Newark Plast Unit Has Flag Blessing (12/26/76)

Newark Plast Unit Has Flag Blessing

by Andriy Chirovsky

NEWARK, N.J. - The 47th Plast "kurin" had been waiting for this moment for over four years.

Very Rev. Michael Kuchmiak, C.Ss.R., pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church here, blessed the unit's new flag in a short but solemn ceremony Sunday, December 19, in St. John's School Auditorium here.

The group was founded in 1972, when both Plast youths and their counselors decided that the already existing 5th "kurin," with well over 75 members at the time, was unmanageable at that size. At a special organizational meeting in September of that year, selected members of the 5th "kurin," convened to form their new unit, choosing assassinated Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, himself a one-time member of Plast's "Chervona Kalyna" unit until his death, as their patron. Nestor Holynsky of "Chervona Kalyna" became its first supervisor and held this post until recently, when Hryhoriy Buniak took his place.

It was Mr. Buniak that led the flag blessing ceremonies, attended by members of the 47th "kurin," the remaining three "kurin" of the Newark Plast contingent, representatives of other cities, members of Plast's national executive, along with friends and will-wishers from the greater Newark area.

Following the flag blessing itself, and a swearing in of the first flag bearers, various "Godparents", among them Andriy Mycio, head of Plast's national executive, Wolodymyr Swyntuch, Newark's Plast leader, and Yaroslaw Rak from "Chervona Kalyna", emphasized loyalty to the ideals of God and Ukraine in offering their best wishes to the group.

Mr. and Mrs. Yaroslaw Turiansky presented the members with a portrait of their patron, Stepan Bandera. The official ceremonies were followed by a short entertainment program, in which Michael Stocko, a member of the group, offered his bandura-playing talents, and the member of the 47th Plast "kurin" ended the show with a refreshing skit.

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