[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 172 (Thursday, November 19, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING JOSYF SLIPYJ

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE QUIGLEY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 19, 2009

  Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the lifelong 
service and dedication of the Servant of God, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj to 
the Ukrainian Church and community. He died on September 7, 1984, and 
on November 22nd, 2009, a monument will be raised in his memory at the 
Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Parish.
  Josyf Slipyj was born on February 17, 1892 in the village of 
Zazdrist, Ternopil region, Ukraine, into the Kobernytskyj-Slipyj and 
Anastasia Dychkovska families. He completed grammar school in his 
village and secondary school in Ternopil. He studied theology in Lviv, 
and completed his philosophical and theological studies in Innsbruck, 
Austria.
  He was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Andrej Sheptytsky 
on September 30, 1917.
  He returned to Innsbruck to continue his post-graduate studies, 
attaining a doctorate in sacred theology. From there he traveled to 
Rome where he was bestowed with the title Magister Agregatus.
  He began lecturing in 1922 on dogmatic theology at Lviv Theological 
Seminary. Toward the end of 1925 he was appointed rector of this 
institution, and in 1929 he was appointed rector of the newly created 
Theological Academy. In 1939 metropolitan Andrej consecrated him bishop 
with the right of succession. On November 1, 1944, he became head of 
the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
  On April 11, 1945 he was arrested by the Bolsheviks and given an 
eight year sentence of hard labor in Siberia. After this ended and 
without any cause, he was imprisoned a second time for an unspecified 
term. In 1957 he was given a third term--seven years of hard labor. Due 
to the efforts of Pope John XXIII and U.S. President John F. Kennedy he 
was freed in 1963 to take part in the sessions of the Second Vatican 
Council.
  Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Chicago, 
Illinois was founded in 1968 by Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. Among the 
reasons for establishing this distinct parish was the desire to 
preserve and more intensely nurture the traditions of the Ukrainian 
Church. The elements contributing to the Ukrainian Church's 
distinctiveness within the Universal Catholic Church are the Julian 
Calendar, a traditional liturgy, as well as a unique spiritual 
heritage.
  Members of the parish are proud of the fact that Patriarch Josyf 
Slipyj was involved in all significant events of the parish's 
development. Besides establishing the parish, Patriarch Josyf blessed 
the cornerstone of the church and subsequently, in 1973, blessed the 
church itself. The reason for the parishioners' pride had to do with 
the Patriarch's position in the Catholic Church as a Confessor for the 
Faith.
  Taking the lead from his predecessor Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky 
(+1944), as well as the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, Josyf 
Slipyj worked to restore self-government to the Ukrainian Catholic 
Church in the form of a Patriarchate. In 1965, he was made a cardinal 
by Pope Paul VI.
  He died on September 7, 1984. In 1992 his remains were brought to 
Lviv, where they, in the presence of more than one million faithful, 
were re-interred in the crypt of St. George's Cathedral. Patriarch 
Josyf Slipyj has been proclaimed a Servant of God and the Ukrainian 
faithful pray for his beatification.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the 
great sacrifices and contributions Patriarch Josyf Slipyj made in his 
lifetime. His monument will stand as a reminder to all of his great 
achievements to future generations.

                          ____________________