We are a mission-parish of the Chicago St. Nicholas Eparchy (diocese) of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church located in Cody, Wyoming. As such, we profess the apostolic Christian Faith passed on to us from Christ Himself, and we live that out in accordance with the Greek (ie, Byzantine) tradition and our Ukrainian patrimony and as part of the universal Catholic Church.
HISTORY
We established a non-profit organization with a goal to establish a Ukrainian-Greek Catholic parish in Cody, Wyoming, with a three-phase plan: 1) Establish a mission, 2) Receive a pastor, 3) Build a Church. We have successfully accomplished the first two phases of our plan in the following timeline:
- Fall of 2021 – A parishioner of St. Luke’s wrote St. Nicholas Eparchy to request that a priest be sent to Wyoming to serve the Ukrainian Catholics in the area.
- December of 2021 – Reverend Pavlo Popov came to Cody to investigate the area and speak to local Ukrainian Catholics. He said Divine Liturgy for the community and baptized a baby.
- January of 2022 – The non-profit organization Cody Ukrainian Catholic Mission (CUCM) is formed with a goal of establishing a parish.
- April of 2022 – St. Nicholas Eparchy agreed to allow CUCM to bring in priests to say monthly Divine Liturgy.
- February of 2023 – Declared an official mission parish under St. Nicholas Eparchy and given the name St. Luke Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church by Most Reverend Benedict Aleksiychuk, Bishop of St. Nicholas Eparchy.
- April of 2023 – Bishop Benedict visited our mission and said a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy.
- September of 2023 – Our mission was informed that Very Reverend Roman Bobesiuk has been assigned as the pastor of St. Luke’s.
- December of 2023 – Fr. Roman arrived in Cody, Wyoming, as our new pastor.
- June of 2024 – It was announced that Fr. Roman was to be moved to another parish to fill in an urgent vacancy.
- September of 2024 – Fr. Philip arrived in Cody, replacing Fr. Roman as parish administrator.
Through God, we have accomplished more than we ever thought possible. We truly believe it is His will that a Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church be established in Wyoming. We pray that our endeavor to build a Church that brings glory and honor to God and become a permanent parish of St. Nicholas Eparchy will be successful! Please pray for us and our little mission here, that we may continue to grow and share the Gospel of God’s love and salvation with all of Wyoming.
