SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — Since the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, every liturgy at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church has ended the same way: parishioners kneel, say the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary, and sing “God Bless America.”
“You get choked up just singing that, because we are so blessed here, blessed enough to be so strong that we could help other countries to the best way that we can, because it seems like all the other countries look for America to help them,” churchgoer Rhonda Luettgen said while leaving the parish on a recent Sunday morning.
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, is home to the highest concentration of people of Ukrainian descent anywhere in the United States. It also happens to be represented by a member of Congress who has become skeptical of sending more American money to Ukraine: Republican Rep. Dan Meuser.