Auxiliary bishop passed apprenticeship with flying colors

But Motiuk found transition to episcopacy had adjustment period

- Photo by Andrea Leader Bishop David Motiuk was auxiliary bishop to Metropolitan Michael Bzdel (standing).

By WCR Staff
Edmonton

Bishop David Motiuk loved Winnipeg. He loved the restaurants, the architecture and the rich cultural life.

"Winnipeg is a beautiful city," he said in an interview.

He enjoyed walking or driving the streets of the Manitoba capital.

The people too are friendly and open, says the man who will be installed as Alberta's Ukrainian Catholic bishop March 24. "The licence plate says, 'Friendly Manitoba,' and they certainly live up to that motto."

Motiuk also loved being auxiliary bishop for the Ukrainian Catholic archeparchy.

But becoming a bishop in 2002 after 14 years as a simple priest was somewhat jarring.

One day he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy with other bishops. As always, they prayed for the cardinal-archbishop in Kiev, the metropolitan and the bishops.

"We prayed for Bishop David. I thought, 'Who is that?' Then I realized, 'Oh! That's me.'"

Being a newly-ordained bishop "was quite an adjustment in mindset, in expectations and in the way people approach you," he recalled. "It was a novelty. It is something that takes time to get used to."

By all accounts, Motiuk passed with flying colours.

"He did the work; I got the credit," recalls Archbishop emeritus Michael Bzdel, metropolitan for Canada's Ukrainian Catholics from 1993 to 2006. "I'm not kidding. He did all the work.

"He was absolutely the best auxiliary bishop you could have."

Bzdel gave Motiuk credit for launching a lay financial advisory committee for the archeparchy, starting a stewardship program and encouraging parish councils to be pastoral as well as financial in their activities.

Good at socializing

Motiuk did not have to be prodded to socialize with the people, Bzdel said. He added curling to his repertoire of sports by joining a parish league. "Sunday evening, he was gone.

"They tell me he was a very good curler. He came home with a trophy or two."

Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak, Bzdel's successor and the former bishop of Edmonton, has known Motiuk for many years.

Motiuk was ordained in 1988, but by 1996 he was rector of Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Ottawa, a post he held for five years. Barely back in Edmonton, he was appointed pastor of the new Ukrainian Catholic parish in Sherwood Park. But before he could take up that job, he was named auxiliary bishop of Winnipeg.

Mistaken for altar boy

Huculak said when Motiuk came to Winnipeg, he was only 40 and his youthful appearance confused people when he made his first pastoral visits. "People looked at him and thought he was the altar boy."

But Motiuk won people over, he said. "They came to realize that bishops don't have to be grey-haired and in their 70s."

When Huculak moved to Winnipeg last year, his auxiliary bishop helped him learn the ropes in his new eparchy.

It wasn't the first time Motiuk had provided advice to Huculak. When Huculak was Edmonton's bishop, it was Motiuk, the canonical scholar, he would consult when he had questions about canon law.

Father Richard Soo, editor of Progress newspaper, worked across the hall from Motiuk in the Winnipeg chancery office.

"He had brilliant ideas. You really wanted to do all the work he wanted you to do."

Soo said the auxiliary bishop was a hard worker himself. "He worked hard and he played hard."

"He's a lot of fun. He tells a lot of jokes. No matter how serious we are (in a meeting), it never gets heavy."

If you believe his two former bosses in Winnipeg, he will make out just fine as bishop of Edmonton.

"He'll do very well," said Huculak. Alberta's Ukrainian Catholics know him already. "That should help ease the adjustment to a new bishop."

"He's going to be a big catch for Edmonton," said Bzdel. "He knows all the clergy and they know him. It's a perfect fit."

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