VIDEO BROADCASTS OF HOLY WEEK SERVICES

PRESS RELEASE

Parish of St. Michael the Archangel
Ukrainian Catholic Church
in Woonsocket, Rhode Island

Contact: Cornel Osadsa                                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: 508-839-4001
Email: cosadsa@verizon.net

VIDEO BROADCASTS OF HOLY WEEK SERVICES TO GO AD-FREE Live Internet Broadcasts of Ukrainian Catholic Divine Liturgies Continue At St. Michael's

The Ukrainian Catholic parish of Saint Michael the Archangel in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, is pleased to announce that it will broadcast all of its upcoming Holy Week services over the Internet free of advertising.  The video broadcasts began in December during the Feast of the Nativity and have continued since then with broadcasts of Divine Liturgies on Sundays. 

“Our program has met with modest success,” says Cornel Osadsa, video program facilitator, “each Sunday our Internet-based attendance had improved the overall attendance of the parish from between eight and 33 percent.  We have received emails from viewers who live in areas far away from a Ukrainian Catholic church, are taking of of shut-ins, or are travelling.  We're still waiting to hear from someone serving in our military who is deployed overseas or whose U.S. base is not close to a Ukrainian Catholic parish.”  

He adds, “because Pascha is the holiest day of the year for Ukrainian Christians, we decided to enhance the viewing experience during Holy Week for all of our viewers.  Typically, the company that streams the broadcasts to the Internet adds a 30-second commercial before a broadcast and some text-based advertising to the bottom of the screen during broadcasts.  These ads can be temporarily hidden with the click of a mouse, but the parish decided to eliminate these minor nuisances during Holy Week.” 

People interested in watching Holy Week services on the Internet can do so by going to the Web site of St. Michael's (www.stmichaelsri.org) and clicking on the link marked “Video feed of liturgies.” Recorded broadcasts from the parish can be viewed at www.ustream.tv by entering“stmucc” in the search field on that site's home page, then clicking on the video thumbnail in the stmucc page. 
The broadcast schedule for Holy Week at St. Michael the Archangel is as follows:

Holy Thursday, April 5, Service of the Passion (Strasty Isusa) at 6:00 PM.
Holy Friday, April 6, Vespers & Burial Service (Nadhrobne), 5:00 PM.
Holy Saturday, April 7, Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, 9:00 AM, and blessing of food baskets (paska) at 3:00 PM.
Easter (Pascha), April 8, Nadhrobne, Utrenya, Liturgy at 7:00 AM.

Over the course of its first century of existence, St. Michael's served all of Rhode Island and central Massachusetts; now, through the Internet, it serves the entire world.  It is located at 394 Blackstone Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and the rectory phone number is 401-762-2733.
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