Today, in our story, we want to reflect on Metropolitan Stephen Sulyk, whose fourth anniversary of death we prayerfully remembered on April 6th. He peacefully passed away at the age of 96, after serving as a zealous priest in our Archdiocese for 29 years. Therefore, we would like to share a few moments related to his priestly vocation and service.
In 1944, a young Stephen Sulyk found himself in a refugee camp in Germany due to the hardships of wartime. Initially considering a career in medicine, he felt the call of God to the priesthood. One of his advisers at that time was Yurij Fedoriv, who later also became a priest in the Toronto eparchy. Embracing God's will, Sulyk began his studies at the Ukrainian Holy Spirit Seminary, which had recently relocated to Germany. The seminary was housed in Schloss Hirschberg (Hirschberg Castle) for two years, from 1946 to 1948. Interestingly, Mussolini and
Horthy (Italian and Hungarian dictators) were previously held in this castle as special or honored detainees. After these two years, with the assistance of his uncle Dmytro Stets, Stephen left for the United States in October 1948.
Upon arriving in America, Sulyk initially worked for a month at the Ford car factory in Detroit and then at the Kroger meat warehouse. In 1949, he commenced his studies at the seminary in Washington, D.C. (then located in a simple house at 714 Monroe Street), where he was admitted to the third year of study. He completed his studies in the newly constructed seminary and, having obtained a licentiate, was ordained to the priesthood in Philadelphia on June 14, 1952.
His first assignment as a priest was in Nebraska, where he assisted Fr. Dmytro Blazheyovsky and served in Omaha and Lincoln. He ministered there for three months to approximately 125 families of newly arrived Ukrainian refugees from camps in Germany. In Omaha, services were held in the chapel of the Catholic hospital, and Fr. Stephen lived in a small room in the hospital’s basement.
Subsequently, he was appointed as an assistant pastor at Holy Spirit Parish in Brooklyn, NY, serving under Fr. Volodymyr Andrushkiv from September 1952 to April 1953. He then served as an assistant pastor under Fr. Vasyl Stebelsky in Minersville, PA, from April to November 1953, and under Fr. Lev Adamiak in the parish of the Holy Trinity in Youngstown, OH, from December 1953 to January 1955. For one year, from January 1955 to January 1956, he served as pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Phoenixville, PA. In November 1955, he began working in the episcopal chancery in Philadelphia. In that same month, Fr. Stepan became the first missionary to Houston, TX, where he spent a month organizing the first parish in that state.
From July 1957, he was appointed pastor of St. Michael the Archangel in Frackville, PA, where he served for five years. During his tenure, the parish fulfilled its long-standing dream of building a new church and church hall, with the iconostasis painted by Svyatoslav Hordynskyi. From March 1962 to February 1981, he served as pastor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Parish in Perth Amboy, NJ. During this time, he visited Ukraine twice as a tourist to reunite with his parents and family, whom he had not seen since 1944.
In addition to his pastoral duties, Fr. Stephen dedicated himself to translating the Easter and Christmas liturgical services into English. These booklets helped his parishioners and the faithful of the Archeparchy to understand the beautiful festive services of the Ukrainian Church. Missionary sisters who worked in the school at Assumption Parish shared the secret that Father liked to wear well-starched white shirts. Regular golf outings with Fr. Leo Adamiak, Fr. Peter Fedorchuck, and Fr. Emil Manastersky provided recreation and camaraderie for the Assumption Pastor over many years.
While in Perth Amboy, Fr. Stephen served as Promoter of Justice in the Marriage Tribunal, Examiner of Junior Clergy, member of the Archieparchial Economic Board, Archieparchial Consultor, and as a member of the Archdiocesan Corporation.