Catholic Transcript Online

Bishop Basil H. Losten of the Ukrainian Diocese of Stamford, whose resignation tendered last May was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI early in January, is certain to be missed; he unquestionably made a strong impression upon untold numbers both here in Connecticut and abroad. A man of obvious faith as well as learning, he has always been a "person of encouragement," in the footsteps of St. Barnabas. And his outgoing charismatic bearing drew many toward a fresh appreciation of the ancient and glorious Ukrainian Catholic Tradition.

Bishop Losten, we also recall, made several interventions of historic significance as the Soviet Union began to disintegrate. In 1990, for example, he was a member of three delegations of U.S. Bishops who visited Ukraine to evaluate the Church’s needs there after decades of oppression, including persecution. He also helped launch an annual campaign to aid newly liberated Churches in Eastern and Central Europe. To ensure that Ukraine would have priests, he began a scholarship program for seminarians from Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Central Europe, so that they could study here in the U.S. And in 1997 he oversaw the dedication of the Ukrainian Cultural Research Center in Stamford.

As we bid Bishop Losten ad multos annos on his retirement, we thank the Holy Father for his successor, Bishop Paul P. Chomnycky, since 2002 Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainian-Rite Catholics in Great Britain. We wish him the very best as he arrives. And we hope to see Bishop Losten, again and again, visiting here at The Catholic Transcript, or at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, or at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell.