Metropolitan-Archbishop Emeritus Stephen Sulyk
Born into life—October 2, 1924
Born into Eternal Life—April 6, 2020
Stephen Sulyk was born to Michael and Mary Denys Sulyk on October 2, 1924 in Balnycia, a village in the Lemko District of the Carpathian mountains in Western Ukraine. In 1944, he graduated from high school in Sambir. After graduation, the events of World War II forced him to leave his native land and share the experience of a refugee.
He entered the Ukrainian Catholic Seminary of the Holy Spirit in Hirschberg, Germany. In 1948, he migrated to the United States and continued his priestly studies at Saint Josaphat’s Seminary and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
In 1952, he received his S.T.L. degree from the Catholic University of America and was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1952 at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Philadelphia.
After ordination, he served as assistant pastor in Omaha, Nebraska; Brooklyn, NY; St. Nicholas parish in Minersville, PA, and Youngstown, Ohio. He received his first pastoral assignment in 1955 in Phoenixville, Pa. with the additional responsibilities as Chancery Secretary.
From July 1, 1957 until October 5, 1961 he was pastor of St. Michael’s Church in Frackville, Pa. During his short tenure of four years, he built, furnished and paid for a new church and parish social hall. Annual gross income rose from $10,000 in 1957 to $60,000 in what was considered a financially depressed area.
After a short stay at St. Nicholas parish in Philadelphia, on March 22, 1962, he was appointed pastor of Assumption Church, Perth Amboy, NJ. Within a year, he completed a new elementary school. During his pastorate, he converted the rectory into a convent for nuns, built a new rectory, purchased and landscaped additional parish grounds and renovated the parish church. He also compiled and printed a series of bi-lingual texts for use in liturgical services. On May 31, 1968, His Holiness Pope Paul VI granted him the dignity of Papal Chaplain with the title of Monsignor.
On December 29, 1980 he was appointed Metropolitan-Archbishop of Philadelphia by Pope John Paul II. He was consecrated bishop in Rome on March 1, 1981.
He supervised the construction of a new chancery center and bishop’s residence and cathedral rectory. He renovated the sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral and landscaped the adjoining grounds. He established the Seminary Endowment Fund to finance the education of seminarians and to provide income for St. Josaphat’s Seminary.
At the request of the Vatican, he was involved in sensitive diplomatic talks with members of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine at the time the Soviet Union was collapsing, Ukraine was becoming an independent nation and the Ukrainian Catholic Church was emerging from its existence as a persecuted catacomb church under atheistic communism of the Soviets.
He has served on various committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
After reaching the canonical age for retirement, Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation on November 29, 2000.
June 14, 2002 was the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the Holy Priesthood and his Golden Jubilee was observed with the celebration of a hierarchical Divine Liturgy and a testimonial banquet on June 23, 2002.
During his retirement years, he lived in Cherry Hill, NJ