Lubomyr Husar

Early life and ordination

Born in the Polish city of Lwow (now Lviv in Ukraine). He was born in the family of Yaroslav Husar and Rostyslava Demchuk. Luka Demchuk, the Priest of the Parish of village Kal'ne from 1909 to 1929, was the grandfather for the Cardinal Lubomyr Husar. Husar emigrated with his parents in 1944 during World War II due to the advancing Soviet Army. At first Husar family briefly lived in Salzburg, Austria, then emigrated to the United States in 1949.

From 1950 to 1954 he studied at St. Basil College Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. He studied at The Catholic University of America and Fordham University in the United States, and was ordained a priest on 30 March 1958 for the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford.

Pastoral work

From 1958 to 1969, he taught at St. Basil College Seminary and was pastor at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Kerhonkson, New York between 1966 and 1969. In 1969, Husar went to Rome, where he spent three years earning a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University. He then entered the Monastery of the Studites in Castel Gandolfo in Italy, and was named its Superior in 1974.

Bishop

He was consecrated a bishop in 1977 in the Castel Gandolfo chapel by Major Archbishop Josyf Slipyj without papal permission (apostolic mandate) in an act which caused many irritations in the Roman Curia, as Roman canon law required papal permission for the consecration of a bishop, but at that time Eastern canon law did not. He was named Archimandrite (Archabbot) of the Studite Monks in Europe and America in 1978. He organized a new Studite monastery in Ternopil, Ukraine, in 1994, and was elected by the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Church as exarch of the archiepiscopal exarchy of Kiev and Vyshhorod in 1995, confirmed by the Pope the following year. Although once a citizen of the United States, Husar gave up his American citizenship upon returning to his native Ukraine.

Major Archbishop and Cardinal

In December 2000, Pope John Paul II named Husar apostolic administrator of the Ukrainian Greek Major-Archeparchy of Lviv, and in January 2001 the Ukrainian Greek synod elected him Major Archbishop. On 21 February of that year Pope John Paul II created and proclaimed Husar Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sofia a Via Boccea. Cardinal Husar was one of the three Eastern Catholics to participate in the papal conclave, 2005, the others being Ignace Daoud of the Syrian Catholic Church and Varkey Vithayathil of the Syro-Malabar Church. (Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and Stéphanos II Ghattas of the Maronite Church and Coptic Catholic Church respectively were both over 80 and therefore could not take part.) At that papal conclave, he was one of the cardinals considered papabile, something unusual for an Eastern Catholic. Also at that conclave, Cardinal Husar was the first Major-Archbishop from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ever to participate in a papal conclave as cardinal-elector.

Husar was one of about a dozen like-minded European prelates who met annually from 1995 to 2006 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, to discuss reforms with respect to the appointment of bishops, collegiality, bishops' conferences, the primacy of the papacy and sexual morality; they differed among themselves, but shared the view that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was not the sort of candidate they hoped to see elected at the next conclave.

The major archiepiscopal see of Lviv was moved on 21 August 2005, to the city of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. He is acclaimed by his followers as Patriarch of Kiev-Galicia, a title not recognized by the Holy See.

In October 2007, Husar received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of America in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the first assigning of a bishop of the UGCC to the United States.

In February 2008, a celebratory liturgy was held in the Basilica of Santa Sophia in Rome on the occasion of the 75th birthday and 50th anniversary of priesthood of Cardinal Husar. The Head of the UGCC was greeted by Pope Benedict XVI, whose address was read by the secretary of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Monsignor Maurizio Malvestiti.

In 2008 Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree to decorate Cardinal Husar with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (the 3rd class). He was honoured with the highest state award “for his outstanding personal contribution in spiritual revival of the Ukrainian nation, longstanding church work, and to mark his 75th birthday”.

With failing eyesight forcing him to perform the church's intricate liturgical rites from memory, his early resignation was accepted on 10 February 2011 although normally the major archbishop serves for life. Cardinal Husar's resignation triggered a meeting of the Synod of the Ukrainian church, comprising its global body of bishops, to elect a new major archbishop, which must begin within a month. In the interim, Ihor Vozniak, C.SS.R., Archeparch of Lviv, served as administrator. The last time a Ukrainian Major Archbishop left office while living was in 1882. The new Major Archbishop, Sviatoslav Shevchuk was selected on 23 March and confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI on 25 March 2011.

On 26 February 2013, 2 days before the announced resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Husar turned 80 and lost his right to participate in a conclave.

He died on 31 May 2017 at the age of 84.