MOST REV. BISHOP CORNELIUS PASICHNY, OSBM

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MOST REV. BISHOP CORNELIUS PASICHNY, OSBM Called to the Lord on Thursday, January 30, 2014. Born John Pasichny in Winnipeg, Manitoba on March 27, 1927 to Stefan and Anastasia (Kruk). His elementary schooling occurred at St. Nicholas School, now the elementary school of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Winnipeg. He was an active altar boy. In September 1942, he entered the novitiate of the Basilian Fathers in Mundare, Alberta and received monastic tonsure and the name Cornelius the following year. He attended high school in the Basilian Scholasticate in Mundare, Alberta and Grimsby, Ontario in the years 1944-1948. He studied philosophy in Glen Cove, New York and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He made his perpetual vows on October 31, 1948 and was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on July 5, 1943 by Archbishop Ivan Bucko at Sts. Sergius and Bacchus Church. He continued his further education in Canada from 1956-1958, taught philosophy to the Basilian students in Mundare and was pastor of the parishes in Krakow and Borschiv, Alberta. From 1958-1959 he was interim pastor of St. John the Baptist parish in Ottawa while teaching philosophy at the University of Ottawa. From 1959-1963 he was the vice-ihumen of the monastery in Mundare, where he taught Latin, Church Slavonic, and the history of Ukraine to the Basilian students. He had various administrative responsibilities in the Most Sacred Heart Province of the Basilian Fathers in Canada, including serving as spiritual director of the newly formed Holy Spirit Seminary in the 1980s. He was the editor of Beacon and did pastoral work in the parishes and missions of the Basilian province, returning to his home parish in Winnipeg in 1985 after a 43-year absence. In November 1995, the Blessed Pope John Paul II appointed Fr. Cornelius Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon. He was ordained a bishop on January 17, 1996 by His Grace Metropolitan Michael Bzdel, CSsR, along with their Excellencies Bishop Basil Filevitch and Bishop Sevarian Yakymyshyn, OSBM. After serving as bishop of Saskatoon for three years, Blessed John Paul II appointed him Eparchial Bishop of the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada for the Ukrainians. In 2003 he was succeeded as bishop by Bishop Stephen Chmilar, whom he co-consecrated along with His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar. Having completed his dedicated service as bishop of Toronto, Bishop Cornelius returned to the Basilian community, residing at the Monastery of St. Gregory of Nyssa in Weston, Ontario, where he continued to engage in pastoral work while assistant editor of the monthly religious periodical Svitlo (The Light). There will be Priestly Parastas at at St. Nicholas Church, 737 Bannerman Avenue on Thursday, February 6 at 7:00 p.m., with Funeral Liturgy on Friday, February 7 at 10:00 a.m. also at the church. Interment to follow at Holy Family Cemetery, 4355 Main Street. Grant, O Lord, rest for your servant of God, the God-loving Bishop Cornelius, and may his memory be eternal. -Vichna Yomu pam'yat! Cropo Funeral Chapel, 204-586-8044

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Feb 03, 2014