Archbishop Shott buried
With solemn prayers and blessings, Metropolitan Archbishop Basil M. Schott was laid to rest Friday afternoon at Mount St. Macrina Cemetery in Uniontown. Schott, 70, who was the spiritual leader of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Church in America, died June 10 in UPMC-Passavant hospital in Pittsburgh of cancer. He was the highest-ranking Catholic prelate in the United States and the archbishop of Pittsburgh.
Bishop William C. Skurla of the Eparch of Passiac, N.J., served as main celebrant for the graveside services as he had at the morning funeral held at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Munhall, Allegheny County. Bishop John Kudrik of the Eparch of Parma, Ohio, Bishop Gerald Dino of the Eparch of Phoenix and Bishop Andrew Pataki, who is retired, from the Eparch of Passiac, also participated in the ceremonies.
“It was magnificent,” Sister Barbara Jean Mihalchick of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great of Mount St. Macrina said of the funeral. “The church was completely packed. There were over 100 priests. The archieparchial choir sang beautifully with the people.”
She noted that clergy came from throughout the Eastern United States as well as the Midwest and as far away as Alaska, California and Florida.
“I heard there were to be 17 bishops at the funeral, including Roman Catholic and other Eastern Churches,” Mihalchick said.
About 20 members of the Sisters of St. Basil from Mount St. Macrina attended the funeral. More came to the graveside ceremony, which began about 3:15 p.m. on a warm spring day.
Several Franciscans served as pallbearers for Schott, who was a Byzantine Franciscan, entering the order at Holy Dormition Monastery in Sybertsville in 1958 and making the procession of his vows there a year later. He as ordained to the priesthood by Bishop (later Archbishop) Stephen J. Kocisko at the Franciscan Monastery in New Canaan, Conn.
A native of Freeland, Schott was ordained a bishop and enthroned as the third bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma in 1996 and appointed by Pope John Paul II and enthroned as the metropolitan archbishop of Pittsburgh in 2002, succeeding Metropolitan Archbishop Judson Procyk, a native of South Union Township, who died in 2001.
The Rev. John Joseph Gonchar of St. Anthony’s Friary in Uniontown was among the Franciscans in attendance at the cemetery.
Following the service, he said, “Before Bishop Basil Schott became bishop, he was a general visitator of our vice province of the Holy Savior. I met him. I never got to know him but what I understand is that he was an exceptionally friendly archbishop, who was very much for the priests and his people. It’s a privilege for me to be here and represent St. Anthony’s Friary in Uniontown. May he rest in eternal peace.”
That blessing was also conveyed by the bishops who prayed at Schott’s grave, which is located in a section of the cemetery that’s reserved for bishops. Sculptures that include a crucifix mark the area. The bishops sprinkled holy water on Schott’s wooden coffin and sprinkled dirt on top as those who gathered prayed, sang and blessed themselves with the sign of the cross.
Sister Seraphim Olsafsky, provincial for the Sisters of St. Basil, invited those in attendance to refreshments at the monastery after the ceremony.
Local residents who did not make the trip to Pittsburgh for the funeral came to pay their respects to Schott at the graveside ceremony.
They included Paulette Mehalik of Filbert, Redstone Township, who came with her husband, Chuck. They are members of St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church in Uniontown.
“We came to show our appreciation and our affection,” Mehalik said. “We wanted to honor him and show the respect we all had for him and for all priests.”