Bishop Pasichny installed as new eparch of Toronto (10/04/98)

Bishop Pasichny installed as new eparch of Toronto

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - About 600 people filled the cavernous Slovak Byzantine-rite Catholic Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Markham, just north of Ontario's provincial capital, on September 24, to witness the liturgical installation of the new Ukrainian Catholic eparch of Toronto and eastern Canada, Bishop Cornelius Pasichny.

Ukrainian Catholic bishops and clergy from across Canada, led by Metropolitan Michael Bzdel, were joined by Bishop Julian Gbur, auxiliary of the Lviv Archeparchy; outgoing Eparch of Toronto Bishop Isidore Borecky; the Vatican's emissary to the country, Cardinal Carlo Curis; the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic; and Bishop Yurij Kalishchuk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada; to mark the occasion.

Cardinal Curis and Metropolitan Bzdel performed the act of installation together and read the papal bull, dated June 16, appointing Bishop Pasichny as "the Bishop in Toronto for Ukrainians." The Revs. Taras Karpiuk, Michael Luchka and Myron Stasiw led the service, with the Rev. Roman Galadza conducting a specially assembled choir.

The hierarchs, clergy and faithful then sang "Axios" (Greek for "He is worthy"), the newly invested eparch was seated in the episcopal throne, and assembled clergy and members of monastic orders lined up to offer their obeisance.

Since Bishop Pasichny had already been given episcopal status upon his appointment as eparch of Saskatoon in 1995, it was not an ordination, but merely an investiture. Only Metropolitan Bzdel changed vestments, and Bishop Pasichny was not ceremonially dressed in new robes. (This subsequently led to confusion in the minds of the Toronto Star daily's editors, who in their September 26 issue ran a photograph of the event misidentifying Metropolitan Bzdel as Bishop Pasichny.)

The special liturgy was also marked by the times in which it took place - it was largely bilingual, in Ukrainian and English, with the latter language used for important sections of the liturgy, such as the Anaphora of Christ's offering of His Body and Blood for the remission of sins.

Bishop Lawrence Huculak, eparch of Edmonton, who delivered the homily mostly in Ukrainian and ended in English, emphasized the role of a bishop as a symbol of Church unity. "The success or failure of a bishop's tenure is dependent on the council of the eparchy's clergy and on its faithful," Bishop Huculak said, adding that the Second Vatican Council of 1964 reaffirmed the importance of ties between the episcopal office and the faithful.

Cardinal Curis added a word of encouragement to resolve differences, saying that "the new bishop, clergy and faithful must work together to bring back those who wandered away in disillusionment." He also expressed assurances from the Roman Curia that Bishop Borecky is in their prayers, adding, "may the Lord reward Bishop Isidore for his long years of service."

The papal nuncio also recognized that the Toronto Eparchy, as it enters the second half of its first centenary, would continue to play a leading role in supporting the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukraine "in terms of personnel formation and practical assistance."

In his own brief remarks, Bishop Pasichny expressed thanks to the pope and the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church for choosing him for the post of Toronto's eparch, and quoted the Epistle of St. Peter, who enjoined Church elders to "tend the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for recompense, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." (I Peter: 5)

Bishop Pasichny declared his readiness to "work with all priests, members of monastic orders and faithful for the greater glory of our Lord."

The tone of the ceremony was part muted celebration, part bated relief, as it marked the official end of the eparchy's nine-year overt standoff against the Vatican. The standoff began in 1989, when Bishop Borecky, the eparch since 1948, refused Pope John Paul II's order that he resign in accordance with newly adopted regulations stipulating that bishops give up their posts upon reaching the age of 75.

In December 1992, the pope appointed the Rev. Roman Danylak as apostolic administrator of the eparchy. His ordination as bishop triggered a firestorm of defiance and ill-will among the eparchy's clergy and faithful, which was intensified when Bishop Danylak attempted to browbeat clergymen into accepting his authority.

In time, the intensity of resentments has faded, enabling the acting leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Bishop Lubomyr Husar, to broker a solution to the impasse at last year's Synod in Lviv. As a result, Bishop Borecky has retired, Bishop Danylak has been reassigned to Rome, and Bishop Pasichny is in place to heal divisions.

The day's events were rounded out by a banquet held at the Regal Constellation hotel in Toronto.

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