On Wednesday, January 15, 2020, Vatican officials announced that Pope Francis had accepted the abdication of the pastoral position by Petro Stasiuk, Bishop of the UGCC Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia.
On Wednesday, January 15, 2020, Vatican officials announced that Pope Francis had accepted the abdication of the pastoral position by Petro Stasiuk, Bishop of the UGCC Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia.
At the same time, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Mykola Bychok (a CSsR hieromonk and a parish associate at the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, USA.) new Diocesan Bishop.
This was reported by the UGCC Information Department.
Background reference
Nominee bishop Mykola Bychok was born on February 13, 1980, in Ternopil. In July 1997, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, while conducting monastic and theological formation in Ukraine and Poland after obtaining a license in pastoral theology. Having taken his vows on August 17, 2003, he was ordained a priest on May 3, 2005.
Fr. Mykola conducted liturgies at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Prokopyevsk (Russian Federation); he was Rector of the Redemptorist Fathers Monastery and Ivano-Frankivsk Parish, and a provincial provisor. Since 2015, he serves at the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, USA, Philadelphia Archdiocese of the UGCC.
Australian Diocese
The Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia, was founded on June 24, 1982, when the Apostolic Exarchate for Byzantine Ukrainians in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania (founded in 1958) was elevated. The Diocese's territory covers all of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. Since 1992 it has been headed by Bishop Petro Stasiuk, CSsR, who will turn 77 this year in July.