Search
-
PARMA, Ohio — The youngest ordinary bishop of a diocese in North America was enthroned June 30.
Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, became the fifth bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma during a Divine Liturgy of Enthronement at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, after having served as its apostolic administrator since last summer. He succeeds Bishop John Kudrick, who resigned in May 2016.
At 44, Bishop Lach is also the third-youngest Eastern Catholic ordinary in the world and the first foreign-born bishop for the eparchy. All of his predecessors were American-born. He is among about a dozen bishops from other countries that Pope Francis has appointed to the United States.
Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, presided at the enthronement liturgy. He read the letter of the pope, appointing Bishop Lach to Parma, as well as a message from the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. (See pages S4 & S5.)
Archbishop William C. Skurla, metropolitan archbishop of Pittsburgh, was the main celebrant and homilist. He urged Bishop Lach in his homily to use his “energy to enliven the spiritual life of the church and protect it from the challenges of secularism and materialism which undermine the faith of our people.” (More on page S4.)
Several bishops concelebrated, including Bishop Kudrick, Bishop Kurt Burnette of Passaic, Bishop John Pazak of Phoenix, Bishop Bohdan Danylo of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat, Bishop Nelson Perez of Cleveland, Auxiliary Bishop Neal Buckon of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, Bishop Milan Chautur of Kosice, Slovakia, Bishop Milan Sasik of Mukachevo, Ukraine, and Bishop Abel Socska of Nyiregyhaza, Hungary.
At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Sasik gave Bishop Lach an icon of Blessed Theodore Romzha, who was martyred by the communists in the 20th century.
“You are continuing to fight to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ here in the United States, so I am giving you an icon of Blessed Theodore Romzha with his relics inside. This is the concrete fruit of the Union of Uzhorod. This is a bishop martyr. May he protect you,” Bishop Sasik said.
Bishop Lach also spoke at the end of the liturgy. “I would like to express to the Holy Father my gratitude for his confidence in me as bishop of Parma. I will try my best to be the successor of the Apostles, to govern and serve,” he said.
He expressed gratitude in English to the clergy and the faithful, and in Slovak, with visible emotion, to those watching in Slovakia.
“It’s a great celebration for all of us, Eastern rite and Latin rite,” Bishop Perez told Horizons after the liturgy. “We all gathered together in an incredible liturgy and a great moment of joy for the church.”
He described it as “a great blessing” to share resources with the eparchy and to have gotten to know Bishop Lach this past year, who he described as a “wonderful guy, young guy, very spiritual, very pastoral.”
“The Eparchy of Parma is certainly blessed to have him as their bishop,” he said.
The Saturday morning liturgy gathered about 400 people at the cathedral; thousands of others, including from Bishop Lach’s native Slovakia, watched the live stream online. A light reception followed.
Caption: Archbishop William C. Skurla (far left) reads the prayers of the Rite of Enthronement, enthroning Bishop Milan Lach (far right) as the fifth eparch of Parma June 30. Altar server Joseph Basalla holds the prayer book for the archbishop. (Photo: Reen Nemeth)
As published in Horizons, July 8, 2017.
Sign up for the Horizons e-newsletter.
