Catholic, yes, but not Roman
Phila.'s Ukrainian archbishop has his own church to run. Like other religious leaders, he faces worrisome trends.

A few miles from Roman Catholic Archbishop Justin Rigali's downtown Philadelphia headquarters, another Catholic archbishop toils in relative obscurity.

Archbishop Stefan Soroka is prelate of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, a position that makes him the titular leader of the nation's 110,000 Ukrainian Catholics.

Philadelphia is the only U.S. city with two Catholic archbishops, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. And in a display of crosstown unity, Soroka was accorded a moment of high honor at Rigali's installation ceremony this month, joining the new Roman archbishop at the altar at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.

Soroka, now 51, is the youngest bishop ever appointed to the Philadelphia post, historically reserved for more senior clergy. Pope John Paul II's selection of the Canadian native three years ago may be a recognition, insiders say, that the future of the Eastern Rite church needed the energy of a younger man.

"Sometimes I think I would have liked a little more time to prepare and try to live up to the expectations," Soroka said in an interview this month. "But my colleagues had confidence in me, and in the end, the good Lord will see if I have passed the test."

The Ukrainian church is one of 18 Eastern Rite churches that are part of the international Catholic Church. Though under the jurisdiction of the Vatican, Eastern Rite churches are largely autonomous and operate independent of Roman Catholic archdioceses. Their liturgies resemble Eastern Orthodox worship.

From his headquarters in lower North Philadelphia, Soroka is implementing a plan to energize a church in transition.

Local membership is declining - to 67,359, from 72,500 five years ago - and there is a shortage of priests. There are worries about intermarriage and the social mobility that takes young families away from Ukrainian population centers. In the midst of those changes, the church is taking on a new character as congregations evolve from being tight-knit ethnic enclaves of Ukrainians to become homes for a more diverse community of the faithful.

The national church is at a critical stage, said the Rev. Andriy Chirovsky, a founding director and religion professor at the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario.

"We can't delude ourselves. We have lost over one-half of our membership since the height in the 1960s," Chirovsky said.

Soroka has taken steps to fight the trends, encouraging parishes to initiate programs that appeal to young people and doing a bit of reorganization that he hopes will energize parishes.

The archdiocese is in the middle of a study that may result in the closing of several parishes and the relocation of another because of population shifts. A team to recruit candidates for vocations has been created. The archdiocese also plans to start a local museum chronicling Ukrainian heritage to raise the profile of the church.

Soroka has reassigned about 30 of the archdiocese's 60 priests, seeking, he said, to better match pastoral talents with the needs of a congregation.

He dismissed three priests, who had come here from Ukraine, because of somebody he describes as "attitude" problems. "In some cultures, the priest is the boss," he said, "and that is not true here. Right away you have conflict, and I think we have to set some standard."

Soroka said he would continue the Eastern practice of ordaining already-married men, even though the Vatican has officially forbidden it for Eastern Rite churches in North America.

"We are allowed to exercise our right," Soroka said. "Just not on paper."

Soroka was appointed by the Pope in November 2000 to replace Archbishop Stephen M. Sulyk, who resigned at age 76.

The Rev. Joseph Loya, a religion professor at Villanova University, said he regarded the appointment as a sign of a new era.

"His predecessor was considered a bridge or link between the older generation and the new, younger way of thinking," Loya said. "I think Archbishop Soroka represents... pastoring that is reflective of an outward, instead of internal focus."

Soroka is the son of immigrant parents who settled in Canada after World War II. The Soroka household was a modest and religious one where the archbishop's mother was primarily a homemaker but sometimes cleaned offices in the evenings. His father was a laborer for the railroad.

As a teenager, Soroka struggled with crippling shyness. He overcame the condition enough to work as a prison guard while in college.

He earned degrees in social work at the University of Manitoba and entered the profession, working with offenders on probation.

Meanwhile, his road toward the priesthood wasn't a smooth one. Soroka had a girlfriend. He was thinking of marriage and a family. But something "didn't sit right," he said. Even his girlfriend said he should take the time to be sure.

He decided not to marry and entered the priesthood.

"I haven't looked back," he said.

Soroka was ordained in 1982 and served as a parish priest and in administrative positions with the Winnipeg Archeparchy, in Manitoba. He was named a bishop in 1996, at the time the youngest Ukrainian bishop in Canada.

Chirovsky describes Soroka as "affable and approachable," whereas his predecessor was more "reserved."

The archbishop calls impatience among his shortcomings. He likes Seinfeld reruns, Disney movies, and music that pairs classical compositions with the sounds of nature. He has seen Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion, and told Gibson that it was a bloody and disappointing movie that offers no hope.

Hope is something the archbishop holds dear.

"I have much hope for our church," Soroka said. "And much of that hope is around our response in reaching out to the young. If we don't respond to the needs of the young and the new immigrants, the future of the church won't be as bright."