Kushnir and the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain 80th

Rev. Voyakovsky, Kushnir, Jean, Malynovsky, Germany 1946

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB). To mark this occasion, I searched  through my research from archives in the Vatican, London, and Canada, and came upon a report by Reverend Vasyl Kushnir of Winnipeg (1893–1979) which mentioned his work among the Ukrainian refugees (Displaced Persons or DPs) in Britain and  Western Europe. The report was addressed to Cardinal Eugène Tisserant of the Vatican Congregation pro Ecclesia Orientali (today known as the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches).  Kushnir had received and affidavit from his own Bishop, Vasily Ladyka. After arriving in London he received another testimonial letter from the papal representative, Archbishop William Godfrey. This document provided an entré to the offices of Catholic officials and charitable organisations on the European Continent. Kushnir's meeting with Godfrey, which took place on 15 January 1946, was arranged through Vladimir de Korostovetz and Danylo Skoropadsky. They were Orthodox Christians who held the Holy See in high regard and had become Godfrey's principal source on Ukrainian affairs. They were also founding members and founding leaders of AUGB. 

After completing his inspection of the DP camps and settlements in Europe, Kushnir presented a report to Cardinal Tisserant, the excerpts of which concerning Great Britain I reproduce here:

Rome, April 1st 1946            

MEMORANDUM

Re: Mission of Mercy to the displaced Ukrainians in Western Europe by Rev Dr Basil Kushnir, diocesan priest of Ukrainian catholic Diocese in Canada.

 

Your Eminence,

         As delegate of “Ukrainian Canadian Relief Fund” on a special mission of mercy to the displaced Ukrainians in Western Europe, I consider it as my duty to make to Your Eminence a report on conditions of those people living in different countries I visited.

         The Ukrainian Canadians were deeply and justly concerned, for obvious reasons, with the welfare of a large number of Ukrainians displaced and stranded in Western Europe as a result of the war.

         In consequence “The Ukrainian Canadian Relief Fund” of which I am the president, moved by such concern and Christian charity has made preparations and actions taken to render these unfortunates all the material assistance and moral and spiritual guidance withing their power; for that purpose I have been delegated as a messenger of charity in such a mission to Europe.

         My mission has been sponsored by Canadian Government, British Foreign and War Offices, Canadian and International Red Cross Associations and commended by my highest Ecclesiastical Authorities, His Eminence Cardinal Villeneuve of Quebec, my own Bishop Ladyka of Winnipeg and His Excellency Archibishop William Godfrey, Apostolic Delegate in London.

         During my mission from December 23rd 1945 until March 31st 1946, I visited the following countries: Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany (British and American Zones), and Italy. I have still to visit Switzerland and Austria. [...]

         In Great Britain I started my mission on the 7th day of January 1946. I visited the camps in the neighbourhood of London, the Ukrainian Catholic community in Manchester and the Ukrainians in Polish forces in Edinburgh. The conditions of those people are in moral and physical aspect satisfactory. During the war, it was the Ukrainian Catholic chaplain [Mykhaylo Horoshko] carried out his pastoral duties for Canadian Ukrainians soldiers and for civilians, especially in Manchester. Now, after the demobilisation of the chaplain, the religious care for these people in Great Britain is a problem. While staying in London, I approached the people in authority in British Foreign Office, War Office, and the House of Lords. The purpose of the contact was to create a favourable opinion in regards the DPs, moreso as, at that time, the United Nations Conference was deliberating in London.

As a result of this contact on behalf of the Ukrainians Central Relief Bureau in London, sponsored by Ukrainian Canadian Relief Fund, I presented a memorandum to the Conference asking for DPs the right of asylum and urging [the UN] to denounce forced repatriation as incompatible with the concept of human liberty. This memorandum has been presented also to all the delegations at the conference and to the press. The London press and especially the Catholic press made, in this respect, very favourable comments.

A Report on the inaugural meeting of the AUGB was published in Nash klych, on 9 February 1946, of which an English translation may be found here.

Its is like that the vaguely identified locati0ns spoken of in the report are the following:

The Orthodox was celebrated at "Saint Mary's Cathedral" likely  the Episcopal Church of Scotland. The Greek Catholics celebrated at "the Roman Catholic Church of the Armed Forces" likely Saint Mary's RC Cathedral. Besides Father Kushnir, Rev. Major Hodys, Greek Catholic Chaplain in the Polish Armed Forces, is identified.

The meeting ws held at "the church hall of St. Mary’s Cathedral." There is still some debate as to which St. Mary's because the only existing photograph of the participants appears to have been taken at another location.  Having been elected honorary chair of the meeting, Kushnir's speech on the Canadian involvement and support in founding the AUGB is significant.

Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak

To mark Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak's 75th birthday, Memorable Manitobans (a webpage of the Manitoba Historical Society) has published this short biography, which I put together with the help of my friend and colleague June Dutka, Librarian Emeritus of the University of Manitoba, and Gordon Gainsborough of the MHS. 

Born at Vernon, British Columbia on 25 January 1951, one of six children of Andrew Huculak (1921–1974) of Lanigan, Saskatchewan and Katherine Marcyniuk (1923–2019) of western Ukraine, he attended elementary and secondary schools in Vernon and a final year of high school at Saint Vladimir’s College in Roblin, administered by the Redemptorist Fathers.

On 30 June 1969, he entered the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat (OSBM). During his candidacy at the Basilian House of Studies in Ottawa, he also studied at the University of Ottawa, completing a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and arts in 1974. On 1 September 1971, he began his novitiate at Saint Josaphat’s Monastery in Glen Cove, Long Island, completing it on 3 September 1972 by professing first temporary vows in the Order. From 1974 to 1977, he studied theology at the Pontifical Athanaeum of Saint Anselmo. During this time, he lived at the nearby Basilian Monastery of Christ the Pantocrator. On 26 June 1977, he made his professed Solemn Perpetual Vows.

Father Lawrence was ordained a priest by Bishop Jerome Chimy on Sunday, 28 August 1977 at Saint James Church in Vernon, attended by his mother, grandparents Dmytro and Maria Marcyniuk of Wynyard, Saskatchewan, his siblings, family, and friends. 

For graduate studies, he attended the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, specializing in Eastern Christian Liturgical studies. After obtaining a licentiate degree in 1980, he continued with doctoral studies at the same institution. During this time, he served as Basilian student prefect and directed the Basilian choir, which frequently performed on Vatican Radio. He was also responsible for the publication in 1982 of a revised Basilian prayerbook and oversaw the first Ukrainian language texts for Lenten-Easter Divine Praises, translated by Father Porfirio Pidruchny.

On 18 November 1985, Father Lawrence defended his doctoral dissertation on “The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in the Kievan Metropolitan Province During the Period of Union With Rome 1596-1839,” under the direction of Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ. In 1990, it was published as a book by Analecta OSBM.

