His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has informed the
Eparchy of Stamford that he has accepted the resignation of Bishop
Basil H. Losten from office having reached the mandatory age of retirement.
In the same announcement dated January 3, 2006, Bishop Paul Patrick
Chomnycky, O.S.B.M., currently the Apostolic Exarch of Great Britain,
has been appointed as Bishop Losten’s successor as the fourth
Bishop of the Eparchy of Stamford.
In accordance with the provisions of canon law, all Bishops must offer
their resignation to the Holy Father upon reaching the age of seventy
five. On May 11, 2005, Bishop Losten was compliant with the law and sent
the Holy Father his letter of resignation along with a copy to His Beatitude,
Lubomyr Cardinal Husar. He continued as Bishop until the Holy Father
formally accepted his resignation and he now becomes Bishop Emeritus
with a residence in the city of Stamford. He will continue to be the
Administrator of the Eparchy until the arrival of his successor.
Bishop Paul Patrick Chomnycky, O.S.B.M., age 51, was born in Vancouver,
British Columbia on May 19, 1954. His father, Stephan, had immigrated
to Canada in 1948 from the village of Wilchiwchyk, Husiatyn County of
the Ternopil Oblast,?? Ukraine, while his mother, Jessie Delawski, was
born in Musidora, Alberta, Canada. He has a twin sister, Patricia, who
is an elementary school teacher in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, and
both of his parents passed away in 1996.
After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelors
Degree in Commerce in 1980, the Bishop worked as an accountant for
two years. Responding to God’s call to a vocation, he entered the novitiate
of the Order of St. Basil the Great, the Basilian Monastery in Glen Cove,
New York, in November 1982. He professed final vows in Rome on January
1, 1988 and was ordained to the priesthood on October 1, 1988 by Bishop
Jerome Chimy, O.S.B.M. at Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church
in Vancouver. Further studies followed in Philosophy at the University
of St. Anselm and the Gregorian University in Rome receiving a Bachelor’s
in Sacred Theology in 1990.
Upon his return to Canada he served briefly as an assistant pastor
at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Mundare, Alberta and St. Basil’s,
Edmonton. Eventually he would return to both parishes as their pastor
in 1997 and 2000 and also served as the pastor of St. Mary’s
Church in Vancouver from 1994 to 1997.
During his tenure as pastor at St. Basil's in Edmonton and St. Paul's
in Mundare, he was also the superior of the local Basilian monastery.
Bishop Chomnycky also served as the Director of the Basilian Fathers
museum in Mundare, a member of the Provincial Council of the Basilian
Fathers of Canada, and a member of the college of consultors of the
Edmonton Eparchy. He was appointed Exarch for Ukrainian Catholics
in Great Britain on April 5, 2002 and ordained? bishop on June 11,
2002 by His Beatitude Lubomyr Cardinal Husar.
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|