Nykyta budka biography examples

Biography of Bishop Nykyta Budka Launched in Edmonton 13 November 2014—“Every community has an obligation to allow its past to challenge its present.” With these words, the Reverend Dr. Athanasius D. McVay introduced his newly published book, God’s Martyr, History’s Witness: Blessed Nykyta Budka, The First Ukrainian Catholic Bishop in Canada, to a gathering of more than a hundred people at St. Josaphat’s Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Edmonton, Canada, on 24 October 2014. “History,” the pioneer bishop
told his flock in his first formal message, “is the teacher of life.”

Father McVay went on to note that in 1965 the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Church in the Modern World asserted that “man is defined, first of all, by his responsibility to his brothers and to history.” Much the same had already been expressed by Bishop Nykyta Budka (1877–1949) four decades earlier, said Father McVay. “My responsibility before God and history is very great,” was the bishop’s declaration about his mission in Canada.
Among other things, Father McVay continued, the biography “tells the story of a human being complete with virtues and imperfections, of great successes and of crushing failures.” In spite of it all, he said, Bishop Budka was successful in fulfilling the mission entrusted to him—to sustain the faith among his people.

Bishop Budka departed Canada in 1928, and after the annexation of western Ukraine to the USSR he was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities in 1945. He was deported to Kazakhstan in
Soviet Central Asia, where he died in 1949. In 2001, Pope Saint John Paul II beatified Budka as a martyr. But even from the grave, Father McVay affirmed, the Blessed Martyr’s figure and accomplishments
would continue to inspire people. On 27 June each year, the author observed, thirteen million Catholics across Canada “commemorate a life of dedicated service that culminated in the suprem

Source: Vatican Radio

A book presentation was held in Rome last week for the launch of a new biography of the first Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Canada, Blessed Nykyta Budka. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych was present for the book launch, along with Bishop Borys Gudziak of Paris and Bishop Hlib Lonchyna of London.

“God’s Martyr, History’s Witness,” by Father Athanasius McVay, was commissioned by the Ukrainian bishops of Canada for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Bishop Budka’s arrival in Canada.

Bishop Budka began his ministry in Canada in 1912, just before the beginning of the first World War. After 15 years in Canada, he returned to his native Galicia in what is now Ukraine. During the Soviet occupation of Ukraine following World War II, Bishop Budka was imprisoned and deported to Kazakhstan, where he died a martyr’s death.

Nykyta Budka was beatified by St John Paul II during the Pope’s visit to Ukraine in 2001; in 2012, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops chose to honour Blessed Nykyta Budka, along with another Bishop Martyr, Blessed Vasyl Velychkovsky, by making them the objects of veneration for Catholics of all Rites in Canada.

Father Athanasius said Bishop Budka’s example “as the shepherd of immigrants and migrant peoples in such a multi-cultural society as Canada is very important.” Bishop Budka’s ministry to Ukrainians and other immigrants to Canada, he said, is “a very important example, also an example very much of sacrifice, someone who gave up everything, even his personal reputation.”

Finally, after a life of totally dedicated service, Bishop Budka “gave up everything, including his own life, rather than break with the unity of the Catholic Church, the Universal Church, that was instituted by Christ, and the unity with  Blessed Peter the Apostle and his successors.” This unity, Father Athanasius said, is the hallmark of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The optional memorial of Blessed Nykyta Budka (and Vasyl Velychkowsky, another Ukrainian Catholic bishop) is celebrated June 27 by dioceses in Canada. As I noted previously, the Church’s task is to produce saints, but there are only so many days available on the Church’s calendar to celebrate them. We collectively honor them all on All Saints Day (Nov. 1), but some saints are more relevant to particular countries or areas as compared to the universal Church. 

To understand Blessed Nykyta’s connection to Canada, one should know something about Canadian immigration policy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States drew immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe to man its factories: Polish farmers became New Jersey factory workers. The closest many got to agricultural life was the abattoirs of Chicago’s stockyards.

Canada, at the same time, was also drawing immigrants, but its westward expansion was slower: Saskatchewan and Alberta would not become provinces until 1905. Interior Minister Clifford Sifton needed farmers to fill Canada’s western prairies, and while initial immigration policy was tipped in favor of Western European WASPs, there just weren’t enough proper British yeomen farmers who wanted to live in Manitoba. The need for experienced farmers eventually forced Ottawa to look east, which led to massive Ukrainian immigration to Manitoba and the other prairie provinces. Today, Ukrainians are the largest Slavic group in Canada, making up 4% of its population.

Canadian religious history in the West was largely the work of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, though other orders played lesser roles. But even the Oblates were not fully capable of ministering to the Ukrainian immigrants, many of whom were “Ukrainian Catholics” or “Greek Catholics,” i.e., people in union with the pope but who were allowed to keep the Byzantine liturgy. (They are sometime

Nykyta Budka is an important figure in Ukrainian, Canadian, and Catholic history. His appointment, on 15 July 1912, was the first time the Apostolic See of Rome named an Eastern Catholic bishop with full jurisdiction outside of the old continents of Europe and Asia.

At an early age he became an educator of the Ukrainian people and supported their political and cultural freedom. He was one among hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants and he encouraged immigration to Canada throughout his life. His mission was to sustain Canadian Ukrainian Greek-Catholics in their faith.

Budka achieved government recognition of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada as a legal entity. Facing the reality of assimilation, he encouraged his flock to become good Canadians. He also dedicated himself to preserving Ukrainian religious and cultural identity.

Bishop Budka’s story is one of endurance. For 15 years he traveled unceasingly, visiting the Ukrainian settlements scattered across Canada, celebrating the Sacraments, teaching, preaching and comforting the faithful. He invited many Ukrainian priests from Europe and ordained local recruits to serve as missionaries in Canada.

He relied upon religious sisters, brothers, and priests to promote Catholic and bilingual education. He sponsored lay people in higher education so that they would become consdentious
and self-sacrificing community leaders.

He was a poor administrator but a fantastic missionary. He did not receive sufficient financial support from his flock and was forced to rely on grants from Roman Catholic organizations.
He faced bankruptcy on several occasions.

In a climate of intense proselytism he battled with many political and religious opponents, who sought to draw his flock away from their Catholic Faith. Overwork, stress, and harsh conditions
destroyed his delicate health. After requesting an assistant bishop several times, he was finally asked to resign.

For the