Manitoba priest appointed bishop in B.C.

Manitoba priest appointed bishop in B.C.

With a background as a parish priest, church administrator, scholar and educator, a Manitoba-born Ukrainian Catholic parish priest anticipates his new assignment as bishop will employ all those skills and experiences.

Now priest of Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Parish on Boyd Avenue, Rev. Michael Kwiatkowski, 61, will become bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of New Westminster sometime this fall.

“I’m excited about the possibility of doing things on a grander scale than in a parish,” says the Elphinstone-born Kwiatkowski about the new appointment.

“Your flock is multiplied.”

With a dozen churches and more than 1,200 registered members, the British Columbia eparchy may be the smallest of the five in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada, but it covers a large region, including Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan and parts of northern B.C. as well as the Yukon, says Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak.

“The job also requires visiting people in their parishes and organizations and (attending) events that take place,” says the native of Vernon, B.C.

Kwiatkowski comes to the job after 14 years as a parish priest in Winnipeg, serving Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Parish for more than a decade before moving to his current North End parish in 2021.

Ordained in 1986 in Brandon by former Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk, the new bishop spent the early part of his career as the associate pastor in Blessed Virgin Ukrainian Catholic parish, the same one he is now leaving after two years as pastor, says parish council co-chair Irene Hanuta, who admits to mixed feelings about Kwiatkowski’s new appointment.

“He’s so enthusiastic about everything,” she says of the qualities Kwiatkowski brings to parish life.

“He’s such a desiring person for this promotion, both for his spiritual devotion and his theological studies.”

With a doctoral degree in Eastern Canon Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, Kwiatkowski brought a scholarly understanding to his work as chancellor for the Archeparchy of Winnipeg, says Huculak, who also carries the role of Archbishop of Winnipeg.

“I think he’s well suited (for the role) because he served in the bishop’s office for many years and in Ukraine when the church was coming out of the Soviet era,” says Huculak, referring to Kwiatkowski’s years in Lviv as chancellor and spiritual director at a theological academy.

Kwiatkowski put his studies of the role of laity in church governance into action at the parish level, says Hanuta, recruiting volunteers and even encouraging her to get involved after years of being away from the church.

“He is good in talking to everybody and bringing them into the parish,” says Hanuta, who returned to the parish where she grew up.

The date of Kwiatkowski’s ordination as bishop has still to be set, depending on the whether the head of Ukrainian Catholic Church can travel from Kyiv to Canada for the ceremony, says Huculak.

He says the ongoing war in Ukraine keeps His Beatitude Sviatoslav close to home, although he does plan to attend the upcoming gathering of Ukrainian Catholic bishops in Rome.

“He has the right to ordain all the Ukrainian Catholic bishops in the world,” says Huculak of the head bishop’s role.

Kwiatkowski will also attend the Rome meetings as part of his new appointment, and is preparing for the ceremonial aspects of his future role by ordering vestments and getting fitted for a mitre, the head covering worn by a bishop at official functions.

Other Canadian bishops have passed on a large gold cross to wear with his robes and a bishop’s staff, known as a crozier.

He remains humbled by his new appointment, viewing it as an opportunity to share his Christian beliefs with those around him.

“I grew up in the faith and it’s always been important to me,” says Kwiatkowski, whose father was ordained to the priesthood later in life.

“I couldn’t imagine a world without faith and without the church.”

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