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by Bishop Andrew Pataki, Bishop of Passaic
April 30, 2001
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Munhall, Pennsylvania
Your Eminence, Cardinal Bevilaqua, my brothers in the episcopate, my altar
brothers, members of the Christian Associates, bereaved sister Ida and
family of Archbishop Procyk and my dear friends in Christ:
Christos voskrese! Christ is Risen!
On Tuesday, April 24, we received a call that our brother in the episcopate
Archbishop Judson Procyk fell asleep in the Lord. The Catholic bishops of
the United States expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the
Metropolitan Church sui iuris of Pittsburgh. With grief and sadness, we the
Council of Hierarchs, devoted clergy and religious, lost an important leader
of our Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.
We are consoled with the touching words of our Savior, spoken to Martha, the
sister of Lazarus, in the Gospel of St. John: "Your brother will rise
again." To strengthen those words, our Lord said, "I am the
Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me, though he should die,
will come to life. And whoever is alive and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?" "Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you
are the Messiah, the Son of God, He who is to come into the world."
On February 7, 1995, I was privileged to serve as one of the co-consecrators
for the consecration of the priest Judson M. Procyk as the Archbishop of
Pittsburgh and Metropolitan of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Church in the United
States. The consecrator and co-consecrators, with right hands placed on the
head of Archbishop Judson, chanted this prayer:
O Master, our Lord and God, You established through Your illustrious Apostle
Paul, an order of ranks and grades for the service of Your holy altar and
for the ministry of Your precious and most pure Mysteries - first Apostles,
then Prophets, and finally Teachers - now, O Master of all, as You
strengthened Your holy Apostles and Prophets; as You anointed Kings; as You
consecrated pontiffs; by the descent, power, and grace of Your Holy Spirit,
strengthen this man whom You have chosen and made worthy to come under the
yoke of the Gospel and to the episcopal dignity by the imposition of hands
by the concelebrating bishops here present. Show his episcopacy to be
stainless and, adorning him with every virtue, show him to be holy so that
he may be worthy to ask those things which are for the salvation of Your
people and to be heard by you.
In the litany I, as the co-consecrator, prayed "for the servant of God
Judson Michael, ordained archbishop, that our God in His love for mankind
may grant that he fulfill his archiepiscopal office without stain, without
blame."
After the litany, the consecrator, keeping his hands on the head of the new
archbishop, prayed:
O Lord, our God, because of the inability of human nature to comprehend the
Divine Being, You in Your plan of salvation, appointed for us teachers,
subject to the same infirmities as ourselves, to stand before Your altar and
to offer sacrifices and oblations for all Your people. Make this man, O
Lord, who has been declared a steward of episcopal grace, a follower of You,
the true Shepherd Who gave His life for His sheep. Make him a leader to the
blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor to the ignorant, a
teacher to the young, a light to the world, so that having directed the
souls entrusted to him in this life, he may stand unashamed before Your
judgment and receive the great reward which You have prepared for those who
contend valiantly in the preaching of Your Holy Gospel. For it belongs to
you, O Christ our God, to have mercy on us and to save us.
In the litany following the chanting of the Gospel, the co-consecrator
prays:
O Lord, in Your love for mankind, look down with merciful eyes upon Your
servant, Archbishop Judson. With faith he prostrates before Your loving
kindness, humbly beseeching You to bless his good intentions. Grant that he
may successfully begin his archiepiscopal ministry and zealously devote
himself to work for Your greater honor and glory. Help him in every way so
that he may diligently serve You and Your people to the best of his ability.
He tried to do that so devoutly and faithfully during his archiepiscopal
office.
In the enthronement ceremony, the Pro-Nuncio asked this question: "Are
you, Most Reverend Archbishop Judson, now prepared to accept the pastoral
and juridical responsibilities of shepherding the Metropolitan Church of
Pittsburgh?"
The archbishop said, "With the grace of God, I am prepared to do
so."
And certainly prepared he was and, with the grace of God, he fulfilled that
particular directive.
The Pro-Nuncio prayed for the new Metropolitan and said,
O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, because of Your ineffable goodness, You sent
down Your Holy Spirit, the Comforter, from the Father upon Your holy
disciples and apostles, and through them You have established and
strengthened Your Church throughout the world. We beseech You, O
ever-gracious Lord, to look down from heaven upon Your servant, Archbishop
Judson, who is being installed as the high priest of the Archeparchy of
Pittsburgh. Grant him the spirit of wisdom and knowledge. Instill in his
heart the spirit of the fear of God, the spirit of prudence, and zeal for
the glory of Your name so that he may fulfill the work of serving in Your
holy Church.
This he did so well in the six years that he served in that capacity.
