Fifty years ago, on June 14-16, 1968, Archbishop-Major and Cardinal Josyf Slipyj was greeted by thousands of Ukrainians from across Canada and the United States in Toronto during the hierarch’s first visit to North America.
“We are awaiting him like children await their father,” an elderly bearded monk said, in anticipation of greeting the hierarch.
Some 2,000 people greeted his arrival at Malton Airport, led by Archbishop-Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk of the Archeparchy of Winnipeg and Bishop Isidore Borecky of Toronto, who were joined by Ukrainian Catholic bishops and dozens of high-ranking clergy of Canada. Hierarchs from the U.S.A. included Archbishop-Metropolitan Ambrose Senyshyn of Philadelphia, Bishop Joseph Shmondiuk of Stamford, Conn., Bishop Jaroslaw Gabro of Chicago and Bishop Stephen Kolclsko of Passaic, N.J.
Zenon Snylyk described the scene: “Holding back his hands that people were straining to kiss, the cardinal, his eyes moist, his voice trembling, said quietly: ‘They beat these very hands and now you want to kiss them.’”
Cardinal Slipyj spent 16 years in a Soviet prison before he was allowed to travel to Rome in 1963.
The cardinal praised Canada as a glorious and free land, and thanked the country for accepting “thousands of Ukraine’s sons and daughters.” He added, “Nearly a century has elapsed since the motherland bade you farewell with great expectations for your adventures on the other side of the ocean… You have achieved all your hopes, but do not forget about your less fortunate brethren.”
During a special service on June 15 at the Ukrainian Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Cardinal Slipyj stressed the importance of the unity of the Ukrainian community in defense of Ukraine and the role of the youth in the Church and the three basic virtues of faith, knowledge and morality. “You must have knowledge to be recognized in the world today. You must adhere to the basic moral precepts of the Christian faith.” The strength of character, said the cardinal, is as important as the knowledge that a person acquires in his formative years.
Thousands of Ukrainian youth, members of the Ukrainian Youth Association (SUM) and Plast Ukrainian Youth Organization, as well as those attired in Ukrainian national dress, paraded down the streets of Toronto. Among the youth were singers of the Prometheus Men’s Choir and the Dibrova Choir, comprising a chorus of more than 100 voices.
The Ukrainian National Association hosted Cardinal Slipyj at a reception at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, where the UNA presented a leather-bound copy of “Our Cardinal,” a book authored by Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dragan on the occasion of the archbishop’s elevation to the rank of Cardinal in 1965.
Divine liturgy was celebrated at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Toronto on June 15. On June 16, nearly 50,000 people participated in the divine liturgy at the Canadian National Exhibition Bandshell. Also in attendance was Archbishop Philip Pocock of Toronto and other Roman Catholic clergy.
Cardinal Slipyj’s historic visit to North America in 1968 lasted two months and included stops in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Saskatoon, and in the United States, where he visited Stamford, Conn., and Sloatsburg, N.Y. In August of that year, he joined Pope Paul VI in Colombia, and visited the construction site of a Ukrainian Catholic cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Source: “Thousands of Ukrainians greet Archbishop-Major Josyf Cardinal Slipyj on historic visit to North America,” by Zenon Snylyk, The Ukrainian Weekly, June 22, 1968.