After returning to Canada in the autumn of 1986, he was stationed at the Basilian Monastery in Mundare, Alberta, where he was named Parish Priest of Saints Peter and Paul Parish on 6 October 1986. He also served as Assistant Master of Novices from 1986 to 1991. On 12 September 1988, he was also given the additional charge of Assistant Superior of the Monastery. On 30 August 1990, he became the Director of the new Basilian Fathers Museum. From 1992, he lectured in Byzantine Liturgy at the Newman Theological College in Edmonton.

Father Lawrence was elected to the Provincial Council of the Basilian Order in Canada in July 1996 and was appointed Master of Novices and Superior of Saints Peter and Paul Monastery in September 1996.

On 16 December 1996 Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton. At the time, the Eparchy numbered 30,000 faithful, 89 parishes and churches, 32 eparchial priests and 14 Basilians, with seven retired clergy, eight deacons, and 38 Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. His episcopal consecration took place on 3 April 1997 at Saint Basil the Great Parish in Edmonton. Metropolitan Michael Bzdel was the principal consecrator with Bishop Severian Yakymyshyn and Bishop Cornelius Pasichny as co-consecrators. Concelebrants included 32 Roman and Ukrainian Catholic bishops and 60 priests. Protoarchimandrite Dionisiy Lachovicz, General Superior of the Basilian Order, served as Archdeacon. His mother and siblings were in attendance, as well as many religious brothers and sisters, and over 1,500 faithful. Bishop Lawrence was installed as Edmonton Eparch Saint at Josaphat’s Cathedral on 6 April 1997.

With episcopal ordination Bishop Lawrence became a member of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). Here he has served on the Canon Law Commission, the Doctrine Commission, and the Commission for Christian Unity, where he was elected chairperson from 2017-2020. He also represented the CCCB on the Catholic/Anglican Bishops Dialogue, and the Catholic/Orthodox Bishops Dialogue.

As Edmonton Eparch, he was active in ecumenical engagement, hosting the first Ukrainian Catholic-Orthodox dialogue at St. George’s Parish, Edmonton, in December 1999. Bishop Lawrence participated in the Pastoral Visit of Pope John Paul II to Ukraine in June 2001. On 19 November 2002, he performed the solemn consecration of the altar of Saint Josaphat’s Cathedral in Edmonton.

On 9 January 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Huculak Archbishop of the Winnipeg Archeparchy and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada, succeeding Archbishop Michael Bzdel. His installation took place at Saints Volodymyr and Olha Cathedral on 11 February 2006, presided over by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar and concelebrated by eight archbishops, ten bishops, and many priests. His mother and siblings were also present.

As Metropolitan Archbishop of Winnipeg he served ex officio on the Permanent Council of the CCCB. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA). And he is a member of the Governing Board of the Canadian Council of Churches. He is an ex officio member of Holy Family Home’s Board of Directors and an honorary member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. In 2018, the same Congress recognized his community leadership with the Bulava Award.

In September 2012, he welcomed Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk and the Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from around the world to Winnipeg where they held their annual synod meeting. In July 2020, Huculak was appointed as a Member of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and Inter-religious Dialogue. He also served as Apostolic Administrator of the Saskatoon Eparchy from 28 April 2022 to 21 January 2024. On 10 November 2022 he was given an Auxiliary Bishop in the person of Bishop Andriy Rabiy.

A testimonial banquet celebrating Metropolitan Lawrence’s 75th birthday and 20th anniversary as Metropolitan was held at the Victoria Inn on 14 April 2026. For the occasion, the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy of Canada and USA gathered in Winnipeg to felicitate His Grace.

On 9 July 2026, Pope Leo XIV accepted Metropolitan Lawrence's resignation, which had been submitted in January, according to Church Law, when he reached the age of 75. He was succeeded by Bishop Michael Kwiatkowski, hitherto Eparch of New Westminster, British Columbia.

source:  Lawrence Huculak on Memorable Manitobans

Christmas in Liberated Rome: Ukrainian Allied Soldiers Celebrate in 1945

            Until the twentieth century, the Ukrainian population of Rome consisted in a handful of seminarians and priests who studied at the Greek College. A separate Ruthenian College (as Ukrainians were then known) was founded in 1897. In 1904, its direction was entrusted to Ukrainian priests of the Basilian Order. The College was re-christened Saint Josaphat's in 1932, upon moving to a new building on the Janiculum Hill. At that time, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate took charge of its kitchen. The Basilians transferred their international headquarters from Galicia to Rome and moved into the former college building next to the Church of Saints Sergius and Bachus. 

The few Ukrainian lay people in Rome were mostly political refugees from the failed struggle for independence, or dissidents from the Soviet Union. During the Second World War, the most prominent were: Yevhen and Nina Onatsky and their daughter Nastya, Olha Konovalets (the widow of OUN leader Evhen) and their son Yurko, the mezzo soprano Evheniya Zarytska (Zareska), Professor I. Hrynenko and family, Messers Federonchuk, Kozlovsky, Chernytsya, a student named Shevchenko, the painter Faliev and his wife, Nestor and Ida Small-Stotsky, former UNR diplomat Jan Tokarzewski-Karasziewicz and his wife Oksana, daughter of Oleksander Lototsky.

Bishop Ivan Buchko had studied in Rome before and after the First World War (the seminary had to leave from 1915 to 1920). In 1929, he was named Auxiliary Bishop to Metropolitan Sheptytsky. A decade later, in the summer of 1939, he was dispatched to Brazil and Argentina on an apostolic visitation (fact finding mission). Due to the outbreak of war and ensuing occupations, he was prevented from returning to Lviv. At first, he was assigned to assist the Ukrainian Bishop in USA and serve as parish priest of the floundering Saint George's Parish in Manhattan. There was some discussion of him transferring to Canada to assist an ailing Bishop Ladyka. None of these projects came to fruition as, on denunciations by the Soviet Embassy, US officials deported him. On the morning of 29 November 1941, he arrived in Rome and was given lodgings at Saint Josaphat’s Pontifical College. A bishop in residence made the College a focal point for the Ukrainian colony in Rome. 

The College's Basilian superiors invited the bishop to celebrate a pontifical Divine Liturgy in the College chapel each Christmas Day (25 December according to the Gregorian Calendar). In his journal, Bishop Buchko recorded that in 1941 and 1942 the entire Ukrainian colony of Rome attended this service, despite the fact that most of them were Orthodox Christians. During the dark period of German occupation in 1943, a ray of light shone through. On Christmas Eve the Pope received greetings from the Roman Curia. On that occasion, he conveyed to Buchko a general blessing on all Ukrainians and in particular upon Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky in occupied Lviv. The following day, however, only nine members of the Ukrainian colony attended Buchko’s Christmas Liturgy. Some were in hiding, some had left Rome, and Evhen Onatsky had been arrested and was languishing in a German prison.

Most Romans were awaiting the arrival of the Anglo-American forces to liberate the city from the Nazis. Some, however, were a little apprehensive due the Allies war record, and among these was the Spiritual Director of the College, Father Teodoziy Halushchysnsky. Britain and America were known as Protestant countries and were allied with the Catholic Church’s sworn enemy, the Soviet Union. The Allies that destroyed the Basilica of San Lorenzo in 1943 and bombs continued to fall on some civilian areas. In February 1944, the Americans damaged the Papal Palace at Castelgandolfo and destroyed Propaganda Fide’s villa (where many Jews and dissidents had taken refuge). A few days later, they also destroyed the ancient Monastery of Monte Cassino. Some worried that the Allied armies might wreak havoc upon the seat of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, these apprehensions proved to be unfounded.

The first American battalions entered Rome on the evening of 4 June 1944. Only six days later, the first Ukrainian solider made his way to Saint Josaphat’s College. This was Stefan Fyk of Hamtramck, Michigan, who, before the war, had worked for the American-Ukrainian newspaper Narodna Volya, published in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The following day, 11 June, Sergeant Kulyk from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, paid a visit. His family were Orthodox Christians from Bukovyna. On 18 June, Yaroslav Kolosivsky arrived, and American soldier born in the Ternopil region. He had told stories of Ukrainian bravery and sacrifice in the Allied Forces. He himself had been awarded 3 medals and boasted of how he had painted “The Spirit of Ukrainian Americans” on fighter planes. Only a few years before, Bishop Buchko had blessed his marriage at Saint George’s in Manhattan. Before parting for the Perugia Front, he brought a gift of real coffee for the bishop, who shared it with the College superiors.

More Canadians visited the following month. The first was 47-year-old Flight Lieutenant Andriy Nykoliuk (Anrdew Nikoluk) of Toronto, who came on Sunday, 2 July. Born in the Dolyna district of Western Ukraine, he had served in the Austrian Forces and the Ukrainian Galician Army during the First World War. While stationed in England in 1943, he had been one of the founders of the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen's Association (UCSA), headed by Flight Lieutenant Bohdan Panchuk. Nykoliuk revealed that 50,000 Ukrainian ethnics had joined the Canadian Forces and 70 had already died in battle to spread freedom throughout the world. Nykoliuk promised to bring the 20 Ukrainians from his own unit to visit Saint Josaphat’s College.

Ten days later, on 12 July, another initiator of the UCSA, Vasyl Kyryliuk (William Kereluk), came to call. Although a Saskatchewan native, his family originated Kitsmanya near Chernivtsi. Bishop Buchko described him as an excellent man, a deeply religious Orthodox Christian interested in church affairs. Kyryliuk was very convivial and remained throughout the afternoon and for supper. The following day, he attended the Wednesday General Papal Audience and then returned to the College. Bishop Buchko was surprised and edified by these young men whom, unlike many other Anglo-American combatants, did not appear to be pleasure-seeking. Instead of frivolities, they sought out the company and conversation of their fellow Ukrainians. Kyryliuk left a monetary gift for Mrs. Onatsky, whose husband was still in German captivity, and for Yurko Konovalets hiding in the French Seminary, whose mother had been arrested by the Americans at the request of the Soviets.

In the following months, Canadian soldiers named Onyschuk, Bendziak (brothers), and Nahirnyi visited Saint Josaphat’s, and Kolosivsky and Kyryliuk made repeat visits. The latter was appointed Liaison Officer with the Soviet Army. On 2 September, he recounted to Buchko of meeting 15 Ukrainian Soviet officers who were, at first, reluctant to speak with him. He gave them copies of the Canadian newspaper Novyi shlyax and encouraged them and others in the Soviet Army to visit the College. Other Ukrainians came to Saint Peter’s but were prevented from attending the Papal Audience by their Russian superior officers.

In September 1944, there were 13,000 Ukrainians in the Polish Corps serving in Italy. Mykola Kulishko from Volhynia called at Saint Josaphat’s College on 10 September. He told of the discrimination against Ukrainians in the Polish Army and confessed that many wanted to transfer to the other Allied divisions. Hryhoriy Sydor, from Vaneva in the Sokal Region, had been deported to Siberia by the Soviets. He visited on 12 September and also spoke of poor treatment in the Polish Corps. Ivan-Isydor Senyshyn had been a Basilan lay brother in Zhovkva and joined the Polish corps when it was reconstituted in the USSR. He stopped into the College on 17 September. The names of Yaroslav Zhaba, N. Sperkach, Mykola Kornuta are also recorded in the college journals. With an influx of Ukrainian soldiers in Rome, two of the College’s doctoral students, Rev. Romuald Rudnytsky and Ivan Bilanych, offered their services as guides.

Complaints from Ukrainian soldiers reached the ears of General Anders and the Polish Military Ordinary, Bishop Gawlina. On 23 October, two officers from the propaganda section of Anders Second Corps, Zielicki and Jerzy Giedroyc, came to discuss the situation with Bishop Buchko, and Bishop Gawlina came himself to call, two days later. Buchko was invited to visit the Polish Army propaganda unit on 26 October. The Poles were courting him as part of a desperate campaign to retain Eastern Galicia and Volhynia in postwar Poland. During these meetings and with Vatican authorities, Buchko lobbied for Ukrainian soldiers to have access to liturgical and spiritual care in their own rite, which was not being provided even by the appointed chaplain.

On 15 November 1944, Andriy Nykoliuk wrote to Bishop Buchko to ask the College superiors to allow the UCSA to hold a Julian-Calendar Christmas celebration (on 7 January 1945) for the Canadian soldiers in Italy. The USCA would provide all victuals and beverages if the Sisters Servants would agree to prepare the meal. A Winnipeg Ukrainian Women’s association had also donated 300 cigarettes. Visiing soldiers began to deliver packages on 28 December. Bishop Buchko also wrote to London to invite UCSA head, Bohdan Panchuk.

On the evening of New Year’s Day 1945, Kyryliuk arrived from Bari. He informed the bishop that not all the Ukrainian Canadians would be able to attend the celebration because many were at the front fighting the Germans. Nonetheless, the Canadian High Command had promised that each attendee would receive a package of food from which the Sisters could prepare the festive meal. 

Despite treacherous snowed-in roads and non-stop rain, on 4 January the invitees began to arrive in Rome. Most took lodgings at pensions and hotels, but seven were put up in spare rooms at the College. The next day, a transport of 5 soldiers arrived, led by Sargeant Tykholis from Welland, Ontario. In the afternoon, a second convoy arrived led by a Sarchuk, a church cantor in Tvey, Saskatchewan, with a lively sense of humour. The last to arrive was Nykoliuk’s transport. The College clergy observed that some of the soldiers spoke Ukrainian “like natives” while others had lost the ability to converse in their ridna mova (mother tongue). 

