St. Stephen Cathedral (Phoenix, Arizona)
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - St. Stephen Cathedral (Phoenix, Arizona)
OR:
St. Stephen Cathedral (Phoenix, Arizona) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The St. Stephen Cathedral is a Ruthenian Greek Catholic cathedral located in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
, United States. It is the cathedral for the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix.


History

Byzantine Catholics moved to the western United States from the east and in Phoenix they began to plan for a church of their own as early as 1956. Ten years later they formally requested a parish from Bishop Nicholas Elko of
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
. Permission was granted to acquire the property of the former St. Thomas the Apostle Antiochene Orthodox Church in 1968. The first
Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy () or Holy Liturgy is the usual name used in most Eastern Christian rites for the Eucharistic service. The Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Lutheranism, Eastern Lutheran Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church believe the Divi ...
was celebrated on Easter Sunday. The church was dedicated by Bishop
Stephen Kocisko Stephen John Kocisko (June 11, 1915 – March 7, 1995) was the first Metropolitan Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the United States, American branch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church Early life Bo ...
under the patronage of St. Stephen, the Proto-Martyr, on June 28, 1968. The Rev. Paul Bovankovich was appointed the parish's first pastor. A
rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...
and parish hall were built in 1974, and a
columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...
was added in 1991. The
Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds a ...
in 1994 damaged the chancery offices of the Eparchy of Van Nuys and the Cathedral of St. Mary. Bishop George Kuzma and his staff relocated to Phoenix and as a result St. Stephen's was named the
pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...
. In 2010 the Eparchy of Van Nuys was officially renamed the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix and St. Stephen's was elevated to a cathedral from its pro-cathedral status. In 2016, Father Diodoro Mendoza was appointed rector and pastor of St. Stephen Cathedral. In 2016, Bishop John Stephen Pazak succeeded Bishop Gerald Nicholas Dino as the bishop. Bishop Dino died on November 14, 2020. Bishop Pazak retired in August 2021 and is a Bishop Emeritus. Bishop Thomas Olmsted served as Apostolic Administrator from 2018-2023, under appointment by Pope Francis. Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Eparchy of Passaic succeeded Bishop Olmsted, and was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix by Pope Francis in 2023. The current eparch is Artur Bubnevych who was installed on 28 January 2025.


Gallery

Phoenix - Saint Stephen Byzantine Catholic Cathedral - 4.jpg, The church from behind Phoenix - Saint Stephen Byzantine Catholic Cathedral - 6.jpg, Iconostasis Phoenix - Saint Stephen Byzantine Catholic Cathedral - 11.jpg, Chair Phoenix - Saint Stephen Byzantine Catholic Cathedral - 13.jpg, Deacon door


See also

*
List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States The Catholic Church in the United States comprises ecclesiastical territories called dioceses, eparchies, and ordinariates led by prelate Ordinary (church officer), ordinaries known as bishops. Each bishop is assigned to a cathedral from which ...
*
List of cathedrals in the United States This is a list of cathedrals in the United States, including both actual cathedrals (seats of bishops in Episcopal polity, episcopal Christian groups, such as Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy an ...


References


External links


Official Cathedral Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Stephen Cathedral, Phoenix, Arizona Christian organizations established in 1968 Eastern Catholic churches in Arizona Rusyn-American culture in Arizona Rusyn-American history Ukrainian-American culture in Arizona Stephen, Phoenix Churches in Phoenix, Arizona Catholic cathedrals in Arizona