Cardinal Husar to make pastoral visitation to Archeparchy of Philadelphia (11/10/02)

Cardinal Husar to make pastoral visitation to Archeparchy of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The spiritual head and father of the Ukrainian Catholic Church worldwide, Major Archbishop Lubomyr Husar will pray with the clergy, religious and faithful during a pastoral visitation to the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia on Sunday, November 17,

Cardinal Husar will be the main celebrant and homilist at the 10:30 a.m. hierarchical divine liturgy, which will be celebrated here at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 830 North Franklin St.

A reception will follow in the cathedral social hall, where all the faithful will have an opportunity to personally greet Cardinal Husar.

The events on Sunday will be the culmination of Cardinal Husar's pastoral visit to the Philadelphia Archeparchy. Earlier in the week, he will visit with the Catholic bishops of the United States during the fall meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. A reception in his honor will be hosted by Metropolitan-Archbishop Stefan Soroka of the Philadelphia Archeparchy during which time U.S. bishops will be able to meet the spiritual head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the largest of the Eastern churches in union with the See of Peter.

On Friday, November 15, Cardinal Husar will celebrate a private prayer service, an Akathist to the Mother of God with the clergy and seminarians of the Archeparchy in the Philadelphia cathedral. After a luncheon, he will chair a formal meeting with the clergy and aspiring future priests to present his vision for the future of the Church and to answer any questions they may pose to him.

Metropolitan Archbishop Stefan Soroka stated in a recent letter to the clergy, religious and faithful of the archeparchy announcing the pastoral visitation: "Major Archbishop Lubomyr Husar's visit also will highlight the importance of the development of the sobor, or main Church of our Ukrainian Catholic Church, being constructed in Kyiv, Ukraine. A collection is currently being undertaken throughout our archeparchy for this purpose, so that we may all share in the duty and privilege of the development of this spiritual center of our Ukrainian Catholic Church for the world."

The Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukraine was forcibly liquidated during the Stalinist era and outlawed by the Soviet government in 1946. All the bishops and many of the priests and religious were arrested, and all its property was confiscated.

However, it continued to exist as the underground Church of the catacombs. The priests, religious and faithful endured torture and even death for practicing their faith and remaining loyal to their Church.

The Church emerged from the catacombs in Ukraine with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989. Since the restoration of its legal status in 1990, a major rebuilding and restoration of churches, schools, monasteries and seminaries has been undertaken, together with a spiritual renewal and catechization of the faithful.

In announcing his goal for the construction of a cathedral church (sobor) and a patriarchal center in Kyiv, Cardinal Husar remarked: "After many years of remaining in the underground, our Church in Ukraine has now been free for more than 10 years. Growth in a free fatherland during the last decade gives us the opportunity, which none would have dared to dream: to return to the center of our Church in Kyiv, the place of her birth."

Major Archbishop Husar was elected head of the 7-million-member Ukrainian Catholic Church on January 25, 2001, by the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops, which met in Lviv, Ukraine.

The next morning, the Vatican announced that the pope had confirmed the election, and the 26 participants of the January 24-26 synod that elected Archbishop Husar, which included Ukrainian bishops from Ukraine, Poland, France, Italy, England, the United States, Canada and Australia remained in Ukraine for the enthronement of their new spiritual leader on Sunday, January 28, 2001.

At the end of the enthronement divine liturgy, it was announced that Pope John Paul II had named the newly installed major archbishop a cardinal of the Church.

Cardinal Husar was born February 26, 1933, in Lviv and moved to the United States in 1949. After studying at St. Basil's Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Stamford, Conn., and at The Catholic University of America in Washington, where he earned an STL degree, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Eparchy of Stamford and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1958.

After his ordination, he earned a master's degree in philosophy from Fordham University in New York, served as a pastor in Kerhonkson, N.Y., and as prefect of St. Basil's College Seminary in Stamford.

After earning a doctorate in theology at Rome's Urbanian University, he became a Studite monk. He was elected superior of the Studite monastery at Grottaferrata, near Rome, in 1974. Cardinal Husar had been secretly ordained a bishop in 1977 in Rome by Cardinal Josyf Slipyj, at a time when the church was illegal in his homeland, with the hope that he would be able to return to Ukraine.

He resided at the Studite Monastery until 1992, when he took up residence in Ukraine. On October 17, 1996, he was appointed auxiliary-bishop to Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky. After Cardinal Lubachivsky's death in December 14, 2000, he served as administrator until his election as Major Archbishop by the Synod of Ukrainian Catholic Bishops.

In the United States, the Ukrainian Catholic Church consists of the Philadelphia Archeparchy, with a population of 68,000 faithful in 74 parishes located in Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. Other suffragan eparchial sees of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Province are the Stamford Eparchy, St. Nicholas Eparchy in Chicago and St. Josaphat Eparchy in Parma, Ohio.

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