On Saturday afternoon, 6 January, the UCSA held the inaugural meeting of its Central Mediterranean Branch in the College Recreation Room, adorned for this puroose with a cross, the UCSA symbol, and with Ukrainian and British flags. Nykoliuk was elected President, Mr. Kryschyna of Holden, Alberta, Secretary, and Kyryliuk head of Supervisory Board. Ivan Bilyak and Vasyl Tkachuk of the Polish Corps also took part.

The original plan foresaw a single celebration on 7 January, Christmas according to the Julian Calendar. But as the guests were in attendance for the Gregorian celebration of the Feast of the Theophany on 6 January, the College Superiors and the Sisters decided to prepare them the traditional svyat vechir (Christmas Eve Supper). 

The following day, Sunday, 7 January 1945, the whole Ukrainian colony, 39 Canadian soldiers and several other guests, where invited to the extraordinary Christmas feast, about 90 altogether. The celebration began with a Pontifical Divine Liturgy celebrated by Bishop Buchko and the College superiors, followed by Panakhyda for the fallen Canadian servicemen and women. Rev. Ivan Radio of Northampton, Pennsylvania, heard Confessions throughout and helped distribute Holy Communion, while the service was photographed by Captain Williams. 

Carols were sung during the luncheon of traditional Ukrainian dishes, including pyrohy (varenyky) and holubsti, prepared by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. At the head table, to the right of the bishop sat Captain Davidson from Pennsylvania, Captain Williams, Vasyl Kyryliuk, and to his left British Major Edward Sedgwick, Andriy Nykoliuk, Father Dionisiy Holovetsky (the interim Basilian Superior), and the College Spiritual Father, Teodoziy Halushchynsky. At the second table were the College Rector, Father Josaphat Labai, and other clerics. Members of the Ukrainian colony sat with the Canadian soldiers which included a Kovalsky from Winnipeg, Tykholis, Sarchuk. Petro Bohun from Habsburg, Alberta, Mykhaylo Nepypilo from Edmonton. Two Scotsmen, their transport drivers, were also included. 

Bishop Buchko welcomed the soldiers in broken English and speeches were given by Fathers Holovetsky, Father Labai and Yuriy Mylanyk. Of the soldiers, Kyryliuk, Nykoliuk, Davidson, Williams, and Sedgwick spoke. Olha Konovalets, Professor Hrynenko, and Nestor Smal Stocky brought good wishes from the Ukrainian colony. The luncheon lasted from noon until 4:00 P.M. In his journal, Buchko recorded that he had contributed financially toward food and drink because nothing was too good for the Canadians “who were to have been be my flock.” For in 1928, he had turned down the appointment as Bishop for the Ukrainian Catholics of Canada.

Kyryliuk was given a festive send-off from the College on 10 January 1945. He and Nykoliuk were so moved by the welcome and hospitality that they wrote to thank the Eastern Congregation which was responsible for the College. Subsequently, Nykoliuk sent cigarettes and conserves which the Bishop distributed among the Ukrainian laity and clergy.

Those soldiers that had not been able to participate in the Christmas festivities visted the college in the days and months following. Among these were Flight Lieutenant Sushko (son of Professor Oleksander), Dmytro Kostiv from Brooklyn, Petro Zatsny and Petro Restefaniv from Manitoba, Ivan Bayrak, Antin Senyk of Edmonton. Polish soldiers also visited including Ivan Danyliv, Yustyn Basiuk, Bohdan Sperkach, Mykola Kulishko, Lev Terletsky, Mykola Malytsky, Mykhaylo Koza, Teodor Burnyak, Yaroslav Shpikula, Oleksa Storozhynsky, and Oleksa Mostovy, Buchko’s minor seminarian future and the choir director in London, England, and Calgary, Alberta. Some made their Confession and asked for the Bishop’s blessing before returning to the frontlines.

After this brief period of celebration, a terrible crisis manifested itself as Ukrainian displaced persons began to arrive in Italy without lodgings or means of support. On 31 May 1945, Bishop Buchko established the Relief Committee for Ukrainian Refugees assisted by the staff of Saint Josaphat’s College, other Basilian and secular priests, and prominent members of the Ukrainian colony. 

Nil Savaryn: Founding Bishop of the Edmonton Eparchy

Savaryn by Julian Bucmaniuk

Bishop Nil Mykola Savaryn was the founding bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton. ... Born in Staryi Sambir (Western Ukraine) on 19 May 1905, he entered the Basilian Order in 1922 and was ordained a priest in 1931. The following year, he volunteered for mission work in Canada. On 3 April 1943, Pope Pius XII named him titular bishop of Jos and auxiliary bishop. On 3 March 1948, he was named Exarch of Western Canada (Alberta and British Columbia) And on 3 November 1956, he became the first Eparch of Edmonton. Savaryn died on 8 January 1986. See the full biography at The Founding Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton.

A Ukrainian-language version, which combines this and my article on the 75th of the Eparchy Eparchy, has appeared on the site of the UGCC Synod of Bishops.

Ukrainians Immigration to Canada: the Apostolic Delegate 1943

Louis St-Laurent and Bishop Nil Savaryn

A recent article in Canadian Press proclaims that "Canada Is Facing the Largest Wave of Ukrainian Immigration Ever," with a million applications having been filed with the Canadian Government. A new wave of immigration will affect a significant change and in the Ukrainian community in Canada and the country as a whole. 

Ukrainian immigration to Canada began in 1891, when the Government enticed Ukrainians of Austrian Galicia and Bukovyna (today in Western Ukraine) to settle the western Canadian prairies with the offer of free land. Other waves arrived after the First World War, in the the Interwar period, after the Second World War, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991. The first and last waves were made up of economic migrants whereas others were political refugees fleeing the turmoil brought to their homeland by occupying countries.

In 1897, the plight of Ukrainian settlers became a major issue and concerns in the Ukrainian press and the spiritual welfare of the settlers came to the notice of Catholic Church leaders in Austria, Canada, and Rome. Among those monitoring the situation was the papal representative in Canada the Apostolic Delegate (since 1969 raised to the rank of Apostolic Nuncio, when Canada and the Holy See established full diplomatic relations).

Every three years, the Apostolic Delegate or Nuncio had to send a "Triennial Report" to Rome, outlining the activity of his mission and the situation of the Church and general trends in the country to which he is assigned.

