Saskatoon bishop consecrated in his home parish in Winnipeg (01/28/96)

Saskatoon bishop consecrated in his home parish in Winnipeg

by Frank Guly and Christopher Guly
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WINNIPEG - More than 750 people crowded into St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, located in the North End district of Winnipeg, to attend the episcopal ordination of the Rev. Cornelius John Pasichny as the Saskatoon Eparchy's new bishop on January 17.

Selecting the church as the site for the ceremony was significant, since the 68-year-old Basilian priest not only served as its pastor for the past decade, but was baptized there as a child.

The last time Winnipeggers witnessed a consecration was in 1993, when Canadian Archbishop-Metropolitan Michael Bzdel and Australia's Bishop Peter Stasiuk - both members of the Redemptorist community - were ordained bishops in the city's Ss. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral.

During this most recent ceremony, the very Rev. Isidore Dziadyk, provincial superior of the Canadian province of the Order of St. Basil the Great (Basilian Fathers), and the Rev. Joseph Pidskalny, the new pastor of St. Nick's, escorted the Rev. Pasichny into St. Nicholas Church. There, Metropolitan Bzdel welcomed them to begin the official consecration.

Bishop Pasichny's three consecrators included the metropolitan, his predecessor Bishop Basil Filevich (who served the diocese since 1983) and Bishop Severian Yakymyshyn of New Westminster, British Columbia, a fellow

Basilian who himself was elevated to the episcopacy last March. Bishop Yakymyshyn replaced Edmonton Bishop Myron Daciuk, who died on January 14.

Illness prevented the attendance of Archbishop-Metropolitan emeritus Maxim Hermaniuk, who recently underwent hip surgery, and Archbishop Carlo Curis, apostolic pro-nuncio to Canada, from attending. Originally, Archbishop Curis was scheduled to read the Holy See's official appointment of the Rev. Pasichny's elevation to the episcopacy. Metropolitan Bzdel handled those duties instead.

In preparation of his episcopal ordination, the Rev. Pasichny encircled the altar, kissing it at its four corners. Kneeling before his three consecrators, Saskatoon's third Ukrainian Catholic bishop received his evangelic ministry as a gospel book was placed atop his head.

Each bishop in attendance then placed his hands on his head, as a sign of the apostolic succession of bishops in the Church.

As Bishop Pasichny was vested in his episopal garb, including the upper cassock (ryason), pectoral image of Mary (panagia) and mantle, the choir sang the Greek greeting "Axios" ("He is worthy").

Among the other hierarchs, clergy and religious in attendance were Archbishop Francis Spence of Kingston, Ontario, who also serves as president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; Latin-rite Archbishops Leonard Wall of Winnipeg, Antoine Hacault of the nearby Francophone Archdiocese of St. Boniface and Adam Exner of Vancouver (formerly of Winnipeg); Ukrainian Catholic Bishops Isidore Borecky and Roman Danylak of Toronto, and Michael Wiwchar of Chicago; Metropolitan Wasyly Fedak of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada: the Very Rev. Isidore Patrylo, superior general of the Basilian Fathers from Rome; and Sister Janice Soluk, provincial superior of the Canadian province of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate from Toronto.

Following the episcopal ordination ceremonies, over 300 people attended a banquet in Bishop Pasichny's honor at the Westin Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Oleh Romaniw, a parishioner at St. Nick's, served as the master of ceremonies. The bishop's brother, Michael, spoke on behalf of the Pasichny family.

Two students from Immaculate Heart of Mary Ukrainian Catholic School Alexandra Chomik and Yaroslav Kozel presented the school's distinguished alumnus, Bishop Pasichny, with flowers.

Amid the best wishes and greetings, the normally quiet and shy prelate revealed a sense of humor that received an enthusiastic reception and befitted the very personal side to the day's historic significance.

The bishop regaled the crowd with the story of a spider-ridden church, in which the pastor called on three priests to help in the extermination exercise. One suggested insecticide; another, gathering the spiders and flushing them down a toilet. But the third, continued Bishop Pasichny, said the best way to get rid of them was to "baptize them. That way, they will never come back."

A farewell dinner for the new bishop was held at St. Nicholas Church prior to consecration, where the Most Rev. Pasichny was presented with a $10,000 gift from the Basilian Fathers and $5,000 from his former parish.

Bishop Pasichny was installed as eparch of Saskatoon at St. George Cathedral in Saskatoon on January 21.

The eparchy includes 20,000 Ukrainian Catholics throughout Saskatchewan in 100 churches served by 30 priests.

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