Auxiliary bishop named for Winnipeg (05/05/96)

Auxiliary bishop named for Winnipeg

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Winnipeg diocesan priest the Rev. Stephen Soroka was named auxiliary bishop for the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Winnipeg on April 17.

At 44, Bishop-designate Soroka is 21 years junior to the next-youngest Ukrainian Catholic bishop in Canada, Roman Danylak, 65, who serves as apostolic administrator of the Toronto Eparchy.

There are now seven active and retired Ukrainian Catholic bishops in Canada, including Toronto's Bishop Isidore Borecky, 84.

When Bishop Borecky was ordained to the episcopacy in 1948, he was only 36.

Recovering from quintuple bypass surgery he underwent last year, Winnipeg's Archbishop-Metropolitan Michael Bzdel told The Weekly he's "deliriously happy" and relieved the Holy See has given him some help. "I've been living on borrowed time," he said. "I will be turning 66 in July and will have nine years before my retirement during which Bishop-designate Soroka will be able to learn the ropes."

Since the Rev. Soroka was not named coadjutor archbishop with the right of succession, he could be assigned to any Ukrainian Catholic eparchy in the world.

Recently, the Rev. Soroka has served as chancellor and financial administrator of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Winnipeg, which includes the province of Manitoba and also serves as the Metropolitanate for Ukrainian Catholics in Canada. As auxiliary bishop, he will become vicar-general, a post now held by the Rev. Jaropolk Radkewycz.

The Rev. Soroka was born in Winnipeg on November 13, 1951, and attended Immaculate Heart of Mary School (formerly St. Nicholas School) run by the Ukrainian Catholic Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. He was ordained to the priesthood there on June 13, 1982.

Metropolitan Bzdel set June 13 - also the Feast of the Eucharist - as the tentative date for the Rev. Soroka's episcopal ordination in Winnipeg's Ss. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral, where he was ordained to the priesthood.

His three consecrators will include Metropolitan Bzdel, Metropolitan-emeritus Maxim Hermaniuk and newly consecrated Saskatoon Bishop Cornelius Pasichny, a Ukrainian-rite Basilian who recently served as pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Winnipeg.

The Rev. Soroka was once a parishioner at St. Nick's.

"He wanted Metropolitan Maxim to be there because he ordained him to the priesthood," said Archbishop-Metropolitan Bzdel. "Having the metropolitan there would complete the circle."

Metropolitan Hermaniuk is recovering from a broken hip he suffered last year.

Though he holds a bachelor's degree in sacred theology from the Catholic University of America, Bishop-elect Soroka carved his academic niche in the area of human behavior.

Studying the effects of stress on the clergy, he earned his master's degree in social work from the University of Manitoba in 1978 and received his doctorate in social work in 1985 from the Catholic University of America.

The Rev. Soroka has served in parishes in Manitoba. As well he served as a judge of the archdiocesan tribunal and director of vocations since 1984; he has been chancellor for the past two years.

The Ukrainian Archeparchy of Winnipeg has 33,500 members in 130 parishes and missions served by 42 priests, 19 deacons and 31 religious.

Archbishop-Metropolitan Bzdel, a Ukrainian-rite Redemptorist, has led the archeparchy since 1993. His predecessor, Metropolitan-emeritus Hermaniuk, 84, also a Redemptorist, continues to reside in Winnipeg.

The Ukrainian Archeparchy of Winnipeg has not been served by an auxiliary bishop since 1992, when Bishop Myron Daciuk, a Ukrainian-rite Basilian, was appointed to the Edmonton Eparchy.

Bishop Daciuk was named auxiliary to then-Metropolitan Hermaniuk in 1982. He died on January 14 at the age of 76. So far no successor has been named for the Edmonton vacancy.

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