From time to time, the material and spiritual situation of Ukrainians (the majority of which belonged to the Greek-Catholic Church) made its way into these reports. Surprisingly, the Delegate of the time, Idelbrando Antoniutti, did not mention Ukrainian immigration in his 1948 Triennial Report but did dedicate a lengthy section to this topic in his 1940–1942 report, which was sent to Rome in 1943.  Below is an English translation of the relevant passages form the original Italian:

IMIGRANTS

"A serious problem, connected with immigration, is above all that of the Ukrainians of Canada, who according to the latest census rise to 400,000, scattered in the various provinces of the Dominion. Frugal, hardworking, with large families, they made a large and effective contribution to the colonization of Western Canada. Three quarters are Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, belonging to an Exarchate which extends from one end of the Dominion to the other, with its own Ukrainian Bishop having personal jurisdiction over all [of them].

If the birth rate of the Ukrainians which have settled here continues at the current rate, in a century they could reach the figure of eight million in Canada. Yet, their assimilation to the Anglo-Canadians is methodical and progressive, and this will bring far decrease, in time, if not neutralize their national characteristics, starting with the language.

Mr. Walter J. Bossy, inspector of Ukrainian schools erected for his countrymen, asked that French-Canadians do something more for the newcomers of Europe, declaring the following: "If the attraction that English Canadians exert on immigration is considerable from an economic point of view, it is no longer so when one considers the social point of view. The European arriving in Canada would be more easily solicited by the turn of the French spirit than by the manifestations of English culture, if French Canadian would only bother to show him the benefits. But that French-Canadians appear to be indifferent to this.”

In fact, the said gentleman adds that, wishing to make the history of Canada known to the people of his country of origin, he had translated a manual into Ukrainian but he did not find a publisher among the French-Canadians, but among the English . . .

What is said of the Ukrainians, who constitute the most numerous immigrant group, should also be extended to the other foreign communities, Polish, Slavic, German, Italian, Hungarian, etc. The second generation of these immigrants has already lost contact with the country of origin, and the third is almost exclusively Canadian.

Unfortunately the Protestant influence is felt among the newcomers. Sometimes due to political resentments against the leaders of the mother country from which they had to take advantage, sometimes due to economic advantages, most often due to indifference and lack of religious instruction, as for lack of assistance both from the clergy of the countries of origin of both the local one, several immigrants have abandoned their faith to embrace that of the majority. . ."

"Walter" (Volodymyr) Bossy was a well known Ukrainian activist who had his own political-social agenda (see Orest Martynowych's, Ukrainians in Canada: the Interwar years).

There are many differences between the situation of 1943 and today. For one thing, the "faith" of the majority, which exercises an influence, would not be that of Anglo-Protestantism or even Roman Catholicism but of agnostic indifference or secular wokeism. The single Ukrainian Greek Exarchate was subdivided in 1948 and has since become a Metropolitan Church with an Archeparchy in Winnipeg and 4 Eparchies. (although currently, two are still awaiting the appointment of an eparchial bishop.) In addition, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada is Metropolitanate with an Archeparchy and 2 Eparchies. The Province of Quebec, with its discriminating language laws, continues to have less attraction for Ukrainians.

Statesmen, churchmen, and community leaders have already begun considering how to best assist the newcomers, so that they can take their place in contemporary Canadian society and themselves contribute to its prosperous development.

Maxim Hermaniuk and the Formation of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Canada

65 years ago, on 3 November 1956, Pope Pius XII created an ecclesiastical province (metropolia) for Ukrainian Catholics in Canada, elevating the three existing apostolic exarchates to the status of eparchies and the fourth to an archeparchy. In doing so, the Pontiff bestowed canonical recognition on an already existing reality: the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada (historically known as Ukrainian Greek-Catholic – UGCC), in its hierarchy, clergy, faithful, organizations and structures, had reached ecclesial maturity. Yet, a determining factor in implementing this change was the conviction that an ideal candidate had been found to serve as the first metropolitan-archbishop.

            The UGCC began its canonical existence as a Church in Canada in July 1912, with the creation of an apostolic “ordinariate” led by Bishop Nykyta Budka. In the first years of immigration, the faithful were sporadically served by itinerant eparchial priests. From 1902, the Roman Catholic hierarchy enlisted missionary religious orders: Basilians (OSBM), Belgian Redemptorists (CSsR), and Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate (SSMI). Bishop Budka established a distinct UGCC structure and recruited priests and seminarians from Austrian Galicia (western Ukraine). Throughout his tenure, the Church retained its missionary character, while fostering Canadian-born vocations. 

            From the outset, it was obvious that the task exceeded the abilities of a single bishop. Pope Pius X said as much to Nykyta Budka, in an audience granted to the new bishop on his way to take up his charge. It is difficult for a missionary bishop to find the time and energy to attend also to administrative matters. Only a few years into his mission, Budka asked for a second bishop to share the burden, but was told by Church officials that he was too young to be granted an auxiliary. 

In December 1927, the Apostolic Delegate to Canada, Archbishop Andrea Cassulo, recommended that the Greek-Catholic Ordinariate for Canada be divided in two or three, with additional bishoprics established in Edmonton and Toronto. Bishop Budka formally petitioned for a coadjutor bishop the following year, but Pope Pius XI decided instead to replace him with two younger men. Only one of the nominees, Basilian Father Vasyliy Ladyka, was prevailed upon to accept the onerous charge.

Although Galician born, Ladyka studied theology and spent his entire priestly life in Canada. He understood that a second generation of Ukrainians required clergy better suited to local culture and conditions. In Galicia, UGCC secular clergy were heavily involved in social concerns and politics. Many of them look upon their priesthood as a profession and a means to support their families. Such a model was unsuited to the rigors of the Canadian environment, where congregations provided little financial support for their clergy and church institutions. Bishop Ladyka set about augmenting the number of missionaries from the religious orders, and training his secular clergy to conceive the priesthood as a supernatural, sacrificial mission to their flocks. The Bishop tried to ingrain in them that their first duty was to catechize their poorly instructed flocks, rather than patronizing community and nationalistic initiatives. It was easier to mould rural Canadian recruits along such lines. More challenging were attempts  at convincing European clergy, who were imbued with nationalistic ideology and political causes that dominated Ukrainian life in the homeland.

In his first years, Bishop Vasyliy set about repairing the financial chaos left behind by his dedicated but administratively weak predecessor, as well as restoring the confidence and support of the Roman Catholic bishops and associations. After four years of intense activity, having crisscrossed the country several times, Ladyka had been able to observe the real conditions of the UGCC in Canada. In December 1933, he concluded that the entire Dominion was too vast a jurisdiction to permit effective governance and supervision by a single bishop. In addition to more clergy, he asked Rome to divide his Ordinariate in three, with additional bishoprics to be set up in Edmonton and Toronto. In his report to the Oriental Congregation, dated 28 December, Ladyka also recommended that one of the bishops be granted the distinction of archbishop or metropolitan, to ensure harmony in the UGCC’s governance.

