Viatorians and Ukrainians.

The first part of this post's title may be a bit misleading in that I didn't actually meet any real Viatorians when I was at St. Viator High School yesterday for an interleague Chicagoland Scholastic Bowl tournament. Nonetheless, I know more about the Viatorians now than I did on Friday, thanks to a historical display in a hallway at St. Viator's - not much more, but more nonetheless. SICP's varsity Scholastic Bowl team won five of the six rounds in which they competed; the junior varsity team was victorious in only one of five rounds of competition, but the freshmen on the team nonetheless did very well considering the difficulty of the questions (many of which focused on material covered in the junior and senior years of high school) and gained valuable experience. I don't know how SICP did relative to the other schools at the tournament, but I'll post this information when it becomes available. However, I do know that I'm lucky to be associated with a bright and talented group of young people. Working with the Scholastic Bowl team has been a highlight of my experience here so far, and I'm looking forward to joining the team for their next competition.

The second part of this post's title is accurate - I did see some Ukrainians over the weekend. This morning I attended Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Chicago's historic Ukrainian Village. Though I'm told the Ukrainian Village neighborhood now has more yuppies than Ukrainians as a result of gentrification, the area retains an ethnic feel thanks to a concentration of beautiful old churches and Ukrainian businesses. I arrived for the Cathedral's scheduled 11:30 am English-language liturgy to find that a Panakhyda following the main 10 am Ukrainian liturgy was still in progress. The conclusion of the Panakhyda delayed the start of the liturgy I'd come for by about fifteen minutes, but I was glad for the chance to hear the Cathedral's superb Ukrainian choir. My brief exposure to that choir may be enough to lure me back for the Cathedral's 10 am Divine Liturgy next week. One way or another, I was sufficiently enchanted by my first furlough into Ukrainian Village that I hope to return often during my time in Chicago. AMDG.