MAJDANSKI o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-09 published
Bishop served Ukrainian Catholics
Priest confronted the Vatican over mandatory retirement and ordination
of married ministers
By Jordan HEATH-
RAWLINGS
Saturday,
August 9, 2003 - Page F10
Toronto -- Isidore
BORECKY, who served as Ukrainian Eparch for
Toronto and Eastern Canada for more than half a century, died
in his sleep on July 23 at Toronto Western Hospital after a long
illness. He was 92.
His death came mere hours before Reverend Stephen
CHMILAR was installed
as Ukrainian Catholic bishop of Toronto and Eastern Canada, the
post Father
BORECKY fought long and hard to keep.
Born in Ostrivets, Ukraine, on October 1, 1911, Father
BORECKY
dedicated more than 60 years of his life to the priesthood, and
spent his time fostering religious vocations, establishing lay
organizations, churches and senior citizens homes for Ukrainian
Catholics.
Father BORECKY,
Canada's last bishop ordained by Pope Pius Twelfth,
entered the priesthood in Munich in July of 1938. He then left
Germany for Canada in November of the same year.
From 1938 to 1941, he worked in several churches in Saskatchewan
and Manitoba. In 1941, he was appointed pastor at Saint John the
Baptist Church in Brantford, Ontario, where he would work for
seven years, serving his faithful as well as mission parishes
in nearby Grimsby, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Thorold and
Welland.
On March 3, 1948, Father
BORECKY was named by Pope Pius Twelfth to
the post of Apostolic Exarch of Eastern Canada. He was consecrated
in St. Michael's Cathedral on May 27, and began to organize the
new exarchate. During the next eight years, he would achieve
his most memorable goal, as the exarchate was raised to the status
of eparchy, or diocese, in 1956.
Some of Father
BORECKY's most notable work came in Toronto during
this period, when he oversaw the rise of many Catholic church
institutions -- he encouraged parishioners to erect St. Michael's
Roman Catholic Church -- and helped to integrate Eastern Rite
Catholic schools into the framework of what would eventually
become the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
On February 24, 1952, Father
BORECKY celebrated a divine liturgy
at St. Teresa's Church, and during the service he encouraged
the faithful to begin the construction of their own church building.
A church property was purchased for $1,500 and
on March 22, 1954,
Father BORECKY blessed it. Parishioners donated their time and
labour and
on September 6, 1954, the parish hall was opened.
The consecration of the church was celebrated on October 16,
1954, and Reverend
Walter
FIRMAN was appointed the first parish priest.
As leader of Canada's largest Ukrainian Catholic diocese, Father
BORECKY was very approachable, said Reverend Taras
DUSANOWSKYJ, who
is currently pastor at St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic
Church in Toronto.
"He was very much oriented towards his people," he said. "He
was very welcoming, open and certainly ecumenical.
"He had a relationship with everyone. He knew all his clergy
by name, he knew a lot of the parishioners. He was a very warm
person."
He was also a man who stood devoutly for his eparchy's right
to practise the Eastern Rites.
Serving as bishop at a time after the Vatican decreed in 1929
that no married men could be ordained into the priesthood, he
would arrange for his priests who had wives or wished to marry
to be transported to Yugoslavia or Ukraine, where they could
be ordained in the traditional Eastern rites, which does not
require celibacy.
Father DUSANOWSKYJ, who is one of 40 married priests out of about
75 in the eparchy, said the Vatican did not take well to his
plans, but couldn't stop a man who was so strong-minded.
"Certainly there were times when he got his wrist slapped, or
he would be called in so they could complain," he said. "But
for the most part he simply ignored it because he knew that this
was part of our tradition, and without married clergy our eparchy
would have been in a tremendous shortage."
Father BORECKY kept the title of bishop until 1998, at the age
of 86, 11 years past his required retirement age, when he relinquished
it after five years of sparring with the Vatican over the naming
of bishop Roman
DANYLAK as apostolic administrator for the Toronto
eparchy.
Father BORECKY confronted the Vatican over the rule, which states
that bishops must retire at the age of 75. He contended that
the rule did not apply to him, as he was leader of an Eastern
Rite church.
One last accolade came in December of last year, when Ukrainian
President Leonid
KUCHMA gave him, along with Archbishop Vsevolod
MAJDANSKI of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States,
special commendation orders for service to Ukraine.
Father BORECKY's funeral was held on July 26 at the Ukrainian
Catholic Church of the Holy Dormition, his funeral mass led by
Ukraine's
Cardinal
Lubomyr
HUSAR, the Major Archbishop of Lviv
and spiritual leader to more than five million Ukrainian Catholics
worldwide. He has been buried in the family plot at Mount Peace
Cemetery.
M... Names MA... Names MAJ... Names Welcome Home
MAJDANSKI - All Categories in OGSPI