 

A Second Bishop

It would take another decade before the Vatican machinery was able to provide Vasyliy Ladyka with an assistant, and then only a single auxiliary bishop. In the meantime, a priest was to be deputized as vicar general for eastern Canada. The process for selecting a bishop became prolonged because the Oriental Congregation found each candidate wanting or unsuitable for Canadian conditions. An appointment that seemed imminent, in the spring of 1939, was put off to extend the list. In the meantime, Ladyka agreed to accept the displaced auxiliary of Lviv, Ivan Buchko, who had declined the appointment to Canada in 1928. That plan was never put into practice: Buchko went instead to New York City and was deported after the USA entered the Second World War. 

In 1942, Bishop Ladyka’s health became so precarious that the appointment of a helper could be put off no longer. The Congregation for the Eastern Church invited the general superiors of the religious orders to present candidates. The Basilians presented several while the Redemptorists declined, for lack of a suitable subject. Apostolic Delegate Cassulo composed a terna consisting of two Basilians and a secular priest. The Oriental Congregation recommended the Basilian superior of Mundare, Father Neil Savaryn, who was duly appointed auxiliary bishop by Pope Pius XII on 29 March 1943.

 

Developments in Canada and Europe

In the meantime, crucial developments were taking place in the UGCC. In Canada, the numbers of priests, religious, seminarians, and faithful, grew steadily in tandem with the number of churches and mission posts. Ukrainian Catholic Schools were established, as well as colleges and academies, hospitals and nursing homes administered by the SSMI. And a second order of sisters, the Missionary Sisters of Christian Charity, was founded in Toronto. Printing presses were set up by the Basilians and the Redemptorists at their respective motherhouses: Mundare, Alberta, and Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Organizations for the laity were formed locally and nationally, including the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood, Women’s League, and Youth. Branches of the Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action were set up in many parishes. One of Ladyka’s greatest achievements was restoring the trust of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and its organizations (such as the Catholic Extension Society), which began to heavily subsidize UGCC causes and cover the costs of training of seminarians.

In Europe, the UGCC was being transformed under the leadership of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who sought to revive its original Byzantine ethos and purify its worship of Latin accretions. This vision was strongly supported by orientalist scholar Eugène Tisserant, who took the helm of the Vatican department for the Eastern Churches in 1936. While the Redemptorists supported Sheptytsky’s program, his suffragan bishops and the Basilians were vehemently opposed to the removal of Latinizations. The introduction of purified liturgical books in the 1940s was heavily contested and made Tisserant distrustful of the OSBM, which were placed under temporary canonical supervision, in 1946.

Following the Second World War, with the annexation of western Ukraine, the Soviets suppressed the mother Church of the Lviv-Halych Metropolia, violently merging it into the state-controlled Russian Orthodox Church. Three million Ukrainians had been deported or fled to western Europe. Among these were UGCC faithful, priests, religious, and seminarians. Due to the lobbying by Ukrainian Canadians, including Bishop Ladyka and his representatives (such as Basilian Father Josaphat Jean), the Canadian Government accepted a large contingent of these “Displaced Persons” (DPs). The influx of clergy and faithful swelled the ranks of Church in Canada. In 1945, Bishop Ladyka’s poor health forced him to spend several months convalescing in the Mundare Hospital, making the division of the Ordinariate even more urgent.

 

Three Apostolic Exarchates 

Following the Second World War, Pope Pius XII undertook to restore the suppressed UGCC with a hierarchy in the lands of immigration. In the summer of 1947, Cardinal Tisserant made an inspection tour of North America, visiting Ukrainian Catholic communities from Montreal to Vancouver. Upon his return to Rome, he told Apostolic Delegate Idelbrando Antoniutti that at least three bishops were necessary for Canada. Antoniutti was instructed to consult Bishop Ladyka, so as to prepare a project for the division of the Ordinariate and a list of episcopal candidates. Edmonton was to be the seat of an apostolic exarchate (a term which replaced “ordinariate”) for western Canada; Winnipeg was to remain the seat of the central exarchate; and Toronto was to become an exarchate for eastern Canada. Bishop Savaryn was selected for Edmonton, where the member of his own Basilian Order were most numerous. Two secular priests were selected to fill the other appointments: Isidore Boretsky for Toronto and Andrew Roboretsky (already recommended in 1939) as Ladyka’s new auxiliary. Pius XII sanctioned the division of the Ordinariate into three Apostolic Exarchates on 3 March 1948. The consecrations of Boretsky and Roboretsky took place in Toronto, in June. The new Canadian hierarchy held their first conference and petitioned the Apostolic See to establish an ecclesiastical province, headed by a metropolitan. Cardinal Tisserant judged this step to be premature, conferring instead a titular archbishopric on Ladyka, as the senior hierarch.

With healthy young bishops in place, the new exarchates expanded rapidly, accepting priests from Europe, establishing new missions, building churches, setting up branches of the newly formed lay organizations, holding congresses. But the situation was not all rosy. Ladyka had lacked the willpower to establish either a major or a minor seminary, as the Vatican had repeatedly requested. The task for training the youth fell upon the religious orders, which established their own juniorates. Also, the liturgical reform were not being as implemented as energetically and uniformly as Cardinal Tisserant desired. Ladyka’s suffragan bishops quarrelled with him over the stipulated division-in-three of the former Ordinariate’s liquid assets. The Apostolic Delegate reported that, although the exarchs held regular meetings, “each acts on his own accord.”

 

Redemptorist Mission in Canada

In 1906, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (CSsR) began its mission to Byzantine-Rite Catholics among the Ukrainians in Canada. However, due to the demands of Bishop Budka, they also set up a community in Galicia under the supervision of Metropolitan Sheptytsky. This mission was to overtake the Canadian venture in number and importance. The Belgian CSsR struggled to convince Canadian Ukrainians of their altruistic motives. A feud with the Christian Brothers in Yorkton and other conflicts convinced the Belgian superiors to transfer Ukrainian recruits to eastern Poland, where the CSsR had been given a mission to former Greek-Catholics in Volhynia. One of their number, Nykolai Charnetsky, was selected as bishop and apostolic visitor over that mission, dubbed Neo Unia. That future Blessed-Martyr ordained Father Maxim Hermaniuk to the priesthood on 4 September 1938.

With the first Soviet occupation of 1939, the Neo Unia mission was suppressed and the CSsR shifted its focus and support back to its original Eastern-Rite mission in Canada. However, more effective superior was needed to put the Canadian mission back on track. Accordingly, at the beginning of 1948, the Belgian Provincial Superior, Father Buys, announced that Father Hermaniuk was to be transferred to Canada. 

