Slovak Redemptorist named youngest bishop in Canada

CHICAGO— Pope Francis appointed Redemptorist Father Marian Andrej Pacak as the new bishop of the sui iuris Slovak Catholic Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius of the Byzantine Rite in Canada, based in Toronto. At age 45, he will be the youngest bishop in Canada.

He succeeds Bishop John Pazak, CSsR, who served there as bishop prior to being named eparch of Phoenix in May 2016. Bishop Pazak continued to serve as administrator of the Canadian eparchy until now.

Bishop-elect Pacak was born April 24, 1973, in Levoca, Slovakia, and entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, more commonly known as the Redemptorists, in 1991. He was ordained a priest in 1998, and was assigned pastor in Stara L’ubovna, Slovakia.

In 2003, he completed a licentiate degree in moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome. Upon his return to Slovakia, he was named bursar of the Redemptorist Vice-Province of Bratislava.

In 2016, he began studies in canon law at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. He was serving as chaplain to the Redemptoristine Nuns in Vranov nad Topl’ou-Lomnica, Slovakia, at the time of his nomination.

The Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was founded in 1980. It has five parishes and 3,500 faithful served by four priests.
 
Caption: Bishop-elect Marian Andrej Pacak, CSsR, hails from Slovakia.
 
As published in Horizons, July 8, 2017.
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