And then the Pro-Nuncio, in installing the new metropolitan archbishop,
said:
By the authority granted to me and according to the instructions of Holy
Apostolic See of Rome, I install you as the Archbishop of Pittsburgh and the
Metropolitan of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolia in the United States, and
I confer upon you legitimate authority in spiritual and temporal matters. I
entrust you with the care of the flock of Christ which you are to shepherd
according to the example of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who even laid down His
life for His sheep, so that on the day of judgment you may give a worthy
account to Christ our God for your stewardship of this portion of His
vineyard.
On April 24, 2001, he stood before Christ, the eternal High Priest, and now
was able to receive that special loving grace from Christ the eternal High
Priest, because he served well. He fulfilled the directives given to him and
the Church is better because he was here to serve all of us in the name of
Christ.
I would like to share a few reflections of Pope John Paul II On the Life and
Ministry of Bishops which was certainly reflected in the archiepiscopal
ministry that was provided by Archbishop Judson from February 7, 1995 to
April 24, 2001.
It is for every bishop, in his own humanity, to be a living sign of Jesus
Christ. We who were invested with the mission of the Good Shepherd have to
make Him visible to our people. We must respond in a specific way to the
cries that come from every corner of the world. We wish to see Jesus and the
world wants to see Him in us.
The bishop is a sign of the love of Jesus Christ. He expresses to all
individuals and groups of whatever tendency to the universal charity, the
love of the Good Shepherd. His love embraces sinners with an easiness and
naturalness that mirrors the redeeming love of the Savior. To those in need,
in trouble, and in pain, He offers the love of understanding and
consolation. In a special way the bishop is a sign of Christ's love for His
priests and manifests to them the love of Christ's friendship.
In a word, the bishop, as a sign of compassion, is at the same time a sign
of fidelity to the doctrine of the Church. The bishop stands with his
brother bishops and the Roman pontiff as a teacher of the Catholic faith,
whose purity and integrity is guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit
in the Church. It is important for the bishop himself to be the sign of the
unity of the universal Church. Never is the unity of the local church
stronger and more secure, never is the ministry of the local bishop more
effective than when the local church, under the pastoral leadership of local
bishop, proclaims in word and deed the universal faith when it is open in
charity to all of the needs of the universal Church.
These reflections, partial though they be, speak to us of the reality of the
episcopate of our Lord Jesus Christ in which we all share. I offer them to
you as expressions of our common strivings and, perhaps to some extent, to
our common failings. As your bishop in the See of Peter, humble and
repentant, I offer them as a challenge of grace, in a moment of grace, a
moment of collegiality and a moment of fraternal love. I offer them to your
apostolic responsibility and to your pastoral accountability to Jesus Christ
the Chief Shepherd. I offer them as a manifestation of deep gratitude for
what you are and intend, with God's grace, ever more to become. In Christ, a
sign of hope for the people of God, as strong and unbreakable as the sign of
the cross, becoming a living sign of the Risen Christ. For it is the Risen
Jesus, the Incarnate Word, Who communicates through His humanity and ours
the mystery of salvation in His name.
There is no deeper meaning in our lives as bishops than to be living signs
of Jesus Christ. May Mary the Mother of Jesus help us to realize fully this
vocation.
It is our prayer that God grant Archbishop Judson a crown of righteousness
and a portion of the glory reserved for the chosen ones. May he be richly
rewarded in the mansions of our Lord and His saints for the work he
performed in this world, in this Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, in this
Metropolitan Church sui juris of Pittsburgh, for the sake of the name of
God. May our Lord grant rest to Archbishop Judson and our former co-worker
who departed in the hope of a resurrection and eternal life and as in our
earthly church God has made him His laborer so may He make him the same in
the Heavenly sanctuary. And since God has favored him among men with a
spiritual dignity so may He admit him uncondemned to the glory of the
angels. On earth God has glorified his life and so may He grant his
departure from life to be in the manner of the saints and the just ones and
include him among all those who have ever pleased Him.
Our Lord has made His servant Archbishop Judson a servant of His holy Church
and a minister of His holy altar. May he serve it in His Heavenly Temple and
as he receives spiritual honors from the people so may he receive the glory
of bounties from the angels. God blessed him during his life; now may He
grant him righteousness in his departure.
May I leave for you, and I'm sure it would be the words of our dear friend
Archbishop Judson, which was the testament at death of Blessed Pope John
XXIII:
Love one another my dear children. Seek rather what unites, not what may
separate you from one another. As I take leave or better still as I say,
"till we meet again" let me remind you of the most important
things in life: our Blessed Savior Jesus Christ, His Good News, His holy
Church, His truth, and His kindness. I shall remember and pray for you. And
I ask you to remember me in your prayers.
Prior to the completion of our funeral liturgy, the celebrant says this
prayer and pours oil on the head of our deceased brother Metropolitan
Archbishop Judson:
May our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who strengthened you in the good fight of
Christian life, now graciously receive these prayers; and with the oil of
His mercy may He forgive you all transgressions committed because of human
frailty and make you worthy to receive the promised reward with all the
saints who sing His praises saying: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christos voskrese! Christ is Risen!
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