After completing his noviciate, in 1934 Maxim Hermaniuk was sent to study at the prestigious Catholic University in Louvain (Leuven), in Belgium. Following his ordination, four years later, he was scheduled to begin graduate studies at the Angelicum, in Rome, but, when the war erupted, his superiors sent him back to Louvain. There, Hermaniuk achieved the highest academic excellence as well as pastoral experience, especially with Ukrainian university students which he served as chaplain. When his reassignment became known, his Ukrainian confreres and Bishop Ivan Buchko (who had become Apostolic Visitor over UGCC in western Europe) complained that his transfer would be a terrible blow to the mission to Ukrainian DPs in Europe. But Hermaniuk was deemed essential for Canada, and the capable young priest was sent packing in October 1948. Shortly after his arrival, Buys named him superior of the CSsR’s Ukrainian vice-province.

 

Saskatoon, Cathedral, new Auxiliary

            Neil Savaryn had been a very deferential auxiliary bishop to Vasyliy Ladyka, and continued to enjoy the latter’s confidence even after he was transferred to Edmonton. Nonetheless, Ladyka entrusted financial matters to his savvy chancellor, Basil Kushnir, who was also parish priest of his tiny pro-cathedral. Kushnir was very much the model of a worldly, politicking European priest. He was successful in raising funds to build a magnificent new cathedral church for the Winnipeg exarchate. Saints Vladimir and Olga Cathedral was opened on 15 April 1951, amidst great pomp. The impressive guest list included civic and religious dignitaries, including Cardinal McGuigan of Toronto (the de facto primate of English-speaking Canada), archbishops and bishops of Latin and Byzantine Rites from Canada and USA, the Premier of Manitoba, mayors, parliamentarians, judges, the president of the University of Manitoba, and 8,000 faithful (10 of which fainted in the massive crowd, during the lengthy ceremony). This achievement consolidated Kushnir’s hold over church administration and won him the papal honorific of domestic prelate (a mid-grade Monsignor).

            Ladyka had presented Fathers Kushnir and Roboretsky among his choices for auxiliary bishop. Kushnir had been excluded for his maverick style and involvement in politics. The zealous and energetic Roboretsky, assuming the charge of auxiliary in 1948, attempted to make order of Ladyka’s administration. He was successful in establishing parish boundaries but ran afoul of the Basilians for insisting that their church, located directly across from the cathedral, be moved to a part of Winnipeg where a Ukrainian Catholic church was still lacking. He also crossed swords with Kushnir, who had retained the office of vicar general, over financial and administrative matters. In doing so, Roboretsky lost the confidence of his Archbishop, whose poor health had made him heavily dependent on others. A project was devised, approved by Ladyka, to split the Central Exarchate in two, creating a new bishopric in Saskatoon to which Roboretsky was to be appointed.

            During the Great Winnipeg Flood of 1950, Archbishop Ladyka abandoned his flooded riverside residence and took refuge with the Basilians in in Mundare. He spent several months, totally incapacitated with a weak heart, in the Mundare Hospital, where hope was lost for his recovery. On 15 August, he petitioned the Pope to appoint Bishop Savaryn apostolic administrator of the Central Exarchate. Cardinal Tisserant suspected that this was done under pressure from the Basilians. Apostolic Delegate Antoniutti, however, recommended that Savaryn remain in Edmonton, where the Basilians were in the majority, and a candidate from the other male religious order be selected. 

The Superior the Ukrainian Redemptorists, Maxim Hermaniuk, received august praise from leading Canadian and European churchmen and religious superiors, including the Basilian Vice-General and Bishop Boretsky. Hermaniuk was deemed to be the most educated UGCC clergyman in Canada. He was a devout religious, held a wide view of affairs, and spoke English better than any Ukrainian bishop. On 3 March 1951, Pius XII approved the division of the Central Exarchate into Winnipeg and Saskatoon Exarchates. Hermaniuk was appointed coadjutor to Ladyka and Roboretsky– Exarch of Saskatoon. However, the Apostolic Delegate asked that Hermaniuk’s office be commuted to Auxiliary bishop, since he was still untried, and on condition that he be appointed Ladyka’s Vicar General. The bishop-elect attempted to decline the appointment but to no avail. Maxim Hermaniuk was consecrated bishop during the celebration of a Ukrainian Catholic Eucharistic Congress, on 29 June 1951, in the new Saints Vladimir and Olga Cathedral. 

 

Storm before the Calm

The Edmonton and Toronto Exarchates began with great energy and enthusiasm and, after only a few years, were transformed with the influx of DP clergy and faithful. The Western Exarchate held a provincial synod in 1952 but, the following year, a feud began between Bishop Savaryn and the Basilians, which was actually a conflict between European and Canadian-born clergy. Savaryn had begun to replace OSBM with secular clergy, in the parishes, and initiated the liturgical purification envisioned by Metropolitan Sheptytsky and Cardinal Tisserant. Nevertheless, under the influence of a small group of DP priests, this reform was carried out in an clumsy and imprudent manner, without catechizing the faithful. The same group tried drive the Basilians out of youth formation, targeting their summer camp, and demanded the OSBM be removed from Saint Josaphat’s Cathedral. Rural Canadian-born folk resented the unfamiliar language and style of the European Fathers, and organized petitions and protests in an attempt to remove them.

The outcome of this battle, which ended only in 1959, was twofold: After much negotiation and protests, the OSBM finally gave up the cathedral in exchange for canonical rights of four churches in Mundare, Edmonton, Vegreville, and Vancouver. Savaryn lost much prestige over the affair, especially after Hermaniuk was called in to perform an apostolic visitation, which resulted in the removal of two of the DP ringleaders from the chancery. The Basilians also abandoned plans to run the UGCC minor seminary in Edmonton, turning their energies to a private high school in Toronto. The Canadian hierarchs had to approach the Redemptorists to start the minor seminary, which opened in 1956, in Roblin, Manitoba. St. Vladimir’s College was a tremendous success for the forty years it was administered by the CSsR. It provided numerous vocations to the priesthood and to a number of religious orders, as well as religiously educated laity that maintained a strong, enduring Ukrainian Catholic identity. 

 

Ladyka’s final illness

Bishop Maxim Hermaniuk’s first three years as auxiliary bishop of the Winnipeg Exarchate were tranquil. But in December 1954, Archbishop Ladyka became incapacitated once more. The exarchate’s affairs ground to a halt as Hermaniuk was unable to access finances, which the Archbishop had kept entirely to himself and his private advisors. The time had come for Hermaniuk to be made coadjutor, which would give him a right to assume the governance of the Exarchate, leaving Ladyka as titular head, out of consideration for many years of dedicated service. Hermaniuk was appointed coadjutor on 25 February 1955, but Ladyka refused to give him access to the finances and blocked an attempt to purchase property. As a result, the new apostolic delegate, Giovanni Paníco, recommended that Hermaniuk be given exclusive governance. On 19 January 1956, a decree was issued by the Oriental Congregation naming Maxim Hermaniuk Apostolic Administrator of the Exarchate. When informed, in April, the Archbishop meekly accepted “the will of the Holy See,” under obedience. Vasyliy Ladyka lived for another five months, cared for by the SSMI at the Exarchate’s summer camp, finally succumbing to his illness on 1 September 1956.

