The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford is a diocese of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, covering parishes in New York State and New England in the United States. The diocesan headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, includes St. Volodymyr Cathedral, a chancery at 14 Peveril Road in Stamford, St. Basil College, and a Ukrainian museum. The diocese publishes The Sower, a monthly newsletter with articles written in both English and Ukrainian, from its offices in Stamford. The Eparchy of Stamford is a suffragan diocese of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, which has authority over all Ukrainian Catholic dioceses and Ukrainian Catholics in the United States.
History
The Eparchy of Stamford was created in 1956 by Pope Pius XII. The territory was formerly administered by the Eparchate of Philadelphia. Bishop Ambrose Senyshyn of Stamford was named exarchate of the new eparchy. Senyshyn was president of the Ukrainian diocesan schools in Stamford, including the now-defunct St. Basil's Preparatory School.
The Eparchy operates the tiny St. Basil College Seminary at 161 Glenbrook Road in Stamford. The college's mission is to educate and prepare men who desire to pursue a vocation to the priesthood for the Ukrainian Catholic Church. "St. Basil is the only Ukrainian Catholic liberal arts college, the only one of its kind outside of Ukraine fully accredited as a senior college by the State Board of Education," according to the Eparchy. Lubomyr Husar, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Major-Archdiocese of Lviv, and one of the cardinals considered a possible successor to Pope John Paul II in 2005, was educated at St. Basil's College. The college opened in September 1939. By 2007 it had graduated 130 students, of which 127 have been ordained to the priesthood, including six elevated to the episcopacy, and the current patriarch and head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Most of the students have been Ukrainian Catholics interested in studying spirituality, the Ukrainian rite, Ukrainian history, civilization, language, and literature. In May 2007 three students graduated. The Connecticut Department of Higher Education, in the fall of 2005, reaccredited the college for another five years. The American Academy for Liberal Education also granted "institutional pre-accreditation" in 2005.
Preparatory school
The eparchy operated the St. Basil Preparatory School on the cathedral campus from 1933 to 1990. Alumni from the boys' high school typically have reunions every five years for each class. The school was founded by Archbishop Constantine Bohachevsky as "Ukrainian Catholic High School", and its alumni include more than 75 Ukrainian and Roman Catholic priests and two former Connecticut state judges.
