Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church
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Our Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church
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Metropolitan Archbishop William C. Skurla, D.D.
His Eminence Archbishop William C. Skurla, D.D is the fifth Metropolitan of the Byzantine Catholic (Ruthenian) Metropolitan Church, the only Eastern Catholic Metropolitan Church sui iuris (self-governing)in the United States. As Archbishop, he is also the eighth head of the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, where the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church is based. Leader of the Metropolitan Church in the USA, Metropolitan William heads the Council of Hierarchs, comprised of the bishops of the Byzantine Catholic eparchies of Passaic, Parma, and Phoenix. Archbishop William was born in Duluty, Minnesota, June 1, 1956. He holds a degree in Philosophy from Columbia University in New York City, and Masters of Divnity and a Masters of Theology from Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, Pensylvania. -
Most Reverend Robert Pipta
Bishop of the Eparchy Parma
Bishop Robert was born on April 1967 in Anaheim, California. Raised in southern California, he attended public schools there and completed a Bachelor of Arts program in Music at the University of California, Irvine in 1990. He was a member of Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Anaheim from shortly after its founding in 1969. All of his ordinations took place at his home parish where he served at the altar from the age of six and served as a weekday cantor during his college years. He was formed for the priesthood at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from September 1990 until his priestly ordination on 21 April 1994.
As a priest of the Eparchy of Van Nuys (now Phoenix) he served Saint Stephen Pro-Cathedral (now Cathedral) in Phoenix, Arizona as parochial vicar from May 1994 until August 1997. He then served as administrator of Saint Gabriel the Archangel Church in Las Vegas, Nevada until February 2004. He served as the pastor of Holy Angels Church in San Diego, California until April 2014. He served on the Inter-eparchial Liturgy and Music Commissions and had served as Eparchial Vocations Director for over nineteen years. Since May of 2014, he served as the rector of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh until his appointment as the Bishop of the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio. -
Most Reverend Kurt Burnette
Bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic
Bishop Burnette was born in Norfolk County, England in 1955. He was ordained a priest for the Eparchy of Van Nuys in 1989. He received a licentiate in canon law from the Pontificium Institutum Orientale in Rome in 2007 and holds a doctorate in civil law from Newport University. He also has earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and electrical engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Utah. He has served as a pastor, professor and canonical judge across the United States, including serving as dean of the School of Religion at Newport University from 1995 to 2002, and administrator of St. Irene Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon from 1998 to 2004. He has also served for several Tribunals, including those in the dioceses of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Gallup, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Eparchy of Van Nuys. Bishop Burnette also served as a priest of the Eparchy of Phoenix and as rector of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh. He was ordained as Bishop and enthroned as the Fifth Bishop of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Passaic on December 4, 2013 at Saint Michael the Archangel Cathedral, Passaic, New Jersey. -
Most Reverend John Stephen Pazak, C.SsR., D.D.
Bishop Emeritus of Eparchy of Phoenix
His Grace Bishop John Stephen Pazak , C.Ss.R. DD. served as the fifth Bishop of Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix from July 2016 to August 2021.Born in Gary Indiana, Bishop Emeritus John entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorist) in 1965. He was ordained a priest on August 27, 1972, and served as a parish priest, rector of St. Vladimir’s College and superior Redemptorist scholasticate throughout Canada.
Bishop Emeritus John was appointed Bishop of the Slovak Catholic Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto on December 2, 2000, and was consecrated a bishop on February 14, 2001. Pope Francis named Bishop John the Eparch of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary on May 7, 2016, and was enthroned on July 20, 2016. Bishop Emeritus John submitted his letter of resignation upon his 75th birthday on August 13, 2021, which Pope Francis accepted on August 23, 2021.