As the new parish priest at Assumption of St. Mary Orthodox Church in Vernon, Father Chad Pawlyshyn said one of his priorities is to “update” the church’s outreach strategy —and that means using Facebook Live, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms to reach out to parishioners — past,present and future.
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Pawlyshyn, who relocated to Vernon from Kamloops over the summer, with his wife and three young children, said he uses the platforms to include people and teach them about the church in hopes of attracting people to the church.
Pawlyshyn invited The Morning Star to join him for the church’s Theophany water blessing Thursday night. He said he got the idea to invite the media to the sacred service after a photographer from the Kelowna Capital News attended a Ukrainian New Years celebration held in Kelowna earlier this month.
“We didn’t call them or anything,” Pawlyshyn said. “They just showed up and asked to take photos for the paper, and I thought, ‘Hey, maybe we might of interest to the community.’ So we contacted The Vernon Morning Star.”
A Theophany service is held annually on January 18 and follows Ukrainian New Years. The 1.15 minute ceremony on Thursday was followed by a feast.
Morning Star Staff
@VernonNews
erin.christie@vernonmorningstar.com
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