Metropolitan Borys Gudziak completed his visit to Romania

Archbishop Metropolitan Borys Gudziak completed a tour of Romania, representing the United States Conference of the Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as a member of the subcommittee of Church in Central and Eastern Europe. Archbishop was accompanied by Jennifer Healy, director of the subcommittee, Andrew Kirkpatrick, grant specialist of the subcommittee, and Sofia Zacharczuk, chief of staff of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

The tour started in Bucharest with visiting the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest where the delegation met with His Excellency Aurel Perca, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bucharest.

Next, the delegation visited the Romanian Greek Catholic Archeparchy in Blaj where they were hosted by His Eminence Christian Dumitru Crișan, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Alba Iulia and Făgăraș. The visit included several services in different parishes in Blaj, including the Cathedral, visiting the seminary, walking the Field of Freedom where Pope Francis visited in 2019, the future museum of the Archeparchy, and met with refugees staying at the mother house. The delegation also traveled to Târgu Mureș where they saw a new church that is being constructed, and Archbishop Borys took part in a conference on the current situation in Ukraine and met with Ukrainian refugees who have been taken in by one of the parish priests.

Following Blaj, the delegation traveled to Cluj where they were hosted by Bishop Claudiu-Lucian Pop, Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla. During their time in Cluj, the Archbishop greeted students on their first day of school and met with the principal of the school to discuss aspirations to expand and grow the school. The delegation visited the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (BBU) where they met with the Rector of the University, Dr Daniel David, and met with the Dean of the School of Greek Catholic Theology, and with members of the University’s patristic center. The delegation also visited the new cathedral which is still being constructed.

Prior to leaving Romania, Archbishop Borys visited the sisters in Sighet who took in over 1,500 Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war, and currently still house several families. Archbishop Borys thanked the Romanians for their warm welcome and hospitality not only to the delegation but to all the Ukrainian refugees.