Basil Takach

Basil Takach (October 27, 1879 – May 13, 1948) was the first bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church.

Born in a Rusyn village in Máramaros County, Austria-Hungary, he followed the example of his father and his uncle and entered the Ungvár Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 14, 1902, aged 23. He served as a parish priest for nine years. The then Mukacevo Eparch Julius Firczak appointed him as the controller of the Eparchial bank and executive officer of its Unio Publishing Company, as well as the superior of the "Alumneum", the Eparchy's boarding school.

After World War I, he became spiritual director (1920–1924) of the Eparchy's seminary and professor at Ungvár Theological Seminary. At this time he was selected as the new bishop for the newly established Greek Catholic Exarchate in the United States.

Consecrated as a bishop in Rome, Italy on Pentecost Sunday, June 15, 1924, he set sail two months later aboard the liner Mauretania for the United States. On August 13, 1924, a crowd greeted him on the pier of New York Harbor. He led a service of thanksgiving at St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church in New York and followed by a welcoming banquet at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

The new Exarchate had been erected on May 8, 1924 with the official English name "Apostolic Exarchate of the United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Ruthenian)" (Latin: Foederatarum Civitatum Americae Septemtrionalis).

The papal bull appointing Takach as bishop expressly stated that the new episcopal seat was to be New York City. New York, however, had a small Rusyn population. So he established temporary residences, first in Trenton, New Jersey, and later in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, as he deliberated on a more appropriate location.

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