Basil Takach - Controversy and Schism

Controversy and Schism

Greek Rite Catholicism in the United States, which began in the 1880s with large-scale emigration from Eastern Europe, was administered by the American Roman Catholic hierarchy, which by the early 20th century instituted a subtle campaign to Latinize its conduct.

Fearing that a minority of married Greek Catholic priests might cause envy among celibate Roman Catholic priests, Pope Pius X in 1907 issued an apostolic letter enjoining celibacy upon all Catholic priests in the United States. Many Greek Catholics were angered. They argued that by the 1646 Union of Uzhhorod their clergy had been granted the right to marry before ordination. Some members of the church snubbed the papal letter, and it remained unenforced.

The Holy See issued a decree in 1929 entitled Cum Data Fuerit, which reiterated Rome's previous position that the Greek Catholic clergy in America must be celibate. Takach opposed the new decree, but his appeals were rebuffed. During the 1930s some priests and laity started an open campaign against him and attacked his authority to govern, and many parishes were drawn into the conflict and numerous legal battles for control of church properties ensued. The conflict produced a schism within the Exarchate and led to the formation of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, which affiliated with the Eastern Orthodox Church.