FACES AND PLACES: Chicago's prairie prelate (05/12/02)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Chicago's prairie prelate

Evangelization has never come easily for Ukrainian Catholics. For centuries we've thought only of preserving what we have, rarely about convincing others that Jesus redeemed all humankind.

For many Ukrainian Catholics, the Church has served as a vehicle of nationalization, not spiritual renewal. We tend to discourage non-Ukrainians from joining our ranks lest they somehow "pollute" our church. Small wonder that today there are more Ruthenian Catholic churches than Ukrainian Catholic. When the Vatican divided Rusyns and Ukrainians between two eparchies in 1924, the numbers were approximately equal. Rusyns became apolitical and inclusive; we remained political and exclusive.

Chicago has had three outstanding bishops over the years. Jaroslav Gabro, our first bishop, served from 1961 until his untimely death in 1980. He was a wonderful, American-born spiritual leader who, responding to dreadful advice, underestimated the strength of national feeling among his parishioners. For this, we all paid a dear price. Upon his death, the Ukrainian Catholic church in Chicago was bitterly divided between those who followed the Julian religious calendar ("old calendarites") and those who supported the Gregorian calendar ("new calendarites"). The break was actually far more complicated, but space does not permit addressing all of the nuances.

Suffice it to say the division was devastating. Families and organizations were affected as were long-standing friendships. A second Ukrainian Catholic church - Ss. Volodmyr and Olha - was erected just two blocks from St. Nicholas. Animosities ran deep, and for a time it seemed the community would never heal.

Our second bishop was Ukrainian-born Innocent Lotocky, a Basilian appointed in 1981. Until his retirement in 1993, he devoted his episcopate to restoring the Church. Slowly, patiently, delicately, he pulled the two warring factions closer together. Although there are still a few diehards on both sides, the bitterness which once existed is all but gone. Fortunately for us, Bishop Lotocky is still ministering to the faithful in our city and Ukraine.

Soon after Bishop Lotocky retired, he was succeeded by Michael Wiwchar, a Redemptorist from the prairies of western Canada. Born in Komarno, Manitoba, to a devout Catholic family, he was ordained by Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk in Winnipeg on June 28, 1959. Much of his early priesthood was spent at St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Catholic College in Roblin, Manitoba, where he served as vocations director, teacher, director, prefect, chaplain and promoter of Marriage Encounter, a marriage renewal program. In addition, he spent time as an asstistant pastor and pastor in a number of Canadian and American parishes.

Bishop Wiwchar was appointed bishop of the eparchy of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan eparchy in 2001 but remains in Chicago as the apostolic administrator until his replacement has been announced.

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bishop Wiwchar regarding his years in Chicago. His first priority upon arriving in the city, he told me, was to address the growing shortage of priests. "Today," he informed me, "every parish and mission in our eparchy has at least one priest, some have two or three. This accomplishment is the highlight of my episcopate."

"Many priests in our eparchy are in second careers in the United States" he explained. "A few are not even Ukrainian. Others are from Ukraine." Given current Catholic prohibitions against married priests in the United States, all were ordained in Ukraine. "I was looking for shepherds, not hirelings," he said, "and I believe I found them."

With more priests he was able to open or renew parishes in Michigan, California, Missouri and Washington state.

The laity was not neglected, however. Beginning in 1995, Bishop Wiwchar organized a series of annual eparchial conferences, each in a different city - Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Each conference had a different theme and each was aimed at empowering the laity to become missionaries for Christ. "Try as I might," he told me, "my success in this area was minimal. I just couldn't get the priests and laity to become mission-minded. They came to the conferences, they listened, but there was little follow-up. This is my major disappointment."

"Does the Ukrainian Catholic Church have any future in the United States?" I asked. "A lot will depend on the ability of my successor to reach the Fourth Wave," he replied. "There are thousands of new immigrants living in Chicago, as well as in other cities such as Sacramento. They are in need of evangelization. If they can be brought into the fold, we just might experience a rebirth. Our priests and laity must become apostles, however. The role of the church is to sanctify."

Comparing his present assignment to Chicago he explained how much easier it was to get people together in Saskatchewan. You can easily drive from one end of the eparchy to the other, he told me. The Chicago Eparchy stretches from Detroit to all the states west of the Mississippi River, including Alaska and Hawaii. Meeting with all of the clergy at the same time is prohibitive.

As he prepares to leave the eparchy to his yet-to-be-named successor, I asked our prairie prelate what he hopes to accomplish with the rest of his life. "I will serve God and serve the Church." He is one shepherd who will be sorely missed.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected].

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