Pdja. Katherine Vitko, ,Director, OCCIF

Katherine Vitko is currently the Popadija (Matushka, Presbytera) at St. Luke Orthodox Church in McLean, VA, where her husband Fr. John Vitko, is the Rector. Katherine was received into Orthodoxy by Chrismation by Fr. Michael Prokurat on Feb. 8, 1976 in Walnut Creek, CA. She has been active in the life of the Diocese of the West ever since, including serving as Co-Chair on the Diocesan Council, the Mission Board, 3 terms as lay diocesan delegate to the Metropolitan Council, and a member of the Metropolitan Council. She, and the now Father John, moved to Washington D.C. in 2002 – but Kitty, as she is known, remained active in the Diocese of the West, continuing to serve on its Mission Board.
At the Central Church level, Popadija Kitty has been a member of the OCA’s Department of Christian Service and Humanitarian Aid for 15 years and at the 18th All American Council was elected to a 6 year term as a lay delegate to the Metropolitan Council. She is also working with Fr. Michael Oleksa and Matushka Alexandra Safchuk to produce a video series on the Alaskan Saints. The first video in that series, one on the life of St. Juvenaly, was just released in the Fall of 2015.
Since moving to Washington D.C., Popadija Kitty has been active in the life of her local parish and in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where she serves on the Missions Board and was chosen as one of the Archdiocese’s first representatives to attend the newly formed OCA Mission School.
When not working on behalf of the Church, Kitty has also been active in the local community. While in Livermore CA, she developed a home schooling program for children who live in shelters and received the Bay Area Family to Family Award from KTVU television for this work. Now that she is living in the Washington, D.C. area, she has been a docent at the Library of Congress for the past 10 years.
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