Ceremony of Enthronement of Bishop Borys Gudziak Held in Paris

The ceremony of enthronement of Bishop Borys Gudziak as Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland was held on December 2 at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Liturgy was led by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk in concelebration with bishops and dozens of priests of the UGCC from various countries, representatives of Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Archbishop of Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois participated in the ceremony. The events began with a procession from the UGCC St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral was packed with people.

During his address, Patriarch Sviatoslav stressed the historic importance of the moment for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Primate stated that the Exarchate is faced with considerable challenges and tasks: “We are to share the treasure of the faith of our martyr church with modern people living in the secularized world. We must show the world the young face of our church with a history of more than a thousand years. This exarchate forms a special space of communication between God and man in which our church is called to serve. It is important that this space should become a European intellectual center of our church where we are to share the faith and hope with all the people of good will.”