About Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Mission · Brooklyn, New York
Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Mission Parish is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic mission serving the faithful of the Byzantine rite in the Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. It belongs to the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford — a Byzantine-rite diocese of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church covering New York State and the New England region. Because it is a mission rather than a standalone parish, the community gathers for worship at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Margaret Mary, on Oriental Boulevard facing Manhattan Beach Park. The mission is named in honor of Blessed Bishop Mykola (Nicholas) Charnetsky, a Redemptorist bishop and martyr of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
- Patron
- Blessed Bishop Mykola (Nicholas) Charnetsky, C.Ss.R. (1884–1959), Redemptorist bishop and martyr
- Diocese
- Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford (Byzantine rite, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, suffragan of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia)
Why belong here
Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Mission exists so that Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn can worship regularly in their own Byzantine rite, hear the Gospel proclaimed in Ukrainian, and receive the seven sacraments from clergy of the Eparchy of Stamford. Meeting at St. Margaret Mary Church on Oriental Boulevard means the mission is literally next to Manhattan Beach Park — a convenient location for the South Brooklyn faithful who might otherwise have to travel to other Ukrainian parishes in the diocese. It connects worshipers to a worldwide Ukrainian Catholic tradition and to a saintly patron who suffered for the faith under the Soviet regime.
About the Mission
Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Mission Parish is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic mission serving Byzantine-rite faithful in the Manhattan Beach area of Brooklyn, NY. As a mission rather than a territorial parish, the community meets for Divine Liturgy and other services at St. Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church on Oriental Boulevard. The mission comes under the care of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic diocese for New York State and New England.
Patron: Blessed Bishop Mykola Charnetsky (1884–1959)
The mission takes the name of Blessed Mykola (Nicholas) Charnetsky, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Redemptorist bishop considered a martyr by the Church. Born 14 December 1884 in the village of Semakivtsi in what is now Ivano-Frankivsk region, he was ordained a priest in 1909, earned a doctorate in dogmatic theology in Rome, and entered the Redemptorist novitiate in 1919. Pope Pius XII named him titular bishop of Lebedus and Apostolic Visitor to Ukrainian Catholics in Volhynia and Podlachia; he was ordained a bishop on 2 February 1931 in Rome. He ministered across Volyn, Polissia, Podlachia and Belarus through the 1930s, and celebrated a Pontifical Divine Liturgy at the 1932 Dublin Eucharistic Congress. Arrested by the NKVD on 11 April 1945, he was sentenced to forced labor in Siberia and died on 2 April 1959 in Lviv. Pope John Paul II verified his martyrdom and beatified him on 27 June 2001 — the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, patroness of the Redemptorists. His relics were translated to the Church of St. Josaphat in Lviv on 4 July 2002.
- Venerated as Blessed, Bishop and Martyr
- Redemptorist (C.Ss.R.)
- Titular Bishop of Lebedus; Apostolic Exarch of Volyn, Polesia and Podlasie
- Beatified 27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II
- Feast day: 2 April
Where the Community Worships
Because it is an Eastern Catholic mission rather than a territorial parish, Blessed Mykola Charnetsky Mission does not maintain its own church building. It gathers inside St. Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church, which faces Manhattan Beach Park at the corner of Oriental Boulevard and Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn.
- Host parish: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, established 1920
- Rectory address: 215 Exeter Street, Brooklyn NY 11235
- Host parish phone: 718-743-1824
- Location: facing Manhattan Beach Park, between Exeter Street and Ocean Avenue on Oriental Boulevard
Diocese
The mission belongs to the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, a Greek-Catholic diocese of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, erected as an apostolic exarchate in 1956 and elevated to an eparchy. It is suffragan to the Archeparchy of Philadelphia and covers New York State together with the six New England states (Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire). The cathedral is St. Vladimir in Stamford, Connecticut; the eparch since January 2006 has been Bishop Paul Patrick Chomnycky, O.S.B.M.
- Eparchy of Stamford
- Byzantine rite, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
- Suffragan of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia
- Eparch: Bishop Paul Patrick Chomnycky, O.S.B.M.
Getting to the Mission
The mission meets at St. Margaret Mary on Oriental Boulevard facing Manhattan Beach Park. Bus routes B1 (from Bay Ridge and the Brighton Beach subway station) and B46 (from Shepshead Bay along Ocean Avenue) stop near the church on Oriental Boulevard. As in much of Manhattan Beach, street parking in the surrounding residential streets is severely restricted.