From the begining

Archbishop Hermanluk

Special to the WCR
Winnipeg

Bishop Nykyta Budka was the first Ukrainian Catholic bishop of Canada, serving the whole Church in Canada from 1912 to 1928. At that point, Budka returned to Ukraine.

In 1945, he was arrested by the Soviet NKVD and died as a martyr in a concentration camp in Kazakhstan. Budka was beatified in June 2001.

Archbishop Bzdel

Bishop Basil Ladyka replaced Budka as the Ukrainian Catholic bishop of Canada in 1928 and served until his death in September 1956.

Archbishop Huculak

On Nov. 3, 1956, Archbishop Maxim Hermaniuk, CSsR, was enthroned as the first archbishop of the newly established Archeparchy of Winnipeg and metropolitan of Canada.

At that time, four Ukrainian Catholic eparchies (dioceses) were established - the Archeparchy of Winnipeg and eparchies of Toronto, Saskatoon and Edmonton. In 1974 the Eparchy of New Westminster was established.

In March 1993, Archbishop Michael Bzdel, CSsR, succeeded Hermaniuk as archbishop and metropolitan.

On Jan. 9, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Lawrence Huculak, OSBM, as the third archbishop of Winnipeg and metropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in Canada. Huculak was enthroned Feb. 11.

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