PASTORAL LETTER
ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STAMFORD EPARCHY

To the Reverend Fathers and Deacons, Religious Brothers and Sisters, Seminarians, and Faithful of the Eparchy of Stamford:

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

The Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, which the Church is celebrating in these days, is one of the oldest and most solemn feasts of the liturgical calendar. In sending the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire upon the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room, Jesus Christ established his Church on earth. He established it as a community of believers intimately united with Him as one Mystical Body, walking together through time and history towards the day of His glorious Second Coming and the consummation of the world. As members of the Mystical Body of Christ each Christian works towards his or her personal salvation, while, at the same time, helping others to do the same. They stand together, support one another and together strive for holiness of life while journeying towards the Heavenly Jerusalem.

My dear brothers and sisters! We make up that small but not insignificant part of the Mystical Body of Christ which call itself the Eparchy of Stamford and is located in the northeastern United States and, in its journey through history, finds itself in the first decade of the 21st century after the birth of Christ. For half a century we have been journeying together. And what a journey it has been and continues to be! We celebrate, we give praise, we work, and we build. We sometimes argue, we are angry, we sin, and we destroy. We repent, we embrace, we forgive, we pray, we give thanks, and we remember.

Remembering our past is one of the most significant things we do. A famous historian aptly noted: “History is the memory of mankind. A man is not free to act in the present, nor plan for the future, unless he can remember what he was trying to achieve.” And what is true for individuals or for nations holds equally true for a community of believers. In remembering we seek to understand events of our past and their relation to the present and the future, and this helps us to grow in our understanding of ourselves: who we are, where we came from, where we are going.

2006 was a special year of remembrance in our Eparchy. In that year we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Exarchate of Stamford, that is, its official erection as an independent diocese through a decree of the Holy See.

In 2008, we will celebrate an even more important milestone in the history of our faith community in Stamford, and indeed, in the United States – the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Metropolitan Province of Philadelphia for Ukrainian Catholics and, at the same time, the 50th anniversary of the elevation of the Exarchate of Stamford to the dignity of a full Eparchy.

To fully understand the significance of this event we must look to the very beginnings of the Ukrainian experience in America. Our Ukrainian people began to immigrate to these shores in great numbers beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century. They were a hard working and faithful people. They built churches, schools, orphanages, hospitals, and community halls. They founded newspapers, credit unions and charitable institutions. When the Holy See granted the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States the status of an Exarchate and appointed Soter Ortynsky OSBM as the first Bishop in 1907, it was a sign that church life had moved beyond the mission stage. Bishop Ortynsky, in his relatively short tenure as Bishop, accomplished a phenomenal amount of work, laying the foundations upon which his successor Bishop Constantine Bohachevsky continued to build.

Following WW II and the fall of Ukraine under the heel of communist tyranny, many thousands of new Ukrainian immigrants flooded to the United States seeking freedom and a new life. This fact, coupled with the continued growth of ecclesiastical institutions clearly demonstrated that the Ukrainian Catholic Church was here to stay in the United States and that it deserved to possess the full church governing structure known as a metropolitan province with its own metropolitan archbishop and affiliated bishops with their eparchies.

In recognition of this fact, Pope Pius XII, in his Papal Bull of 11 September 1958, erected the Metropolitan Province of Philadelphia and in so doing, formally elevated the Exarchate of Philadelphia to the dignity of a full Archeparchy and the Exarchate of Stamford to an Eparchy. Constantine Bohachevsky became the first Metropolitan of Philadelphia and Ambrose Senyshyn OSBM became the first Eparch of Stamford.

It is this momentous event that we will be celebrating next year – the 50th anniversary of the “coming of age”, the full maturation of our Church in the United States. Indeed, we have much to celebrate and much to thank God for. And we have much reason to look forward toward a promising future.

The main liturgical celebrations of this 50th anniversary in our Eparchy will be held, Saturday, October 18, 2008 on the grounds of St. Basil’s Seminary in Stamford. Therefore, I am proclaiming a year of prayer in all the parishes of the Eparchy in preparation for this Golden Jubilee celebration. I ask that beginning now and until the completion of the Jubilee year of 2008, a special petition and a Jubilee Prayer, specially composed for the anniversary celebrations, be included and prayed in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. And I invite individual parishes and eparchial deaneries to plan their own events to mark this anniversary. It is my prayer that by pausing to look where we have come during these last fifty years, we will be able to see more clearly where we are headed. May the Holy Spirit guide us on our holy journey.

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Reverend Paul Chomnycky, OSBM
Bishop of the Eparchy of Stamford

 

27 May 2007 – Sunday of the Descent of the Holy Spirit

 

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