Vatican City, Jul 29, 2009 / 09:51 am
Benedict XVI this morning accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Mikhail Moskal, Eparch of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio and appointed an apostolic administrator to lead the eparchy—the Eastern Catholic equivalent of a diocese—until a new eparch is named.
Bishop John Bura, currently an auxiliary of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians was chosen by the Pope to become the new apostolic administrator “sede vacante” of St. Josaphat in Parma. Bishop Bura will replace Bishop Robert Mikhail Moskal whose resignation was accepted by the Holy Father today.
Moskal was Philadelphia’s first eparch.
Born in 1944 in Wegeleben, Germany, Bishop Bura moved to New Jersey with his family in 1950. Nine years later, he entered Saint Basil the Minor Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut and studied there until 1963. He went on to study theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C and then at the St. Josaphat Ukrainian Seminary.