www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Eparchial & Parish Events ordination of married deacon in the BCC

It's my understanding that Bishop Gerald (Dino), of the Eparchy of Phoenix, was to ordain Dcn Brian Escobedo to the priesthood yesterday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was told that Dcn Escobedo is married.

That would be wonderful news. Fr. Deacon Brian and Fr. Deacon Michael (both married deacons from our Eparchy) just graduated from the Byzantine Catholic Seminary.

I have not heard about their possible ordinations to the priesthood but I was always under the impression, when I learned they were at the seminary, that they were their to study for the priesthood.

OLPH parish does need a full time pastor.

That would be welcome news indeed.

If true, I would just say, "Chvalu Bohu!" Bishop Gerald grew up in the immediate aftermath of the incredibly bitter and litigious schism within St. Michael's Greek Catholic Church in Binghamton,NY. The parish council refused to accept the appointment of a celibate priest, Father Edward Staurovsky, by Bishop Takach. Then the board either "accepted" the appointment by the newly ordained as an Orthodox Bishop Orestes or, acting independent of any hierarchy, they "hired" an Orthodox priest, Fr. Joseph Mihaly (a distinction still rattling about 75 years later...) causing those loyal to Bishop Basil Takach to commence litigation which dragged on for years.Some of Bishop Gerald's family were among the founders of the new Holy Spirit BCC, while others stayed with St. Michael's. Today, since 2011, both St Michael's and Holy Spirit have a married priest. It would a form of sublime irony were Bishop Gerald to be the one to break the ban.

It won't bring us together, but it surely is powerfully symbolic.

Thanks, for the background; and indeed, it's symbolic.

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION:

There was no implication in the communication I received, nor did I mean to imply, that Fr. Dcn Brian was being appointed pastor of OLPH, only that he was scheduled to be ordained on Saturday, the 8th. I realize that OLPH does need a pastor, but just want to be clear that I received no information about such an appt, so we shouldn't draw that conclusion. I was only told that Fr Dcn Brian was scheduled for ordination.

I thought I had been told that Bishop John of the Eparchy of Parma had already ordained a married man to the priesthood several years ago. Perhaps I misunderstood. Does anyone know for sure?

appt = appointment (I miss the edit button, too)

Did it, ordination, happen or not?

I didn't mean to imply that he was/is or could be ordained for that parish. Forgive for giving that impression.

Forgive me. Oh when will the edit button return?

I assume it did, but I haven't heard anything further.

Anybody know?

Yes, there are at least three married priests right here in the immediate Eparchy of Parma (NE Ohio) area that I know of that were ordained. Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec, serving at St. Nicholas in Barberton, OH, Fr. Marek Visnovsky, serving at St. Emilian in Brunswick, OH, then Fr. Andrey Kovalenko (received from the ROCOR) serving as a Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here in Parma, OH. Although I know that Deacon Andrew Nagrant also at the Cathedral was married with an active family. So there are plenty of married clergy right close to home in the Eparchy of Parma to be sure.

Yes, I'm aware of the 3 married priests in our eparchy that you mentioned, but weren't those 3 ordained outside the US, in their home countries, before coming here? I was referring to whether Bishop John himself has ordained a married man to the priesthood or not.

None were ordained here though as BCC priests. Fr. Peter Tomas, a Slovak native married to an American, and pastor of Holy Spirit BCC in Binhamton, Eparchy of Passaic, was ordained in Presov (on the same day as my cousin, Fr. Igor Bibko now in Plsen, Czech Republic.) The local UGCC priest is a native American, but educated in Lviv and Rome and married to a Ukrainian and ordained in Lviv.