The victims of the Holodomor were honored at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia
November 7th, the Ukrainian community of Philadelphia and neighboring regions under the leadership of the Ukrainian Community Committee honored the 89th anniversary of the Holodomor. The prayer service and commemoration program were held at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
“Every November we commemorate the millions of innocent victims of genocidal Holodomor, the artificial famine orchestrated by Stalin and his cronies. We pray as the community that is alive and proclaiming its vitality. We pray as the community that is standing up to an invasion that continues to kill. We pray as a community that has faith, a deep faith in the resurrection”, stressed Archbishop Borys Gudziak in his homily.
After the liturgy, Dr. Volodymyr Serhijchuk, professor at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, gave a lecture on Holodomor. Being from a family who had members that died during the artificial genocidal famine, he passionately spoke of the fact that so many young children died.
During the commemoration event, there were the performances of the choir of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Yuliya Stupen, and Sophia Pitula. Head of the Ukrainian Community Committee of Philadelphia Ulana Mazurkevich served as the MC of the event.
“The remembrance of Holodomor is not simply an Ukrainian issue, it is a worldwide issue, it is an American issue. Imagine a greater Delaware valley, a population of approximately 7.1 million vanished in 18 months without the world knowing or caring. Knowledge of Ukrainian Holodomor must be an integral segment of world history and an unfortunate act of genocide perpetrated upon the Ukrainians must be recognized worldwide so that history never repeats itself”, emphasized in his brief address Michael Sawkiw, Jr. Vice-President of The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA).
