PARMA, Ohio — Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, will be enthroned as the fifth bishop of the Eparchy of Parma during a Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist June 30. He succeeds Bishop John Kudrick, whose resignation was accepted by the Vatican May 7, 2016. Bishop Lach’s appointment as eparch was announced June 1. Up until then, he had served as apostolic administrator, an appointment he received June 24, 2017. READ MORE.

PARMA, Ohio — Martin Kopmeyer began as the Eparchy of Parma’s new Chief Financial Officer at the end of April, succeeding Father James Batcha. The native of Livonia, Michigan, has been living in metro Cleveland for 25 years, the past 13 years in Brecksville. He and his wife of 24 years, Julie, have three children. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than spending time with my family,” he said. READ MORE.

MUNSTER, Ind. — The Byzantine Catholic community of Northwest Indiana welcomed back one of its homegrown religious vocations earlier this month and learned how families can nurture vocations among their children. Sister Kathleen Hutsko was born and raised at St. Mary Parish in Whiting, Indiana, and discerned a religious vocation, eventually settling on the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate, a Byzantine Catholic order of active religious sisters. Thirty-eight years later, she serves in the leadership of the community as the provincial superior of the Immaculate Conception Province in the United States, headquartered in Sloatsburg, New York. READ MORE.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The cause for the canonization of an Eastern Catholic priest and three deacons, who were murdered in Iraq, was given the green light. The Vatican granted permission to open the cause May 14. Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, his cousin Deacon Basman Yousef Daud, and Deacons Wahid Hanna Isho and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed June 3, 2007, in front of Holy Spirit Chaldean Catholic church in Mosul, where the young priest was pastor. Father Ganni had just finished celebrating Divine Liturgy. READ MORE.

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio — In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” given by Blessed Paul VI in 1968, the Marriage and Family Ministry of the Eparchy of Parma and the Tabor Life Institute co-sponsored a daylong conference May 12. About 60 people attended the event, held in the hall of St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Parish, including laypeople and clergy of the Eparchy of Parma, the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat, and the Diocese of Cleveland. READ MORE.

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis has appointed as bishop of the Ruthenian Eparchy of Parma, the Most Reverend Milan Lach, SJ, who up until now served as apostolic administrator of the Eparchy. The Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma is the Catholic eparchy governing most Ruthenian Catholics in the mid-western United States. It is headquartered in Parma, Ohio. The appointment was publicized in Washington, DC, June 1, 2018 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. READ MORE.

HOMER GLEN, Ill. — When Adam Lewickas of Annunciation Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois, runs his first Ironman race in September, he will be doing it with the weight of a dome resting on his shoulders. The central and largest dome that crowns Annunciation church is in need of repair and Lewickas is using his Ironman race as a way to fundraise money for the dome repair project. “I have always been drawn to the Ironman competition,” said Lewickas. “I always wondered how a triathlete pushed himself through an Ironman distance and what the type of training would be.” READ MORE.

SUGAR CREEK, Mo. — Parishioners of St. Luke Parish in Sugar Creek, Missouri, learned last month that their community would welcome a full-time priest of the eparchy to minister to them. The parish has not had a full-time priest since 2012. Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, made the announcement during his pastoral visit, April 6-8. The visit was prompted by the bishop’s desire to visit every parish of the eparchy and by the imminent departure of Benedictine Father Thomas Bailey, who served as sacramental minister for six years. Father Bailey was to leave at the end of May, in view of taking up the post of master of studies and, later, of spiritual director at the Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius in Rome. READ MORE.

LORAIN, Ohio – Members of St. Nicholas Parish celebrated the Divine Liturgy with Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, and their pastor, Father Nicholas Rachford, April 29. The occasion was Bishop Lach’s first pastoral visit to the parish. In his homily for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, Bishop Lach noted that all people want to live forever, whether they are Christians or atheists. Jesus spoke to the woman offering her life forever. The bishop gave the historical background of why there was tension between Jews and Samaritans. He noted that Jews did not speak to Samaritans and, in the culture of the time, it was scandalous for a man to ask a woman for a drink of water. READ MORE.

