John Stephen Pazak, C.Ss.R. | |
---|---|
Eparch Emeritus of Phoenix for the Ruthenians | |
Church | Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church |
Metropolis | Pittsburgh |
Diocese | Phoenix |
Appointed | May 7, 2016 |
Installed | July 20, 2016 |
Retired | August 23, 2021 |
Predecessor | Gerald Nicholas Dino |
Successor | Artur Bubnevych |
Previous post(s) |
|
Orders | |
Ordination | August 27, 1972 by Emil John Mihalik |
Consecration | February 14, 2001 by Michael Bzdel, C.Ss.R., Milan Chautur and Basil Schott |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Nationality | American & Canadian |
Parents | Stephen Pazak & Johanna Hennessy |
Alma mater | Saint Paul University |
Motto | Prepare the way of the Lord |
Styles of John Stephen Pazak | |
---|---|
Reference style | |
Spoken style | His Grace |
Religious style | Eparch |
John Stephen Pazak, C.Ss.R. (born August 13, 1946 in Gary, Indiana) is an American-born member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, commonly known as the Redemptorists, who served as an eparch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. He served as the Eparch of the Eparchy of Phoenix, which is based in Phoenix, Arizona from July 2016 until his retirement in 2021. [1]
Pazak was born in Gary, Indiana, on August 13, 1946, to Stephen Pazak, an American of Ruthenian descent, and Johanna Hennessy, who was of Irish descent, both members of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. [2]
Pazak was admitted to the novitiate of the Canadian Province of the Redemptorists at Yorkton, Saskatchewan, on September 14, 1965. He studied at the Redemptorist seminary, St. Alphonsus College, in Suffield, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor's degree there in 1969. He made his perpetual profession of religious vows as a member of the Congregation on August 24 of that same year. After completing a baccalaureate in theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, he was ordained a priest on August 27, 1972. [2]
After serving in a Saskatoon parish for a year, Pazak was appointed Rector of Saint Vladimir's College in Manitoba, and continued in this position until 1990, except during 1978–1979, when he served as superior at the Redemptorist scholasticate in Toronto. From 1990 1996, he was pastor at Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Saskatoon, then from 1996 to 2000 he was parish priest at St. Joseph Church in Winnipeg. [2]
Pazak also served as vicar of his Redemptorist province, as a member of the provincial council, and as a consultor to the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon. [2]
Pope John Paul II appointed Pazak eparch of the Slovak Catholic Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto on December 2, 2000. The Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop of Winnipeg, Michael Bzdel, C.Ss.R., consecrated him a bishop on February 14, 2001; the co-consecrators were Milan Chautur, C.Ss.R., Apostolic Exarch of Košice and Basil Schott, O.F.M., the Ruthenian Eparch of Parma.
Pope Francis named Pazak the Eparch of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary in Phoenix on May 7, 2016. [3] [4] On the same day he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto, until the appointment of a successor. [4] He was enthroned as Eparch of Phoenix for the Ruthenians on July 20, 2016. [5] On August 23, 2021, Pope Francis accepted his resignation after reaching the age of 75. [6]
The Metropolis of Pittsburgh is a sui juris metropolitan see of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church that is located in the United States of America and Canada. The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church is one of 23 sui juris Eastern Catholic particular churches in the Catholic Church that is in full communion with the Holy See. The metropolis uses the Byzantine Rite in its liturgies. It was erected as a metropolis (archdiocese) by Pope Paul VI in 1969. The metropolis has jurisdiction over those communities that originated from the regions of Carpathian Ruthenia, Slovakia, Hungary and the former Yugoslavia. Worshipers come from several Byzantine Catholic groups: Rusyn Americans, Slovak Americans, Hungarian Americans, and Croatian Americans. In 2022, governance of the Exarchate of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto in Canada passed to the metropolis of Pittsburgh from the Slovak Greek Catholic Church.
The Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix, commonly known as the Eparchy of Phoenix and formerly known as the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys, is a Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church territory jurisdiction or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the western United States. Its episcopal see is Phoenix, Arizona. The eparch-elect as of 8 November 2024 is Artur Bubnevych,
The Slovak Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine Catholic Church in Slovakia, is a sui iuris (autonomous) Eastern Catholic church based in Slovakia. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. The church is organised as a single ecclesiastical province with one metropolitan see. Its liturgical rite is the Byzantine Rite. In 2008 in Slovakia alone, the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia had some 350,000 faithful, 374 priests and 254 parishes. In 2017, the Catholic Church counted 207,320 Greek Catholics in Slovakia worldwide, representing roughly one percent of all Eastern Catholics.
Nicholas Thomas Elko was an American Ruthenian Greek Catholic and the third bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh. At the age of 46 he became the first American-born bishop of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. He later served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, a Latin Church archdiocese.
Stephen John Kocisko was the first Metropolitan Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
The Archeparchy of Pittsburgh is an archeparchy of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church that is located in the southern part of the United States of America. It is part of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh. The geographical remit of the archeparchy includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The incumbent archeparch is the Most Reverend William C. Skurla. The episcopal seat is situated in the city of Pittsburgh.
The Eparchy of Passaic is an eparchy (diocese) of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Its episcopal seat is the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Passaic, New Jersey. As an Eastern Catholic church, it uses the Byzantine Rite in its services. The Eparchy was erected July 6, 1963.
The Eparchy of Parma is an eparchy (diocese) of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the midwestern part of the United States. Its episcopal seat is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Parma, Ohio. The eparchy's liturgies utilize the Byzantine Rite.
The Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the eastern part of Canada, primarily Ontario.
The Eparchy of Saskatoon is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
Kurt Richard Burnette is an American Catholic prelate who serves as the Eparch of Passaic in the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. He succeeded Bishop William C. Skurla. Burnette was appointed on October 29, 2013, by Pope Francis, and enthroned in a Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Passaic, New Jersey on December 4.
The St. Stephen Cathedral is a Ruthenian Greek Catholic cathedral located in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is the cathedral for the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix.
Michael Wiwchar is a Canadian-born bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States and Canada. He served as the third eparch (bishop) of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago from 1993 to 2000 and as the fourth eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon from 2000 to 2008.
Michael Rusnak, C.Ss.R., was an American-born member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, commonly known as the Redemptorist Fathers, who was appointed Eparch of the Slovak Catholic Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto by Pope John Paul II in 1980.
Giorgio Demetrio Gallaro is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from 25 February 2020 until 15 February 2023. He was the Bishop of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, a diocese of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church in Sicily, Italy from 2015 to 2020, where he remained Apostolic Administrator until 19 June 2023.
The Exarchate of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto is a ecclesiastical territory or exarchate that serves the Slovak Greek Catholic Church — a sui juris or self governing Eastern Catholic Church. Its geographical remit includes the whole territory of Canada. In 2022, Pope Francis transferred the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the exarchate from the Slovak Greek Catholic Church to the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. It became part of the ecclesiastical Metropolis of Pittsburgh. This changed the territory's status from an eparchy to an exarchate at the same time.
Bishop Marián Andrej Pacák, C.Ss.R. is a Canadian Slovak Greek Catholic hierarch, who served as the third Eparchial Bishop of the Slovak Catholic Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto from 5 July 2018 until his resignation on 20 October 2020.
The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God is the cathedral church of the Exarchate of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto, located on Shaw Street in Toronto, Canada. Ministering to members of the Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church exarchate, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church.
Robert Mark Pipta is an American Ruthenian Catholic prelate who serves as Eparch of Parma. He was previously rector of Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Artur Olexandrovych Bubnevych is a Ukranian-American priest of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. In 2024, Pope Francis appointed him as eparch of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix, succeeding John Stephen Pazak.