Ukrainian Catholics pack Michigan church to celebrate Easter as war continues back home
Nearly a thousand parishioners with ties to Ukraine gathered at a church in Hamtramck, Michigan, for services on Easter Sunday, celebrating the day Jesus rose from the dead while worrying about the war ravaging their home country.
The 9:30 a.m. Easter Mass at the Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church, which was conducted entirely in Ukrainian, was packed, with every crevice of the church filled with worshippers. Easter symbolizes renewal and rebirth for Christians and Catholics, representing hope and new beginnings.
Andrii Kubyk-Bohumil, 40, of Madison Heights, attended the service with his wife and 8-year-old son. He said he has been attending services at the church since October 2022, when he immigrated to the U.S.
"We celebrate today, but it is a strange feeling," Kubyk-Bohumil said. "One moment we are happy, one moment we are not. ... It hurts when we see our people dying."
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary Easter truce in Ukraine from Saturday morning to midnight Easter Sunday, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Sunday of creating a false appearance of honoring an Easter ceasefire, saying Moscow continued to launch attacks, according to the Associated Press.
President Donald Trump on Friday said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are "coming to a head" and insisted that neither side is "playing" him in his push to end the grinding three-year war.
Vasyl Perets, the choir director at Immaculate Conception, who lives in Shelby Township and serves as the honorary consulate of Ukraine in Detroit, said that while he was feeling great due to the Easter holiday, he is always worried about Ukraine.
However, Perets remains optimistic that the war will come to an end.
"I believe things will be alright," Perets said after Sunday's mass. "I think everything is going to be all right, but it's scary. Patience is everything.
He said the church at McDougall Street and Commor Avenue in Hamtramck is packed to its 600-person capacity every Sunday, with standing room only.
On Easter, worshipers packed the pews, the standing areas beside and behind the pews and stood in the lobby and outside. Several dozen parents and children were also in the church's basement.
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