Parish Catechist - Olha Aleksic

Olha Aleksic (Horodyska) was born on June 13, 1972 in Boryslav, Lviv oblast, Ukraine. She graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages at Ivan Franko Lviv National University, specializing in Romance and Germanic languages and literature. Olha worked as an instructor of English at the Ukrainian Catholic University and in Department of International Relations at Ivan Franko Lviv National University. She received a Certificate in Eastern Christian Studies from the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada.

In 1999, Olha married David Aleksic when they were both employed as instructors of English at Ukrainian Catholic University. In 2000 they moved from Lviv, Ukraine to Boston to pursue graduate studies in their respective fields. Olha graduated from Harvard Divinity School with Masters in Theological Studies in 2004. While working at the university’s library, she enrolled at Simmons College in Boston and received a Master’s of Science in Library and Information Science. After graduation, Olha was appointed the Bibliographer/Archivist for Ukrainian Collections at the Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University. She continues to hold this position and work concurrently in Slavic Division of Harvard University’s Widener Library.

Olha Aleksic started teaching catechism classes for children at the Ukrainian catholic parish of Christ the King Church in 2005, preparing kids for their first confession and first solemn Holy Communion. Olha and David have two daughters, Katherine and Emily and a rescue lab, Scotty.

Parish Catechist - Yaroslav Martsinkiv

Yaroslav Martsinkiv was born 19 April 1984 in the picturesque village of Pronyatyn, four miles from the city center of Ternopil, into which it has since been incorporated. From 1991 through 2001 he attended school # 30 in Ternopil.

The year 2000 posed a challenge in Yaroslav’s life. He was faced with the decision what to do next, where to continue his studies? It is a sad, well-known fact that the educational system in Ukraine is far from ideal. Educational institutions free of corruption are few. A crucial role here belongs to Dr. Lubomyr Hajda. During a family visit while on a working trip to Ukraine he recommended that Yaroslav test his abilities and apply to the Ukrainian Catholic University.

After a year of intensive preparation, in the year 2001 Yaroslav became a student at UCU. In 2006 he received his BA diploma in history. The topic of his bachelor thesis was “Western Ukrainian Society and the Holodomor of 1932-33.” During his studies at UCU, Yaroslav took part in all-Ukrainian student conferences on the subjects of education, religion and history; some of his conference presentations have been published. In 2001 he participated in the Taize Christian Youth Meeting in Budapest, Hungary, and in 2004 in Hamburg, Germany.

Since September 2012, with the blessing of Bishop Paul Chomnycky of the Stamford Eparchy, Yaroslav became a catechetical worker at the Christ the King parish in Jamaica Plain, MA. His responsibilities include presentation of lectures and organization of seminars on religious and historical subjects, assistance with Bible study classes, as well as participation in eparchial conferences and workshops.

Yaroslav resides at the home of his uncle, Dr. Lubomyr Hajda, together with his wife Anya and son Adrian, who at age three with complete confidence shows the location of Ukraine on the map and insists that he wants to study at Harvard.