Rev. Father Ihor Papka shares a blessing before brunch at the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Manchester. Everyone joins in, singing in Ukrainian. It’s the Sunday after Easter, marking the beginning of a season of celebration, hope and rebirth, and one of the most important holidays for the Ukrainian community.
Parishioners here say these small moments, traditions and celebrations are anchors for them during what has bene a difficult stretch for Ukrainians, as the war with Russia drags on for its fourth year. Many of the people in this Manchester church have relatives back home that are affected.
Zhanna Samaruk leads the church’s ladies’ sodality, which is in charge of organizing the day’s brunch and raffle. She said that spending time together after Mass is especially important right now for her church community.
“If we're together, we can share the same grief, same happiness,” she said. “Right now, after [the] holiday, we have that happiness in our heart because it's a big holiday.”
But now, congregants are also contending with a new uncertainty in the U.S. for people who fled the war in Ukraine. In April, the Department of Homeland Security emailed several Ukrainians in New Hampshire who had been granted humanitarian parole through a Biden administration program.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” the email started. It told the recipients that they had a week to leave the country and return to Ukraine. DHS has since said the email was sent out by mistake, leaving many Ukrainians outraged.
But on this Sunday morning all of that feels far away. The church hall is loud and kids are running around. People are packed around long tables as they sample a beautiful Kyivsky Torte – clearly, the star of this celebration.
The baker who made the torte called it a “passport to Ukraine”: in one bite you can almost taste her homeland baked with love between layers of fondant, merengue, cashew, cognac, cream and crumbles.
Parishioner Taras Zubrytskyy said celebrations and meals like this one are a way to unite his community.
“I think spirit is even more important. It's just to be together, to be, to socialize, to share this joy of resurrection or nativity of the Lord. So it's very, really important – that's probably what holds people together.”
Zubrytskyy is from Lviv, in the safer western part of Ukraine. But he decided to apply for refugee status and moved to the US about two years ago.
Even though he’s been traveling to the U.S. for years, resettling in a new country has been hard on him and his wife, but his kids are doing well, he said.
His new community in New Hampshire has offered a compassionate helping hand since he first arrived.
“When we came here [the] first time, it was like many people tried to help us because we did not know anything; where to go, what to look for, what questions to ask. And that was really important to start from here,” Zubrytskyy said.
The church is also active in advocating for Ukraine and Ukrainian heritage. They often post updates and petitions on their Facebook. More recently, during Manchester’s annual St. Patrick’s day Parade in March, the church gathered to carry a large Ukrainian flag down main street.
Parishioner Anya Vogel held a large yellow and blue sign during the parade that said, “Save Ukraine – pray for the conversion of Russia.”
Vogel is deeply involved in her church. She helped lead the raffle after brunch, helping a group of kids show off an embroidered vyshyvanka, shirt, spinning tops, board games, table runners, and a set of icons in their frames.
Vogel said she feels a profound connection to Ukraine, even though she’s only been there once during the summer of 2023 to visit her cousin in the Western part of Ukraine.
“When I was there, we watched military planes fly overhead. We heard the sirens when we were at church while we were outside and having liturgy,” she said. “[My cousin] is terrified for her six year old daughter. Like, do we stay or do we go? Because no matter where you go, that's still home.”
To Vogel, her heritage is never far away. Her grandmother fled Ukraine as a child when the Soviets invaded during the cold war. But family, history, culture and church are all ways of keeping her Ukrainian heritage alive.
“It's just that ingrained feeling. It's just at your core. It's just it's a part of who you are. It's not like just a piece of you. It's not like it's a finger – it's my entire nervous system. My entire body, throughout my entire body, is Ukrainian,” she said. “And you would never be able to erase that.”
