I heard Fr. Berko, the Ukrainian priest in Florida has now resigned. Any more details on this?

Axios

Rev. Archpriest Matthew Berko?

I believe so. Does his resignation abolish his honorific titles?

Axios

Dear Axios,

I knew Fr. Berko when he was up here. His resignation does not abolish his titles, as I see from the listing of all our retired priests in the Basilian calendar of "The Light."

Fr. Berko was much loved by so many of us.

We wish him every blessing for his new challenges and a much deserved rest!

Alex

Might they be then, affirmatively taken away from him? Who would be the authority to make this decision?

Axios

Yes, by the bestower only. Although the use of the honorifics might be rejected by others for one reason or another, the title would still be held within the territory of the bestower (only).

Christ is Risen!!

Dear Axios,

There is a story about this in connection with Met. Andrew Sheptytsky.

A married priest was going to attend a synod in L'viv in the time of the great Metropolitan.

His wife, wanting to make her priestly husband look special, sewed all kinds of purple buttons and what-not on his cassock.

When the Metropolitan saw the priest, he went over to him and told him he had no right to wear such insignia of rank and not to do it again.

"My wife was the one who bestowed these on me, Vladyko," the priest said. "You'll have to talk to her about this matter . . ."

When you're persecuted, it does things to your sense of humour . . .

Alex

Well, I find it offensive that he would still use the honorifics. I would hope he has the good sense to surrender the title voluntarily.

Axios

Axios:

I can't recall any "defrocked" Roman Catholic priest, religious or diocesan, continue using his priestly (or other honorific) titles except, perhaps, my high school (1960's) Fr. Principal who, when communicating with us alumni and when contributing articles to magazines, always signed his name as Fr. Andres Castillo, XJ.

He left the Jesuits to marry his secretary!

Wait, are we talking about resign as in "I'm kinda old/otherwise in need of a break" or "Um, I think the priesthood thing was a bad idea..."?

If the latter, by all means surrender the title. But if the former, why surrender the title? Why should it be offencive to keep it?

Dear Friends,

That's right! Has Fr. Berko resigned from the priesthood as a whole? That is quite different, of course, than going on retirement.

Alex

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: Orthodox Catholic ]

According to the news reports in the St. Petersburg newspaper (online, finding them is left as an exercise for the reader), Fr. Berko was removed from his pastorate by Bishop Robert Moskal. He is not being deposed ("defrocked"), and has received an invitation from Bishop Basil Losten to serve in the Eparchy of Stamford.

If this is the Priest in florida that was interviewed by that ABC reporter, then it is just a shame that he leaves his parish like this.

We are going to go from what - no justice to unjust persecution of some Priests? I've had a bit as much as can take from the media and secular lay population with their holier-than-thou attitudes and approach to Priest involved with teenagers. The same people that preach about the innocense of these kids are the same ones that want to try and convict them as adults, claiming that there is no innocense left in the kids of these days. Their lambs that haven't bitten from the tree of knowledge of good & bad - when they want them to be. And then their raving wolves with all the knowledge and cunning of the world - when they want them to be.

Kind of like abortion. When the woman wants to abort her child - it's her body and responsiblilty. But when she wants to keep her child - then all of a sudden it took two people to create the child and now the father has responsiblities for the health and well-being of the child.

This site has some information.

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAV8TKAVZC.html

Father Berko has done the Ukrainian and Ruthenian churches an immense service through his 1958 translation of the 1944 Ordo Celebrationis from Church Slavonic into English, which was printed by the Redeemer's Press.

This work has since been re-printed by Eastern Christian Publications. His brief forward in his 1958 translation is an important statement about the need to return to the authentic usages of the rite avoiding latinizations.

I had the pleasure of attending a seminar Fr. Berko presented to my diaconal program in Stamford last summer on the Ordo and I was also blessed to have been the cantor at Pontifical Vespers with Bishop Basil Losten at which Fr. Berko was the main celebrant. He is a storehouse of liturgical and canonical knowledge for our rite. May God remember his priesthood in His kingdom, both now and for ages of ages.
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner