The Sisterhood of Holy Dormition Church

from the parish's Golden Jubilee anniversary publication (1957)

Saint Barbara's Sisterhood

Early in 1909 the ladies of the congregation met and banned themselves together into an organization with a great spiritual objective. Its aim was to instill its members with Christian charity, to make them conscious of their duty toward the church, to urge them to help in its decoration, to have them teach their children the Orthodox faith, and to do all within their power to help the parish grow and prosper.

In the beginning the organization prospered and its activities helped the parish in many ways. Burdened with the care of large families these women found out that it was difficult to find time for many of the activities which they had originally planned. The formal organization slowly died and was abandoned, but the women pledged themselves to meet and to help in putting over the activities that the parish board planned. Some of these early activities were the Thanksgiving dinners, selling refreshments at parish dances and parish picnics.

The women carried on in this manner, meeting only when it was necessary to make plans for certain activities which were to be held in the parish. The parish records show that the success of the social functions of the congregation were mainly due to the planning and cooperation of the women of the parish.

Early in January, 1928, Father Nicholas Belavin, urged on by Matushka Belavin, finally called a meeting of the women of the parish. On January 26, 1928, fifteen women answered the call and held a meeting in the parish home. Matushka Belavin outlined the objectives of a good church Sisterhood. These objectives and goals were those that were proposed by the ladies when they first met back in 1909. The fifteen women present decided to organize. They all joined and became the charter members of the present organization. All the objectives of the organization were such that would lead to helping the parish grow and prosper.

At present [1957] the organization has forty members. Of these forty members nine are charter members. These are Mrs. Mary Sosenko, Mrs. Efrosina Sehuta, Mrs. Mary Schur, Mrs. Mary Dmytryk, Mrs. Eva Halechko, Mrs. Ann Chaklosh, Mrs. Mary Wasylenko, Mrs. Pearl Arden, and Mrs. Catherine Chowanec.

The Sisterhood has been very active in the affairs of the parish. The president of the organization is automatically a member of the Church Board of Directors. At all the church activities this organization cooperates with the Church Board to see that the job is accomplished. Some of the activities that they are always responsible for are the cleaning of the church, the serving of refreshments at social affairs, and the planning and serving of the Famous Harvest Annual Dinner which is the largest social event of the year.

The organization meets on Tuesday evenings in a sort of a sewing circle meeting where they make fancy work which is sold or raffled off. Here, too, they work on the cloth Vestments of the church. Once a year they hold a pantry sale in town, where delicate pastries, pies and cakes are sold to the public.

The present [1957] officers of the organization are: Mrs. Ann Chaklosh, president; Mrs. Rose Makuh, vice-president; Mrs. Ann Muich, recording secretary; and Mrs. Ann Frinsko, financial secretary.

On its Golden Anniversary the parish cannot forget all the work toward the progress of the congregation that has been done by the Sisterhood. Neither can it forget the gifts that the Sisterhood has presented to the church. Therefore the entire parish offers its sincere gratitude to the St. Barbara's Sisterhood, and prays to the Lord God that He may bestow upon every member health, happiness and long life. May their patroness Saint Barbara preserve them from every evil.

 

The above text was excerpted from the 1957 Golden Jubilee Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Church publication by parish members for the celebration of July 26, 27, 28, 1957. Only minimal adjustments have been made to the original text (such as correcting typographical errors and adding clarification in brackets of alternate transliterated spellings).