Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 10/11/2023
LUDLOW — Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Church will host its 110th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. at 45 Newbury St.
A reception dinner and social will follow at Tony and Penny’s Restaurant, 18 Canterbury St.
Tickets cost $75 for adults or $25 for kids ages six to 12.
Fr. Andriy Krip has been with the church for the approximately eight years and talked about his excitement for the event.
Krip said, “It’s nice and hopefully it is going to be exciting for a lot of people who have been in this parish since their childhood. It’s going to bring the memories and it will be something to get people together. Even though it’s difficult times for Ukraine but still life goes on it will be a beautiful event.”
There will also be a booklet available for people to view that includes the history and pictures of the parish through its 110 year history.
He said, “We didn’t have a celebration of the 100th anniversary and, with some people getting older, we thought they would like to have some memories and especially it will be showcased in the booklet. It will be a good memory for the future and a reminder of what things have happened.”
According to historical information provided by the church, the first Ukrainian immigrants came to Ludlow around 1900 from Galicia which at the time was a province of the Austro-Hungarian empire, now western Ukraine.
They were farmers or workers in the local textile factory and after 10 years of work most immigrants’ financial situations began to improve considerably.
They began to look for a priest who would take care of their religious needs and perform the services according to their rite.
In 1912, Fr. Roman Zalitach, pastor of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in New Britian, Connecticut and later founder of the Ukrainian Catholic daily America, celebrated the first Liturgy in a private home.
In 1913 and in the following years, these services continued in private homes or in the basement of Immaculate Conception, a Polish church in Indian Orchard, or St. John the Baptist in Ludlow.
It was around this time that the parish community was formed and the records in the parish chancery go back to 1919.
According to the old records, in 1919 a group of priests presided a meeting and decided to buy a private home and transform it into a church under the title “Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church or Ukrainian Independent Greek-Catholic Church,” on 5 Lakland St.
The experiment did not last long, as by 1924 the assembly decided to rename the church “Ukrainian Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Ludlow.”
The current church was not built until the 1960s, but the parish community has been around since 1912.
Krip added, “Back then they were doing fundraisers like pierogies, picnics. Those were fundraisers to build the church back then, but we still do those fundraisers today to keep up with the church. It’s a really small community but we survive.”