PHILADELPHIA – Sunday afternoon, June 10, will be a memorable milestone in the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States as the clergy, religious and faithful gather in prayer to give thanksgiving to God for blessing the Philadelphia Metropolitan Archeparchy with Archbishop Emeritus Stefan Soroka and his dedicated years of service in the vineyard of the Lord.
A Moleben to the Mother of God will be celebrated at 3 p.m. in the golden-domed Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 830 North Franklin St., by Archbishop Stefan and brother bishops, priests and deacons. They will be joined in prayer by religious and faithful from throughout the archeparchy and the metropolitan province.
After the prayer service, everyone is invited to attend the social and reception honoring Archbishop Stefan in the cathedral social hall, where personal greetings and well wishes may be extended to the retiring hierarch.
Archbishop Soroka was appointed as metropolitan-archbishop of the Philadelphia Archeparchy by Pope John Paul II on November 29, 2000, and installed on February 27, 2001. On April 16, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Stefan for medical reasons. The holy father declared the Archeparchy of Philadelphia as “sede vacante” and appointed Bishop Andriy Rabiy as the apostolic administrator until the appointment of the new archeparch.
Bishop Andriy has extended a cordial invitation and encourages everyone to join in this historic celebration honoring Archbishop Stefan.