Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia is the Catholic archdiocese governing all Ukrainian Catholic dioceses and Ukrainian Catholics in the United States. Its headquarters are at 827 North Franklin Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The current metropolitan is the Most Reverend Stefan Soroka. The Archeparchy's territorial jurisdiction includes the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and the eastern and central portions of Pennsylvania.
Ukrainian Catholics in the United States were given sui iuris status as an ordinariate by Pope St. Pius X in 1914. Prior to that, all Ukrainian Catholics had been under the jurisdiction of the local Roman ordinary. In 1924, the status of the ordiniariate 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 Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, erected by Pope John Paul II.[1] The archeparchy's suffragen eparchies include Saint Josaphat in Parma, Saint Nicolas of Chicago, and Stamford.
The seat of the Archeparchy is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, located across the street from the Archeparchy's offices. It hosted a papal visit by Pope John Paul II in 1979 -- 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.
Currently, the Archeparchy has approximately 67,250 Catholics and 74 parishes under its canonical jurisdiction.[2]
