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akemner Offline OP
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Horizons (the newspaper of the Eparchy of Parma of the Ruthenians) just posted this. What happened to Bishop John Pazak?

Pope Francis Names Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted As Apostolic Administrator of the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix

August 1, 2018

WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has appointed the Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, as the Apostolic Administrator Sede Plena of the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic eparchy of Phoenix. Bishop Olmsted will also retain his current Office as Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix.

The announcement was publicized in Washington on August 1, 2018 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Olmsted has served as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix since December 20, 2003.

Prior to his arrival in Phoenix, Bishop Olmsted served as Bishop of Wichita, Kansas from 2001-2003, after being ordained Coadjutor Bishop on April 20, 1999. Before serving in Wichita, he served as the Rector and President of the Pontifical College Josephinum, a Catholic Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Since 1974, Bishop Olmsted has been a member of the Jesus Caritas ­fraternity of priests. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., July 2, 1973.

For 16 years, Bishop Olmsted lived in Rome, where he obtained a master’s degree in theology and a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University (1981) and worked more than nine years as an official in the Vatican Secretariat of State from 1979 to 1988. During his time in Rome, he was also an assistant spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College.

Bishop Olmsted is currently a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix (formerly known as the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys) is the Catholic eparchy (diocese) governing most Byzantine Ruthenian Catholics in the Western United States. The Eparchy's territorial jurisdiction consists of thirteen Western States. Currently, Holy Protection Eparchy of Phoenix has 19 parishes and one mission under its canonical jurisdiction.

The diocese of Phoenix, Arizona comprises 43,967 square miles. It has a total population of 4,734,036 people of which 1,188,243 or 25 percent, are Catholic.

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Keywords: Pope Francis, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix, Diocese of Phoenix, Byzantine Ruthenian Catholics.

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Fr. Ron
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Still waiting for clarification. No official announcements say anything about Bp. Pazak at all. Bp. Olmstead is Ap. Admin. "sede plena" but I don't know Latin so I have to rely on Google Translate.

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Means the Apostolic Administrator has full power in the Eparchy.

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That is what I figured. Thanks.

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Actually, «sede plena» means that the bishop’s seat is not empty, opposite of «sede vacante». In other words an apostolic administrator «sede plena» takes over for the bishop who remains in office but is not able to carry out his duties for some reason. So Pavel Ivanovich is basically right smile

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ajk Offline
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Originally Posted by akemner
What happened to Bishop John Pazak?
Incredibly the communication manages to make no mention of him. Rather it functions primarily to publicize the Latin Diocese of Phoenix and its bishop. Bishop Pazak is but he isn't? I think it's well past time for our church leaders to learn and practice transparency. What inept communication.



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Links:
- https://www.byzcath.org/index.php/n...ator-of-the-byzantine-eparchy-of-phoenix (provides more details)
- https://dphx.org/pope-francis-names...tor-of-the-byzantine-eparchy-of-phoenix/ (press release at Diocese of Phoenix)

Quote
Bishop Olmsted’s full statement follows:

“The Holy Father has named me as the Apostolic Administrator for the Eparchy of Phoenix, also known more formally as the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix. (An eparchy is the same as a diocese in the Roman / Latin Church.)

Let me first state that this appointment has not come about because of any personal misconduct of any kind on the part of Bishop Pazak. Indeed, Bishop Pazak remains as the Bishop of this Eparchy.

However, over the past year there have been some disagreements about administrative matters within the Byzantine Ruthenian Church here in North America, of which the Eparchy of Phoenix is a part. Because of some unfortunate legal developments in these matters, their resolution has been unnecessarily complicated, which have unintentionally endangered the peace, unity and communion within the Eastern Catholic Church.

The Holy Father has determined that it is necessary to appoint an Apostolic Administrator for the time being in order to:

- facilitate the task of resolving these legal matters, and;
- to support the efforts on everyone’s part to build up the communion within among the other eparchies of the Eastern Catholic Church.

