Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago

Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago Eparchia Sancti Nicolai Chicagiensis Ucrainorum
The interior of St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois
Location
Territory	Western United States, all of the Midwest (except Ohio), Alaska, and Hawaii
Ecclesiastical province	Ukrainian Catholic Metropolia of Philadelphia
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Population - Catholics	12,000
Information
Sui iuris church	Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Rite	Byzantine
Established	July 14, 1961
Cathedral	St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Major Archbishop	Sviatoslav Shevchuk
Bishop	Venedykt Aleksiychuk, M.S.U.
Metropolitan Archbishop	Stefan Soroka, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
Website
Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago

The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago is a diocese of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church which has jurisdiction over the entire western United States, all of the Midwest (except Ohio), Alaska, and Hawaii. However, their parishes are limited to the presence of Ukrainian Catholics and thus only have a presence in 15 states.

The Bishop of the eparchy is Venedykt Aleksiychuk as of the 20th of April, 2017. St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral is the mother church of the eparchy.

Ukrainian communal life in Chicago began on December 31, 1905, when fifty-one immigrants came together at 939 Robey (now Damen Avenue) to establish St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Ruthenian Catholic parish.

In 1906, a Danish Lutheran Church was purchased at Superior and Bishop Streets for $8,000. A twelve-member board of trustees was elected with the pastor, Fr. Victor Kovaletsky, as chairman, and Dr. Volodymyr Simenovych, a medical doctor, as secretary. Underscoring their commitment to their eastern-rite, Greek Catholic origins, (and fearing future incorporation by Latin-rite or Irish Catholic bishops) the board passed a resolution specifying:

...that all property of said church which may hereafter be acquired be held in the name of its incorporated name but under no conditions shall said church or its priests or pastors be ever under the jurisdiction of bishop or bishops except those of the same faith and rite.

The founders of St. Nicholas also stipulated that in addition to “religious-moral” goals, parishioners were pledged “To elevate ourselves through the support of a school, a reading room, political clubs and whatever else is deemed necessary.”

Fr. Kovaletsky left St. Nicholas in the spring of 1907. He was succeeded that same year by Fr. Nicholas Strutynsky, a recent arrival from Ukraine, who remained at St. Nicholas until 1921. It was during his—and his equally energetic wife’s—tenure that Chicago’s Ukrainian community grew, prospered, and became irrevocably Ukrainian in ethno-national thinking, feeling and action.

Immigrants from Ukraine continued to pour into Chicago and by 1911 it became clear that a new, larger church was needed. “Let us move west where much land is still available,” urged Dr. Simenovych at a parish meeting in March. “We can build a glorious new church; we can all purchase lots near the church; we can eventually build our homes on these lots and, with God’s help, we can have our own, ‘new Rus’ right here in Chicago.”