Jurisdiction: | Archeparchy |
Philadelphia | |
Border: | Catholic |
Territory: | Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. |
Province: | Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Philadelphia |
Headquarters: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
Catholics: | 13,051 |
Parishes: | 64 |
Sui Iuris Church: | Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church |
Rite: | Byzantine Rite |
Cathedral: | Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception |
Major Archbishop: | Sviatoslav Shevchuk |
Metro Archbishop: | Borys Gudziak |
Emeritus Bishops: | Stephen Soroka |
Map: | Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia map.png |
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the Catholic Church in the Eastern United States. Its episcopal see is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Archeparchy of Philadelphia is a metropolitan see with three suffragan eparchies in its ecclesiastical province. The Archeparchy of Philadelphia's territorial jurisdiction includes the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and the eastern and central portions of Pennsylvania.
The current archbishop of the archeparchy is Borys Gudziak, installed on June 4, 2019.[1] [2]
Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the United States were given sui iuris status as an ordinariate for the faithful of eastern rite by Pope Pius X in 1914. Prior to that, all Ukrainian Greek Catholics had been under the jurisdiction of the local Latin Church ordinary. In 1924, the status of the ordinariate was elevated to that of exarchate, known as the Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Ukrainian). The Exarchate was then elevated to the status of Archeparchy by Pope Pius XII in 1950. In 1983, the Archeparchy lost part of its territory to the new (though still suffragan) Eparchy of Parma erected by Pope John Paul II.[3]
, the archeparchy has approximately 13,051 Catholics and 64 parishes under its canonical jurisdiction.[4]
The seat of the archeparchy is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built in the style of the Hagia Sophia,[5] and located across the street from the Archeparchy's offices. In 1979, it hosted a papal visit by Pope John Paul II, the first time a Roman Pontiff had visited an Eastern Catholic church in the United States. In addition, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his wife paid a state visit to the Archeparchy and the Cathedral in 2005.
The archeparchy is the metropolitan see of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Philadelphia. The archeparchy has three suffragan eparchies: Eparchy of Parma, Saint Nicholas of Chicago, and Stamford.
The archeparchy governs parishes in the following states: