Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London

The number of faithful in the Eparchy (diocese) numbers 10,000. There are 12 parishes regularly served, 14 diocesan priests, 3 religious priests, 3 male religious and 3 female religious.[10]

The Eparchy (formerly Apostolic Exarchate) for Ukrainian Catholics in Great Britain is a registered charity with the Charity Commission in England and Wales, under charity number 240088. It was first registered as a charity on 9 July 1965. Its stated aim is 'the advancement of religion at discretion of the bishop and his successors in title or the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Great Britain'.[11]

Church of SS Mary and James, Oldham, Greater Manchester

There has, for a long time, been different views among Ukrainian Catholics on the idea of a Kyiv Patriarchate, replacing the Major Archdiocese.[12]

Hornyak was the first apostolic exarch, was known to have sided with those who did not believe that it would be appropriate for the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church – who was then Cardinal Josyf Slipyj – to be commemorated as Patriarch until the Pope would agree to elevate the Major Archdiocese to a Patriarchate.[13]

Since most of the faithful in the Apostolic Exarchate were patriotic and nationalist veterans of the Ukrainian Army, which was created in resistance to the German occupational forces, most supported the idea of a Patriarchate. They were therefore disappointed by the Bishop Hornyak's decision. Many showed their opposition through withholding their donations to the Church. A few Ukrainian Catholic priests came from Rome and began to celebrate Divine Liturgy privately in the faithful's homes commemorating the Major Archbishop as Patriarch – an act which angered Bishop Hornyak.

However, some people chose even more extreme methods of expressing their disagreement with Bishop Hornyak. For example, on 18 December 1977, when Bishop Hornyak went to Gloucester to open the new Ukrainian Catholic church, he was met by around 500 demonstrators who ignored the police cordon line and attacked him, bruising his face and crushing his glasses. This forced him to retreat back into his car.[14][15]

Stephen Sulyk, Archbishop Metropolitan Emeritus for Ukrainian Catholics in Philadelphia, wrote in his autobiography, I Am With You Always, that Bishop Hornyak was eventually forced into retirement due to pressure from the Patriarchal Organization – which advocated a Kyiv Patriarchate – and the Major Archbishop of Lviv, Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky (Sulyk's predecessor) unfairly due to his backing of Vatican policies. However, many supporting the creation of a Kyiv Patriarchate viewed Bishop Hornyak's retirement as a good sign.[13]

Former apostolic exarch Paul Patrick Chomnycky celebrating Divine Liturgy at Farm Street Catholic Church, London to the regular cathedral congregation, on 26 August 2007, after the roof of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile collapsed.

When the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians in England and Wales was first established in 1957, it was administered by the then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal William Godfrey. Bishop Augustine Hornyak was ordained as auxiliary bishop in 1961. Upon the death of Cardinal Godfrey in 1963, Augustine Hornyak was elevated to Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainians in England and Wales. In 1968, with the enlargement of the Apostolic Exarchate to include Scotland as well, Bishop Hornyak became the first Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainians in Great Britain. He has been succeeded by two other bishops.

On 2 June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, M.S.U., who had been an auxiliary to Cardinal Lubomyr Husar in Kyiv-Halych, as Apostolic Administrator of Great Britain and Apostolic Visitor in Ireland, which for all intents and purposes made him the new ordinary. In 2011, he was appointed Apostolic Exarch, and with the elevation of the Exarchate to the status of an Eparchy, Lonchyna became her first eparchial bishop.

Collapsed roof of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile, London

Named for the Holy Family, the cathedral was established in 1967 in an 1890 Alfred Waterhouse building. The edifice was the third home of an independent church founded in the 17th century, the King's Weigh House congregationalists, which dissolved after terminal decline in 1966. The cathedral is the seat of the Eparch (bishop) and is in Mayfair, London. It has a regular congregation of around 1000. Clerics are eparchial secular priests.

• Ukrainian migration to the United Kingdom
• Catholic Church in England and Wales
• Catholic Church

• Hebblethwaite, Peter (1986). Inside the Vatican. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.
• Kaye, Elaine (1968). The King's Weigh House Church. London: George Allen and Unwin.
• Stephens, WB, ed. (1969). "The City of Coventry: Roman Catholicism". A History of the County of Warwick. Victoria County History. Vol. 8, the City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick. London: Oxford University Press for the University of London Institute of Historical Research. pp. 368–371.
• Sulyk, Stephen (2004). I Am Always With You. Pleasant Word. ISBN 978-1414100623.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Holy Family of London.

• GCatholic.org information page on the Apostolic Exarchate/Eparchy
• Catholic-Hierarchy.org information on the Apostolic Exarchate
• Youtube video of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar's visit to London
• Decree of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family in London on the transition to the Gregorian calendar dated June 9, 2023
  • Pastoral letter regarding the liturgical calendar reform from Bishop Kenneth