Most Reverend Michael Bzdel (CSsR) Archbishop Emeritus of Winnipeg, passed away late in the evening of Tuesday, 3 April, at his residence in Winnipeg.
Funeral Services will be held in Winnipeg beginning on Wednesday, 11 April 2012, at 7:00 pm at Sts. Vladimir & Olga Cathedral, with Hierarchical Parastas. Services will continue on Thursday, 12 April 2012, at 10:00 am at St. Joseph’s Church, with the Divine Liturgy and concluding rites, followed by burial at Holy Family Cemetery.
Bzdel, Michael (Mykhailo), born 21 July 1930 in Wishart, Saskatchewan. Ukrainian Catholic archbishop and metropolitan. Educated in Roblin, Manitoba at (the future) Saint Vladimir’s College, he began a novitiate with the Redemptorist Fathers in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. He completed his studies in theology and philosophy in Waterford and Meadowvale, Ontario (1948–55) and was ordained in 1954. His first major assignment was as a parish priest in Roblin (1955–67), where he also taught at Saint Vladimir’s College. He subsequently served in Winnipeg (1967–71), Saskatoon (1972–81), and Yorkton and district (1981–4), with a sabbatical (1971–2) that allowed him to study pastoral counseling at Saint Paul’s University in Ottawa. In 1983–92 he served as Provincial Superior for the Redemptorists’ Yorkton province. Early in 1993 he was ordained as Archbishop of Winnipeg (and ipso facto Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan of Canada). He retired from this position early in 2006.