I received an email from Fr. Patrick Jones of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He told me that he too had heard that Fr. Kelleher translated the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom into Irish and celebrated part of the Liturgy in it. He told me that Fr. Vasyl Kornitsky is Fr. Kelleher’s successor, and he provided me his email and home phone number. I finally have the right contact information. I’m writing to Fr. Kornitsky as we speak: this might be it!