CANADA COURIER: Bishop Pasichny's homecoming (01/28/96)

CANADA COURIER

by Christopher Guly

Bishop Pasichny's homecoming

Few Canadian Ukrainian Catholics were as delighted to welcome the appointment last November of Basilian priest Cornelius John Pasichny as Saskatchewan's newest eparch than the incumbent bishop himself.

"I waited for three years to retire," said outgoing Bishop Basil Filevich, 78, in a recent telephone interview from his Saskatoon office. "I'm going to take a holiday and stay around for a few months, and then decide what I'm going to do."

On the other hand, Bishop Pasichny, who will share the official bishop's residence with his predecessor, is counting on the elder prelate to hang around to offer episcopal advice. "I think it will take me about a year to start forming my own policy for the eparchy," said Bishop Pasichny in a telephone interview prior to his January 17 consecration in Winnipeg.

Nevertheless, Saskatchewan's third Ukrainian Catholic bishop has undoubtedly left a mark in his previous capacity as pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Winnipeg's North End. In fact, Bishop Pasichny's clerical career has come full circle.

Born in Winnipeg 68 years ago, he grew up in the North End, where he attended the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic School - now called Immaculate Heart of Mary - still run by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate.

"He was a regular kid who occasionally got into mischief," recalled Walter Sahan, 68, who attended St. Nick's with the new bishop.

When Bishop Pasichny was a teenager, his older brother, Mike, now 70, entered the Basilian Fathers novitiate in Mundare. "I wasn't sorry to see him go, because I got his bicycle out of the deal," joked the bishop. But, the novelty of inheriting Mike's bike soon wore off, and young John Pasichny decided to follow his older brother to Mundare. He was 15.

After a few years, Mike left. But John remained. "There was never a shot from the blue that hit me, telling me I should become a priest," recalled Bishop Pasichny. "But, once I was there and other boys were either leaving or being asked to leave, I was very much concerned that I would be accepted."

After completing his high school and seminary studies with the Ukrainian-rite Basilians, Bishop Pasichny made his solemn monastic profession at St. George Church in New York in 1948. While studying technology at Gregorian University in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood by the late Archbishop Ivan Buchko on July 5, 1953.

From there, Bishop Pasichny pursued an intensive academic training course.

He obtained a licentiate and a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Ottawa (now St. Paul University), and taught the subject at the university at various points through the 1950s and 1960s. During that time, Bishop Pasichny also held assignments in parishes and monasteries across Canada.

He edited the Basilian publication, Beacon, through the 1970s into the early 1980s, and served as spiritual director of Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Seminary and assistant pastor of St. John the Baptist Church and national shrine in Ottawa.

Eleven years ago, Bishop Pasichny came home to Winnipeg, where he was named pastor of the church in which he was ordained a bishop.

"I asked the pro-nuncio [Archbishop Carlo Curis] if it would be possible if my consecration was to be held in my parish, and he said, 'What a wonderful idea,' " explained Bishop Pasichny.

Since the November 22, 1995, announcement from the Holy See making the episcopal appointment, Bishop Pasichny has had some time to overcome initial apprehension over his new duties. However, the new honorific title that comes with the job is another matter entirely. "I don't think I want to he called 'Your Excellency.' I'd prefer just 'Bishop,' " explained Bishop Pasichny. "But it's funny, because my brother Mike recently told me that when I was young, I said to him that one day I wouldn't become just a priest, I would be a bishop."

Bishop Filevich is not entirely surprised that day can have known Bishop Pasichny since 1942, when he entered the monastery and I was ordained. He is a very capable man and very diplomatic," said the retiring prelate.

In fact, when Winnipeg's local media contacted Bishop Pasichny the day he was appointed to the Saskatoon-based eparchy, most wanted to know whether he would follow his predecessor's lead and ordain married men to the priesthood.

"I told the press that I would not outright dismiss it, but the issue of married clergy for me depends on the circumstances," said Bishop Pasichny.

Though Bishop Pasichny faces the task of ministering to an aging clergy (the average age of the eparchy's 30 priests is 68), Mr. Sahan believes Saskatchewan's new eparch will handle the challenge. "He's a good administrator who is willing to listen."

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