Ukrainian Greek (Byzantine Rite)
Western North Carolina has two growing Ukrainian Greek Catholic communities: St. Basil the Great Church in Charlotte and Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke Mission in Asheville. Members of St. Basil Church worship at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, located on Suther Road in Charlotte. Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke Mission members worship at St. Barnabas Catholic Church, located on Crescent Hill Road in Arden. Both celebrate Divine Liturgy (Mass) in English.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest of the 23 Eastern Churches in full communion with Rome. Worldwide, Ukrainian Greek Catholics number about 5.5 million, forming the largest particular (“sui iuris,” or “self-governing”) Catholic Church, after the majority Latin Church, with about 2 percent of the entire Catholic faithful. The Church is led by His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych.
The two western North Carolina parishes fall under the jurisdiction of the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, which is shepherded by Bishop Bohdan Danylo. The eparchy, established by St. John Paul II in 1983, encompasses parishes from Ohio and Pennsylvania to Florida.
The Church employs the Byzantine Rite liturgy (also known as the Greek Rite, or the Rite of Constantinople). Divine Liturgy (Mass) is celebrated in English, and is mainly sung or chanted, using at various times either the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom or the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. During Great Lent, the very ancient Liturgy of the Presanctified GIfts is celebrated.