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Sunday, May 12, 2002

By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

While others were eager to talk about the gregarious Franciscan who has been appointed to lead the Byzantine Catholic Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Basil M. Schott himself could not be found for an interview.

That's not unusual, say priests who know him, because the 62-year-old is constantly on the road meeting with his far-flung parishioners.

"He will probably be making frequent parish visits when he gets to Pittsburgh. That is his style, to get out and be with people," said the Rev. Robert Oravetz of SS. Peter & Paul parish in Tarentum, who has worked with Schott on national Eastern Catholic programs of ecumenism and evangelism.

Eastern Catholics have the same liturgical traditions as the Orthodox, but are loyal to the pope. The Byzantine Archdiocese of Pittsburgh stretches from Erie to Texas with 65,000 parishioners and 72 priests in 86 parishes.

Schott will be installed July 9 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Munhall. The next day, the Rev. John M. Kudrick, who has governed the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh for 13 months since the death of Metropolitan Judson Procyk., will be made a bishop and installed as Schott's successor in the Byzantine Catholic Diocese of Parma, Ohio.

Those who know both men say Schott and Kudrick have strong similarities, from Franciscan spirituality to an ability to couple a flair for administrative detail with pastoral concern. Oravetz recalled that, several years ago, when his cousin fell from a roof in McKeesport, Kudrick "practically beat the ambulance to the hospital."

Kudrick said he was "excited and a little overwhelmed" to be sent to Parma, which includes Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago.

But, "If it goes as well as this last year, I should be quite well set. Archbishop Procyk opened up so many doors here that they were wide open when I took over," Kudrick said.

The Byzantine Catholic Archdiocese of Pittsburgh is the only Eastern Catholic church in the United States that is under the direct authority of the pope rather than a patriarch in Eastern Europe or the Middle East. Because of that, Procyk was able to press Rome for the restoration of Eastern traditions, especially for a married priesthood for the United States.

Eastern Catholic married men have always become priests in Europe and the Middle East. But in 1929, Rome banned the practice in America after Latin-rite bishops complained that Slavic priests with wives and children were scandalizing the Irish faithful. The ban led many Eastern Catholics to convert to Orthodoxy.

Procyk did not receive a full restoration, but in 1999 won permission to submit married candidates to Rome for approval on a case-by-case basis. So far there is no married candidate.

Schott is believed to share Procyk's priorities, including a married priesthood.

"I think, in general, he supports Archbishop Judson's easternization policies and will follow in the same lines. I don't think there will be any major breaks with Archbishop Judson," said the Rev. David Petras, a Parma priest who serves as spiritual director in the archdiocesan seminary of SS. Cyril & Methodius.

No matter what Rome does on the issue of married priests, Schott will need to address the administrative challenge of a Byzantine Catholic population that is shifting to the south. About one-third of the archdiocesan parishes have no resident priest.

"I think one of the highest priorities to think about in the immediate future is the distribution of clergy to make sure that everyone has access to a priest," Kudrick said.

According to Oravetz, "If you go and stand in Kennywood park, we have 15 parishes within five miles."

But, two months ago, he traded parishes with a priest from Texas, which is in the Pittsburgh archdiocese. That priest offers Liturgy in the morning in Irving, then drives 250 miles to offer a late afternoon Liturgy in Austin.

"We are really taxing the guys out that way," Oravetz said.

Schott's predecessor in Parma consolidated parishes near Detroit and Chicago, Oravetz said. Some near Detroit had been allowed to dwindle so badly that "there were too few people left to protest," he said.

But a Chicago consolidation proved successful when five suburban congregations merged and built a church building. "It has become an incredibly dynamic parish," Oravetz said.

He doubts Schott will duplicate the Chicago model here because Pittsburgh has many excellent existing buildings, he said.

"We're not talking about any new buildings, just better utilization of the buildings we do have. There will have to be some serious judgments about places that don't have many people and where the maintenance situation is becoming worse."

Schott not only shares Procyk's commitment to reach out beyond the traditional ethnic base for new members, but he also heads the evangelization efforts for all the Eastern Catholics in the United States, Oravetz said. Schott has seen Eastern Catholic parishes in Arizona, where chants are in Spanish as well as English and Old Slavonic.

"The issue is to get the message out that the Byzantine Catholic churches are no longer ethnic. They welcome everybody," Oravetz said.

Schott grew up in Freeland and Hazelton, Luzerne County, near a Byzantine Franciscan friary. He entered the noviate in 1958 and rose to become major superior of the order in the United States.

His advanced degrees are in theology and pastoral counseling. Before becoming a bishop in 1996, he was in nationwide demand as a retreat leader and spiritual director.

Schott has been involved in ecumenical efforts on a national level and has had a long-standing desire for reconciliation with the Orthodox, Oravetz said.

Many years ago, when he was at the monastery in Luzerne County, Schott often filled in for the priest at the Harrisburg parish, where Oravetz grew up. There was an Orthodox church across the street.

"It was just taken for granted that when he was there he would be ringing Orthodox doorbells to say 'hello' to people. That was part of his general nature. He was sort of leading the way when the movement to reconciliation was just starting," Oravetz said.