Submenu Categories--------SELECT ARTICLE Historical Timeline A Short History The Old Country Coming to America The First Churches The Struggle for Recognition Renewed Efforts to Organize A Greek Catholic Bishop Comes to America The Episcopacy of Bishop Basil Tackach The Episcopacy of Bishop Daniel Ivancho The Episcopacy of Bishop Nicholas T. Elko A Change in Status Results in Two Eparchies New Honor; New Bishops and A New Eparchy The First Metropolitan The Episcopate of Bishop Michael J. Dudick The Eparchy of Parma The Byzantine Catholic Church in the West: The Eparchy of Van Nuys The Church in Transition Looking to the Future

Concurrent with the elevation of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church in the United States to the status of a Metropolia, the Holy See issued a decree, "Christi Ecclesia," announcing its intention to create a third eparchy for the American Byzantine Church.
According to the papal decree, the large territorial expanse of the former Pittsburgh Eparchy would be considerably reduced in size. The new Pittsburgh Archeparchy would now include the western half of Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and all of the states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. From the remaining portion of the old Pittsburgh Eparchy, a new diocese covering the mid-west and western portions of the country was established. To head this new suffragan eparchy, which was centered in Parma, Ohio, Pope Paul VI named the Chancellor of the Passaic Eparchy, Father Emil Mihalik.

Father Emil Mihalik was born in Pittsburgh on February 7, 1920. After receiving his high school education in his hometown of Brentwood, Pennsylvania, a small suburban community south of Pittsburgh, the future bishop pursued his philosophical and theological studies at St. Procopius College and its Benedictine Seminary. On September 30, 1945, Emil Mihalik was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Basil Takach.

Father Mihalik served as a priest in a number of parishes throughout the Pittsburgh Exarchate. At the time of establishing the Passaic Eparchy, he was the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Rahway, New Jersey, where he was instrumental in the construction of a modern Byzantine style church and a new parish center.

With the formation of the new eparchy, Father Mihalik was given a number of administrative duties in addition to his pastoral responsibilities. These administrative duties included Director of Vocations, membership on the Matrimonial Tribunal, Diocesan Consultor and finally Chancellor of the Eparchy. Archbishop Stephen Kocisko ordained Father Mihalik as Bishop at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Parma and enthroned him as the head of the new eparchy on June 12, 1969.

Bishop Mihalik's initial task was the creation of the boards, commissions and structure necessary to administer the affairs of the new Parma Eparchy. To facilitate this effort, he convened an Eparchial Convocation in the spring of 1970. He established an eparchial choir and cantor formation program. An Emmaus program for priests and clergy workshops were undertaken. Communications and out-reach were expanded by providing a radio Liturgy for the shut-ins and ministry to the deaf and hearing-impaired. An annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Weeping Madonna of Mariapoch in Burton, Ohio was established as was an annual Byzantine Heritage Day celebration. Under Bishop Mihalik's leadership, formal offices for religious education and youth ministry were established. In later years, other worthwhile eparchial programs such as the secular Franciscans, Marriage Encounter, Pre-Cana, the Apostolate of St. Nicholas and Youth Singles Ministry were implemented.

To improve communication within the Eparchy, Bishop Mihalik announced the creation of a diocesan newsletter, "Horizons." It was subsequently upgraded and converted into an independent newspaper.

The increased movement of Byzantine Catholics to different areas of the country prompted a need to establish new parishes, particularly in the western portions of the United States. Bishop Mihalik responded vigorously to this challenge. Soon, parishes and missions were started in such places as Anaheim, California; Denver, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Brunswick, Ohio; Tucson, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; Sugar Creek, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada. It was his foresight that eventually led to the creation of a separate Byzantine Catholic Eparchy in 1982 to cover the parishes located in the western United States.

Bishop Mihalik's episcopate introduced a new religious order into the Parma Eparchy. Soon after assuming his episcopal duties, Bishop Mihalik asked the Byzantine Nuns of St. Clare to come to Parma and establish a Byzantine Foundation of their order. This invitation was accepted and the Sisters eventually established a monastery in North Royalton, Ohio in the mid-1970's.