There is no fixed term to my appointment, and I am happy to serve in any way that will support my brothers and sisters in this Eparchy.”

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Originally Posted by Administrator
Quote
Bishop Olmsted’s full statement follows:

“The Holy Father has named me as the Apostolic Administrator for the Eparchy of Phoenix, also known more formally as the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix. (An eparchy is the same as a diocese in the Roman / Latin Church.)

Let me first state that this appointment has not come about because of any personal misconduct of any kind on the part of Bishop Pazak. Indeed, Bishop Pazak remains as the Bishop of this Eparchy.

However, over the past year there have been some disagreements about administrative matters within the Byzantine Ruthenian Church here in North America, of which the Eparchy of Phoenix is a part. Because of some unfortunate legal developments in these matters, their resolution has been unnecessarily complicated, which have unintentionally endangered the peace, unity and communion within the Eastern Catholic Church.

The Holy Father has determined that it is necessary to appoint an Apostolic Administrator for the time being in order to:

- facilitate the task of resolving these legal matters, and;
- to support the efforts on everyone’s part to build up the communion within among the other eparchies of the Eastern Catholic Church.

There is no fixed term to my appointment, and I am happy to serve in any way that will support my brothers and sisters in this Eparchy.”

Thank you Bishop Olmsted (and John) for this explanation.

I am happy not to be informed about problems in our Metropolitan Church as they are being resolved. I am not happy to be informed about those problems in this way.

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Is the Metropolitan church really so dysfunctional that they need an administrator appointed from Rome? What's going on?

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Oh my, dear. It's 2018. Isn't it time for the Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Melkites and other eparchies of Byzantine rite Catholics in the United States and Canada to unite into one North American jurisdiction, use a common liturgical English translation and praxis akin to our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and peacefully get on with the more serious task of Evangelization. The Holy Spirit is not going to bring this about; only serious, devote and holy bishops, imbued with the Holy Spirit will. Get on with it. The faithful are waiting now and unto ages of ages.

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Originally Posted by Utroque
Oh my, dear. It's 2018. Isn't it time for the Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Melkites and other eparchies of Byzantine rite Catholics in the United States and Canada to unite into one North American jurisdiction, use a common liturgical English translation and praxis akin to our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and peacefully get on with the more serious task of Evangelization. The Holy Spirit is not going to bring this about; only serious, devote and holy bishops, imbued with the Holy Spirit will. Get on with it. The faithful are waiting now and unto ages of ages.
Akin to our Orthodox brothers and sisters? They have none of the things you named, sometimes even in the same jurisdiction. Which should clue you in to why we don’t either.


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Well, I guess I was thinking of the OCA. They're not perfect, but at least they are trying to get over this ethnic hump that hampers us all, IMHO. In any case, I find it scandalous and evangelically counter productive.

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Originally Posted by Utroque
...peacefully get on with the more serious task of Evangelization. The Holy Spirit is not going to bring this about; only serious, devote and holy bishops, imbued with the Holy Spirit will. Get on with it. The faithful are waiting now and unto ages of ages.

I'm not sure that amalgamation of the ECs is a good thing, but evangelization is critical and the different ECs largely fail at it.

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Originally Posted by SwanOfEndlessTales
Is the Metropolitan church really so dysfunctional that they need an administrator appointed from Rome? What's going on?

My immediate reaction was that this looks like the first millennium role of Rome that Orthodox speak of . . . a bishop has a dispute with th head bishop of his church, which made it to the civil courts. If Rome can handle this successfully, maybe it is a sign of hope.

Originally Posted by Utroque
Well, I guess I was thinking of the OCA. They're not perfect, but at least they are trying to get over this ethnic hump that hampers us all, IMHO. In any case, I find it scandalous and evangelically counter productive.

The church formerly known as Ruthenian seems long past that . . .

hawk

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