Bishop David comes home

Alta. native installed as province's 5th Ukrainian Catholic eparch

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez Bishop David Motiuk sits enthroned as the new Ukrainian Catholic eparch of Edmonton.

By GLEN ARGAN
WCR Editor
Edmonton

Bishop David Motiuk has come home.

The 45-year-old native of Lavoy, just east of Vegreville, was installed March 24 as the fifth Ukrainian Catholic bishop of the Edmonton Eparchy.

"I am a proud inheritor of a wonderful heritage on which the Church has been built here in Edmonton," Motiuk said at a banquet following his installation at St. Basil's Church.

The Divine Liturgy in the nearly full St. Basil's lasted two and a half hours and drew a crowd that included Premier Ed Stelmach and Edmonton's newly-appointed Roman Catholic archbishop, Richard Smith.

"It is a joyous and historical day for the eparchy in Edmonton," said Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak, whose own appointment as head of the Winnipeg Archeparchy a year ago created the vacancy that Motiuk will now fill.

"It was a sad day that I had to leave you without a shepherd," Huculak said. "I often felt that I had abandoned you for the glitter and bright lights of the city of Winnipeg."

If so, Motiuk is now leaving those bright lights behind. For nearly five years, he served as auxiliary bishop there to, first, Metropolitan Michael Bzdel and then to Huculak.

- WCR photo by Glen Argan Namisha Hlus presents Bishop David Motiuk with salt and bread as a sign of welcome.

Now, he will serve, God willing, for the next 30 years as head of the Edmonton Eparchy where he was born and raised and where he was a priest for eight years before serving as rector of Holy Spirit Seminary in Ottawa and auxiliary bishop in Winnipeg.

Motiuk recalled the call he received on his cell phone from the apostolic nuncio on a Saturday morning in January when he was climbing into his car to run some errands.

The two exchanged small talk for a couple of minutes and then the nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, said, "The holy father has appointed you eparchial bishop of . . ." Then he paused for dramatic effect. He repeated his opening and then asked, "Would you like to guess?"

Motiuk thought, "Well, two can play this game. Mexico? Hawaii?"

"And then he said, 'Home.'"

New journey together

In an earlier talk in the church, following his installation, Motiuk called the event, "a sign of renewal, of unity, because we have come from near and far to pray."

"Today we begin a new journey together," he said. "I look forward to getting to know the needs of the Church here in Alberta."

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter