The 1970s

The decade of the 1970s continued in much the same vein as the previous decade under the pastoral guidance of Msgr. Stephen Hrynuck. Six assistant pastors came and went during the decade, and because of a shortage of priests the parish has been without an Assistant Pastor since 1975.

 Highlighting the decade were several significant events:

 -- The Parochial School marked its 25th Anniversary on May 19, 1974 with Archbishop Metropolitan Ambrose Senyshyn presiding over a Solemn Divine Liturgy of Thanksgiving concelebrated by Right Rev. Msgr. Stephen Chehansky and Very Rev. Constantine Berdar, founder of the school. The occasion was further observed by a Jubilee Banquet and Dance, at which the principal speaker was The Hon. Judge John Gonas, a native son of the parish. The school, after 25 years had an enrollment of 168 students, including students from Latin Rite parochial schools which for various reasons had to close down. The school was staffed by six lay teachers, three sisters (two teachers and the principal), and teachers aides. Among the offerings were remedial reading, a library, nursing staff, student counseling and guidance, special education, speech therapy and many others, not dreamed of by the founders of the school.

 --  On March 30, 1975 St. Cyril’s broadcast its 10:00 AM Sunday Divine Liturgy over a local radio station.

 --  Msgr. Hrynuck celebrated the 40th Anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in April 1978, concelebrating a Divine Liturgy of Thanksgiving with his brother, Very Rev. John Hrynioch, and very Rev. Archpriest Bohdan Izak. A testimonial dinner followed the Divine Liturgy.

 –  On June 30, 1978, the famous Pilgrim Statue of our Lady of Fatima, which had been blessed by Pope Paul VI on May 13, 1967 at Fatima, was placed in St. Cyril’s Church by the Blue Army on Friday evening for veneration until the 5:00 PM Divine Liturgy on Saturday.

 --  In September 1979, Sr. M. Jerome, OSBM, a spiritual daughter of the parish, was honored in Chicago as a “Ukrainian Woman of the Year” by Bishop Yaroslav Gabro of Chicago. Sr. Jerome, has a PhD in education from the Catholic University of America and is the author of “The Flaming Pillar of Cappodoccian Caesarea” -The Life and Works of St. Basil the Great, published in Rome, in 1963.

 --  After 58 years laboring in Christ’s Vineyard, Sr. M Josaphat, OSBM, another spiritual daughter, was called by God on June 21, 1979.

 --  Among the 52 American Embassy staff taken hostage by Iranian fanatics in Tehran, Iran, in November 1979 was native son of the parish, Michael Metrinko, a career diplomat of the U.S. foreign service and son of parishioners Harry and Alice Metrinko and the other hostages immediately became part of all church services and were later to assume a more specific and intensive form of supplication for divine assistance.

 --  In 1979 the long cherished dream of a former pastor, the late Fr. Michael Guryansky, was to be realized in the planning, design and construction of a Shrine in honor of the Miraculous Icon Our Lady of Zhyrovytsi on the lot immediately behind the church facing Grant Street. The unveiling an initial blessing of the shrine took place on December 30, 1979. The formal dedication and blessing, however, was planned for May 18, 1980.