Upon signing on AOL, I saw a news flash where actor Robert Urich died. For those who may not know, he comes from a Carpatho Rusyn background and was an Altar Boy in the Byzantine Catholic Church when he was younger. I once read an article that he still observes 'Holy Supper' and insists on cooking all the different foods himself.
May His Memory Be Eternal!

Bob

May his memory be eternal in Christ!

Alex

He was from Toronto, Ohio and was raised in both the Latin parish (St. Joseph's) and the Byzantine parish (also St. Joseph's) there.

From what I've read, he remained an observant Catholic all his life, and will be having a Catholic funeral in North Hollywood.

Here is an interesting biography of him:
http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/fame/urich.htm

Vic~naja jemu pamjat', XPUCTOC BOCKPECE!

Thank you for the news of Robert Urich's
death and the link to his biography.

I really liked him as an actor. I was
pleasantly surprised when I found out
that he was a Byzantine Catholic.

May God comfort his family in their loss.

May his soul and the souls of all the
faithful departed through the mercy of
God rest in peace. Amen.

Paul

Was he still religious? No offense to his memory but a religious actors a rare thing to hear of.

Most of those actors get out into Hollywood and then, no matter how devout they were raised, that old sin city ands its flashing neon lights and glamorous star studded movie premiers really get to them and before you know it, theve turned scientologist or something.

Of course I have heard that Mel Gibbson is a devout tridentine rite Catholic. Can anyone add anything to that rumor?

Robert K.

Yes, he maintained his faith. There is a beautiful large icon of Christ above the door at St. Joseph's which was given by Robert to the church when his father died.

CHRIST IS RISEN!
INDEED HE IS RISEN!

One of my most vivid memories of Robert Urich was watching one of those Christmas Specials with Bob Hope or Bing Crosby. They introduced Robert Urich as the "new rising star" of TV. Robert then proceed to sing "NEBO I ZEMLA" and was surround by the choir from the Van Nys parish.

This has to have been 25 yrs ago easy!

May God grant His servant Robert blessed peace and repose, CHRIST IS RISEN!

mark

Yes, that Chrristmas show has been talked about for several years by many Byzantine Catholics of Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry. It is too bad that during an interview of Robert and his brother on Larry King Live a few years ago he didn't come out and say he was Carpatho-Rusyn and Byzantine Catholic. Larry asked him if he ever visited his family's homeland in Prague and he only said his family was from Slovakia. While his mother's family were Slovak Roman Catholics, the Yurich (your-itch) family were definetly Carpatho-Rusyn and Byzantine Catholic. He was indeed a great family man which are few and far between in Hollywood these days.

Eternal memory. Eternal memory. Blessed repose and eternal memory.

Vichnaja pamjat'. Vichnaja pamjat'. Blazennyj pokoj; vichnaja pamjat'.

Ung-Certez