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Special to Horizons
PARMA, Ohio — Another Eastern Catholic man from the Cleveland area was ordained a Jesuit priest, after nearly a decade of Jesuit formation.
Bishop Bohdan Danylo of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat ordained Father Andrij Hlabse at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Parma July 15.
Father Hlabse grew up in Brecksville, Ohio, and his family attended St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Parma and St. Basil the Great Roman Catholic Parish in Brecksville. He is a graduate of the Jesuit-run St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, where he first began to discern a vocation to the priesthood.
He later attended the University of Notre Dame and earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance as a jazz saxophonist and in romance languages and literature. He performed regularly as a professional musician during college and was involved in liturgical ministries at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus.
In 2006, Father Hlabse returned to St. Ignatius as part of the Alumni Discernment and Volunteer Program, working in Christian service, campus ministry and the jazz and liturgical music programs. The next year, he entered the Society of Jesus.
He spent two years in the novitiate in Berkeley, Michigan, earned a master’s degree in philosophical resources from Fordham University, taught Spanish and religion for three years at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, and earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. While in Rome, he served as director of the choir of the International College of the Gesu.
Following his ordination, Father Hlabse returned to Rome to begin a licentiate in patristic theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Father Hlabse is one of five Midwest Jesuits to be ordained in 2018 and one of 27 from the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
Among the priests of this Jesuit conference is Father Cyril Pinchak, a native of the Cleveland area and of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma. He was ordained a priest last year at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Parma. He is studying alongside Father Hlabse at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
“Father Andrij is a real gift to the Eastern Churches,” Father Pinchak told Horizons. “He brings a real focus to all that he does: his studies, his prayer, his music. He holds himself and his church to a high standard but tempers it with compassion and understanding.”
Caption: Jesuit Father Andrij Hlabse was ordained in the Byzantine Catholic rite July 15 in Parma, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of the Jesuits USA Midwest Province)
As published in Horizons, Sept. 30, 2018.
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