Our thirst for life is built into our very being; we spend our days doing everything we can to protect it, preserve it, and feed our hunger for living. The Sunday Gospels of Pascha bear in mind this thirst in every human heart, where we see those who are stricken by disease and disability — the blind man and the paralytic — reaching out for Jesus to attend to this desire. In particular, the story of the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:1-42) explores this theme well... READ MORE

INDIANAPOLIS — Confident in the power of Jesus to satisfy every thirst, Father Bryan Eyman has been lifting up in prayer those people struggling with alcoholism and entrusting them to the Mother of God, the Inexhaustible Cup, for nearly 20 years. Father Eyman attributes his healing ministry with alcoholics, which began in 1988, when he was pastor at St. John the Baptist Parish in Minneapolis, to his mother. READ MORE.

SOLON, Ohio — As a service to the local community, St. John Parish rents its meeting facility for a nominal fee to three Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups weekly. A small “Joe and Charlie tapes” group meets Mondays at 7 p.m., followed by the “Crossroads” group meeting at 8:30 p.m. Crossroads member Al said the group of about 40-50 people has been meeting there for about three years. READ MORE.

PARMA, Ohio — The third annual Miracle of Mariapoch Gala fundraiser for the eparchy’s Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch in Burton, Ohio, raised $14,453, twice as much as last year. More than 120 people attended the April 14 event, held in the hall of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. The evening highlight was a tribute to Social Mission Sister Adalberta Rohaly, longtime caregiver at the shrine. Shrine Director Deacon Bill Fredrick introduced Incarnate Word Sister Margaret Taylor, a close friend of Sister Adalberta at Regina Health Center, where she and her late superior, Sister Flora Kocsis, moved after retiring from the shrine in 2007. READ MORE.

BURTON, Ohio — The advisory board of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch, 17486 Mumford Road, announces the following summer schedule: READ MORE.

CHICAGO — At press time, Horizons’ Sept. 16-28 pilgrimage was 25 percent booked. The main objective of the pilgrimage to the roots of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church is to honor the Mother of God in her expression of love for her children as Our Lady of Mariapoch, a longstanding devotion in the Eparchy of Parma, which has a shrine dedicated to her in Burton, Ohio. READ MORE.

PARMA, Ohio — The early bird deadline for the National ByzanTEEN Catholic Youth Rally has been moved to June 1. “Who is my Neighbor?” is the theme for the rally, July 5-8, at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. READ MORE.

CLEVELAND — St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Parish sponsored an afternoon of reflection on prayer for teens. The Lenten activity, held at the Crystal Chalet March 18, drew about 30 teens, aged 12-17, from the parish and surrounding area. The three-hour program began with some snacks and an icebreaker, followed by videos and discussion. Kim Kocuba, the parish youth coordinator, led the program, with the spiritual guidance of Father Marek Visnovsky, the pastor, and Subdeacon Bryan Scotton. READ MORE.

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio — More than 50 people gathered after liturgy at St. Joseph Parish March 18, for a multi-media presentation by David Onysko on “The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin – Where Science Meets Faith.” Onysko’s presentation included a life-sized, photographic-negative image of the Shroud of Turin, which is a large, ancient burial linen that is imprinted with an image of a crucified man and alleged to be the burial shroud of Jesus. READ MORE.

CAREY, Ohio — More than 20 women gathered at the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation the first weekend of March for the sixth annual women’s retreat, sponsored by St. Mary Parish in Marblehead, Ohio, and directed by Father Marek Visnovsky, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Cleveland. The retreat included prayer and liturgical services, interspersed with didactic sessions and quiet time for private prayer, reflection, and the sacrament of confession. READ MORE.

What do you think? Do people here in the United States and other parts of the world invest too much money in their health? Look at your health insurance bill; that will be enough to tell you. But it is normal to take care of our health. We want to be healthy. We have, written into our DNA, the instinct of self-preservation; we want to be alive... READ MORE