Unfortunately, Bishop Mihalik's zealous pastoral work for the Parma Eparchy was cut short when it was discovered he had terminal lung cancer. Bishop Mihalik died on January 27, 1984, less than two weeks before he would celebrate his sixty-fourth birthday.
On June 19, 1984, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II appointed the Most Reverend Andrew Pataki, the auxiliary bishop of the Passaic Eparchy, to succeed the late Bishop Mihalik as the second bishop of Parma.

Andrew Pataki was born in Palmerton, Pennsylvania on August 30, 1927. Following his elementary and secondary education in the Palmerton Public Schools and Central Catholic High School in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he enrolled in St. Vincent's College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In 1944 he began his studies for the priesthood. To continue his studies, he entered St. Procopius College-Seminary in Lisle, Illinois where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in 1948. He began his theological studies at St. Procopius Seminary and completed them at the newly-founded Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. .Cyril and Methodius, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was ordained to the priesthood in the seminary chapel by the Most Reverend Daniel Ivancho, Exarch of Pittsburgh on February 24, 1952.

After eighteen years of service as a parish priest, Father Pataki was sent to Rome in 1970 to pursue graduate studies in canon law and the Pontifical Institute for Oriental Studies (1970-1973). Upon his return from Rome in 1972, Father Pataki was appointed as the rector of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary and taught courses in pastoral theology, canon law, Byzantine chant and Ruthenian language. In addition, he was named to the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Eastern Code of Canon Law (1973-1978) by Pope Paul VI. On December 21, 1974, he was elevated to the rank of Prelate of Honor by Pope Paul VI. Among his chancery assignments in the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, Monsignor Pataki served as Vice Chancellor, Chancellor and Consultor. The Bishop was given the Titular See of Telmisso by Pope John Paul II and named auxiliary bishop to the Most Reverend Michael J. Dudick of the Eparchy of Passaic on June 14, 1983. His episcopal consecration was celebrated at St. Peter's Cathedral, Scranton, Pennsylvania on August 23, 1983. Appointed the second Bishop of the Eparchy of Parma on June 19, 1984, Bishop Pataki had served the clergy and faithful of that eparchy for eleven years at the time of his transfer to the Eparchy of Passaic.

Bishop Pataki's eleven year tenure as the bishop of Parma ended on February 8, 1996, when he was installed as Bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic to succeed the retired Bishop Michael Dudick. With the departure of Bishop Pataki, Father David Hannes was selected by the Eparchial Board of Consultors as the temporary administrator of the Parma Eparchy. On May 2, 1996, the Holy See announced the selection of the Byzantine Franciscan Father Basil Schott from the Holy Dormition Monastery in Sybertsville, Pennsylvania to succeed Bishop Pataki in Parma.

Born on July 21, 1939 in Freeland, Pennsylvania, Myron Schott was educated in Catholic schools in Freeland and Hazleton, Pennsylvania. After his graduation from high school, young Myron Schott entered the Byzantine Franciscans in 1958. With formal profession, he assumed the monastic name of Basil, he attended Immaculate Conception College in Troy, New York and St. Mary's Seminary in Norwalk, Connecticut. Basil Schott was ordained as a priest by Bishop Stephen Kocisko on August 29, 1965.
Subsequent to his ordination, Father Schott held a number of administrative positions within the Byzantine Franciscan community. He also was chaplain to the Byzantine Nuns of St. Clare and the Byzantine Carmelite Nuns in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, and as teacher of religion in several Catholic schools. In addition, he was actively involved in giving retreats, workshops and renewal programs for clergy, religious and parishes throughout the United States.

On July 11, 1996, Father Schott was ordained and enthroned as the third Bishop of Parma. Since his episcopal ordination, Bishop Schott has faithfully ministered to the needs of the faithful of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma and continues to build upon the firm foundation of faith constructed by his predecessors.