Roman Danylak (December 29, 1930 – October 7, 2012) was a Canadian Ukrainian Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Life

Roman Danylak was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on December 29, 1930. He was ordained to the

Catholic priesthood The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned (" ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers onl ...

in 1957 at St. Josaphat's Seminary Chapel in Rome and ministered to Ukrainian Catholics in Canada. He received a

licentiate of sacred theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus; abbreviated STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theol ...

from the

Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...

and a doctorate of canon and civil law from the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Ponti ...

. From 1973–1990, Father Danylak served as a

consultor A consultor is one who gives counsel, i.e., a counselor. In the Catholic Church, it is a specific title for various advisory positions: *in the Roman Curia, a consultor is a specially appointed expert who may be called upon for advice desired by ...

to the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches. In 1992, while serving as the

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of St. Josaphat Cathedral and

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the eparchal chancery, he was appointed

Apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

''sede plena'' of the

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto The Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the Catholic Church in the eastern part of Canada, primarily Ontario. The eparchy is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province ...

and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Nyssa by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. His appointment proved controversial, as the incumbent bishop, 81-year-old Isidore Borecky, refused to retire even though he had passed the mandatory retirement age of 75 established by

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

. It was also rumored that Borecky had requested a

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

or auxiliary bishop, not an administrator, and that Father Danylak had not been nominated for the position by the Ukrainian

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

. After six years of conflict between the two bishops, Bishop

Lubomyr Husar Lubomyr Husar MSU ( uk, Любомир Гузар, Liubomyr Huzar; 26 February 1933 – 31 May 2017) was the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the first elected in independent Ukraine. He was also a cardinal of the C ...

, Apostolic administrator of

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

, negotiated a resolution whereby Borecky retired and Danylak was reassigned to "special responsibilities in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

", resulting in the vacancy of the Toronto eparchy effective June 24, 1998. Bishop

Cornelius Pasichny Cornelius John Pasichny (27 March 1927 in Winnipeg – 30 January 2014 in Toronto) was the Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon (1995–1998) and of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada (1998–2003) in C ...

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

was appointed the new bishop on July 1 of that year. In Rome, Danylak served as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

of the

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...

. Danylak died at age 81 in Toronto on October 7, 2012.

Views

During his retirement in Italy, Danylak supported certain claims by individuals to have seen

visions of Jesus and Mary Since the Crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary, a number of people have claimed to have had visions of Jesus Christ and personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding his mother, Mary, who is often known as the Virgin Mary. ...

, claims about which the Holy See or the bishop holding responsibility as ordinary had expressed reservations or an explicitly negative judgement: *The Garabandal apparitions *

Maria Valtorta Maria Valtorta (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, ...

's ''

Poem of the Man God ''The Poem of the Man-God'' (Italian title: ''Il Poema dell'Uomo-Dio'') is a multi-volume book of about five thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by Maria Valtorta. The current editions of the book bear the title ''The Gospel as Rev ...

'' * Alleged miracle in Naju, KoreaBishop Roman Danylak, "The Eucharistic Miracle of Naju (The Sacred Heart of the Divine Victim)"
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danylak, Roman Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Canadian Eastern Catholic bishops Canon law jurists 1930 births 2012 deaths