A biannual gathering of more than 220 clergy and laity of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church, 16-20 July, aims to deepen faith, strengthen community ties and engage in discussions shaping the church’s future in North America.
Organizers of the five-day assembly are encouraging a spirit of prayer, exchange, renewal and dialogue among participants and with church leaders through interviews, presentations, themed small-group meet-ups, and welcoming spaces for small or large group conversation.
The event will highlight the history of the Byzantine Catholic Church in North America, founded by Eastern European immigrants in the mid-19th century, and share best practices for evangelization within the Eastern tradition.
Archbishop Michel Jalakh, O.A.M., secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, will be the keynote speaker at the assembly, hosted this year by St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church in Whiting, Indiana, a 126-year-old parish located a stone’s throw from Chicago.
The first two days are dedicated to clergy, followed by a three-day, family-friendly program which is themed, “Come Let Us Worship and Bow Before Christ.”
One of the fruits of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, which concluded in October 2024, was Pope Francis’ declaration of a study group that would explore the relationship of the Eastern Catholic churches to the universal church. The future sustainability of the Eastern churches, especially outside their lands of origin — with so many of their members on the front lines of war and conflict and migrating to the West — was also a concern.
Archbishop Jalakh will engage this topic in his keynote and with the faithful, from both the U.S. and Canada, who are encouraged to engage in discussion about the future of Eastern Catholicism in North America and its relationship to the global church.
Pope Leo XIV’s first public address after his election to participants at the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches renewed attention to the suffering of the Eastern churches in their traditional territories. In line with the Holy Father’s reflections, Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari, CNEWA president, will give a keynote on 19 July titled, “CNEWA & Eastern Spiritualities: A Call to Prayer and Action.”
Laura Ieraci, editor of ONE magazine, and her husband, Father Andrew Summerson, pastor of St. Mary’s, will give a keynote on their eight-year collaboration with parishioners to renew the historic parish.
The four Byzantine Ruthenian bishops in North America — Metropolitan William Skurla of the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, Bishop Kurt Burnette of Passaic, New Jersey, and administrator of the Exarchate of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Canada, Bishop Robert Pipta of Parma, Ohio, and Bishop Artur Bubnevych of Phoenix — are also among the speakers.
Other presenters include Ukrainian Greek Catholic Deacon Daniel Galadza, whose responsibilities at the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches include liturgy and education; Gianfranco Grande, executive vice president of Partners for Sacred Places; Melita Mudri-Zubacz, a church musician and pastoral educator, and David Bratnick, a filmmaker and senior video editor with Ascension Press.
Metropolitan William Skurla of Pittsburgh will celebrate the closing Divine Liturgy at the parish’s outdoor Shrine of the Protection of the Mother of God on 20 July.
After the liturgy, Archbishop Jalakh will lead a procession through Whiting, in which the city’s three Roman Catholic parishes and local council of the Knights of Columbus will participate, and end at Whiting Lakefront Park with a brief prayer and luncheon.