 

Metropolitan Province with Three Eparchies

In August 1951, newly-consecrated Bishop Hermaniuk informed the Apostolic Delegation in Ottawa that the Ukrainian Orthodox had elected Archbishop Ilarion (Ohienko) as Metropolitan-Archbishop of Winnipeg. That act led to the unification of two jurisdictions into a single Ukrainian Greek-Orthodox Church of Canada, and to the founding of bishoprics in Edmonton and Toronto. That December, Archbishop Antoniutti repeated his recommendation to Rome, that the UGCC be raised to a full ecclesiastical province headed by a metropolitan. The Apostolic Delegate reasoned that that new arrangement would foster greater unity and uniformity in the Canadian UGCC. But Cardinal Tisserant did not want to confer the dignity on Archbishop Ladyka, whose lacklustre performance in implementing of the purified liturgical books and establishing a distinct UGCC seminary he strongly castigated.

 

In the 1950s, Bishops Savaryn, Boretsky, and Roboretsky, committed serious blunders, and only Bishop Hermaniuk avoided censure. The Oriental Congregation watched his performance closely, while he took over the administration of Winnipeg from Ladyka. Having handled the transfer with great tact, and given his superior intellectual qualities, Hermaniuk was recommended for the office of metropolitan. The elevation of the UGCC in Canada was to take place at the end of celebrations of the millennium of the baptism of Saint Olha, grandmother of Prince Volodymyr and ruler of Kyivan-Rus (a precursor of modern Ukraine) and co-patron of the Winnipeg Cathedral.

On 3 November 1956, a decree was issued raising the Apostolic Exarchates of Edmonton, Toronto, and Saskatoon to eparchies (full dioceses), and Winnipeg to an Archeparchy and head of a Metropolitan ecclesiastical province. On that day, Hermaniuk was visiting his Redemptorist confreres in Newark, New Jersey. He returned to Canada on 14 November, to take part in the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Just after noon on the following day, 15 November, Archbishop Panico informed him of his elevation. Later that day, the other bishops received the news with great joy, despite the fact that their junior had been selected for the highest dignity. 

Metropolitan Maxim’s enthronement ceremony took place on 12 February 1957 at Saints Vladimir and Olga Cathedral. After initially declining to attend, out of fear of Winnipeg’s “Siberian temperatures,” Archbishop Panico accepted the invitation to perform the ritual. In his remarks, he noted that the Apostolic See of Rome had founded a new Metropolia in Lviv in 1806, when the Catholic Kyivan Metropolia was suppressed by the Russian Empire. The same Russian State had suppressed the Lviv-Halych Metropolia in 1946. A few months before the enthronement took place, word had reached the west that Metropolitan Yosyf Slipyi was still alive in Siberian captivity. Panico also honoured the memory of the first bishop, Nykyta Budka, news of whose death in the gulag had only recently reached the west. (Budka was beatified in 2001).

Maxim Hermaniuk’s enthronement happened 65 years after the first Ukrainian Catholic immigrants reached Canada, in 1891. It was attended by 21 Canadian Roman Catholic archbishops and bishop, the entire Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy in Canada, USA, and Europe, the Manitoba Lieutenant Governor, Premier, the Mayor of Winnipeg, and a personal representative was sent by Canadian Prime Minister, Louis Saint Laurent. For the historic occasion, Cardinal Tisserant deputized Archbishop Buchko to represent of the Oriental Congregation. The event was felt by Ukrainians around the world and would be the first of many. The following year, the American exarchates were also raised to eparchies headed by a Metropolitan in Philadelphia. From 1957 to 1961 Apostolic exarchates for Ukrainians were established in Britain, Brazil, Australia, France, Germany, and Argentina. 

Metropolitan Hermaniuk held the first Conference of the worldwide Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy at his enthronement. The same Conference, at his initiative, actively lobbied for the release of Metropolitan Yosyf (Slipyi) at the Second Vatican Council, to the great embarrassment of certain Vatican bureaucrats, who had agreed to supress criticism of the Soviet regime in exchange for the presence of Russian Orthodox advisors. Slipyi’s release and euphoric acclamation by the Council Fathers permanently altered the Catholic landscape and led to profound changes within UGCC itself. Among the UGCC hierarchs, Hermaniuk was the most important contributor to the theological preparation and discussions at the Council, during which he made at least 22 interventions. His contributions to the teachings on collegiality and ecumenism were particularly valuable. While the Council was still in session, he lent his authoritative voice in petitioning the Pope for synodal governance and for a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate.

Metropolitan Maxim shepherded the Winnipeg Archeparchy for 36 years. During his term, the UGCC in Canada underwent many changes and challenges. In the 1950s, the UGCC started using “Ukrainian Catholic Church” as its official name. Many parishes were founded and new church buildings replaced older structures. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral was adorned with icons, frescos, and stained glass windows depicting the history of the Church. A modern Immaculate Heart of Mary School building, administered by the SSMI, replaced Saint Nicholas parochial school in 1962. In June of the same year, Hermaniuk held a provincial synod for the entire Metropolia, with delegates from all 4 eparchies. In the early 1970s, Ukrainian and English vernaculars replaced Church Slavonic as the language of liturgical worship. In 1972, he invited to Winnipeg Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky, who had been released from the Soviet Gulag, That Confessor of the Faith died the following year and was beatified in 2001. A fifth eparchy for British Columbia and Yukon was established in 1974. And the Ukrainian Catholic seminary, so ardently desired by the Apostolic See, was finally established in Ottawa in 1981. 

Upon reaching the age of 75, in 1986, Hermaniuk tendered his resignation to the Roman Pontiff, in accordance with Canon Law. The same year, he hosted a Ukrainian Youth For Christ Rally, which harkened back to a gathering he had attended in Lviv, in 1933. The Metropolitan was permitted to return to his native Ukraine, for the first time, in 1989. His resignation was finally accepted by John Paul II on 16 December 1992. Rosary in hand, Maxim Hermaniuk died on 3 May 1996 in the room which he had occupied since 1951, at the episcopal residence built by his predecessor on the banks of the Red River.

In 2012, an English translation of Hermaniuk’s Second Vatican Council journal entries was published by Jaroslav Skira, following by an accompanying volume in 2020. The prelate was also mentioned, numerous times, in the diaries of the secretary of the Council’s influential theological commission, Father Sabastiaan Tromp, SJ, which historian and theologian Alexandra von Teuffenbach began publishing in 2006. Thanks to the support of Hermaniuk’s successors, the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of Canada, and a lively interest by historians and theologians, we can look forward to new research on this fascinating historical figure, in the upcoming years.