Ukrainian Father Mark Morozowich is the first Eastern Catholic to lead CUA’s School of Theology.
by JOHN BURGER 08/13/2012 ncregister.com
There was a time in the history of the Church in America that Eastern-rite Catholics were regarded with some suspicion by the dominant Latin-rite Catholic Church. They were forbidden to continue their tradition of allowing married men to be ordained to the priesthood, and Eastern-rite churches were expected to follow certain liturgical norms, including the installation of kneelers. (Traditionally, Eastern-rite Catholics stand during a good part of the liturgy, even during the consecration).
The demands led many Eastern Catholics in the United States to leave for the Orthodox Church.
But one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, Orientalium Ecclesiarum, called upon Eastern Catholics to rediscover their authentic traditions, and Eastern Catholic Churches, though still relatively small, are thriving in the United States and elsewhere.
Now, an Eastern Catholic priest, Father Mark Morozowich, has been appointed head of one of the United States’ premiere Catholic schools of theology.
Father Morozowich, associate professor in the School of Theology and Religious Studies of The Catholic University of America, was appointed its dean July 1.
“It gives me great pleasure to appoint Father Mark Morozowich as dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies,” said John Garvey, CUA president, in a statement. “Father Morozowich has the skills and the experience to lead our university’s oldest school and to address the challenge of leadership in the Church’s intellectual life. Father Morozowich is the first Eastern Catholic to head the school. Symbolically, this demonstrates The Catholic University of America’s commitment to Blessed John Paul II’s vision of the Church ‘breathing with two lungs’ — both Eastern and Western rites.”
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Photo courtesy Catholic University of America
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