John Michael Botean

John Michael Botean (Romanian: Ion Mihai Botean) (born July 9, 1955) is an American Eastern Catholic prelate of the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic.

His Grace, The Most Reverend John Michael Botean
Eparch of St. George's in Canton
Church	Romanian Greek Catholic Church
See	Eparchy of St. George's in Canton
Appointed	March 29, 1996
Installed	August 24, 1996
Predecessor	Vasile Louis Puscas
Orders
Ordination	May 18, 1986 by Vasile Louis Puscas
Consecration	August 24, 1996 by Lucian Mureșan, Judson Procyk and Nicholas Samra
Personal details
Birth name	John Michael Botean
Born	July 9, 1955 Canton, Ohio
Nationality	American
Denomination	Romanian Greek-Catholic Church
Parents	John and Amelia (née Popa) Botean
Alma mater	St. Fidelis College and Seminary The Catholic University of America St. Gregory the Theologian Seminary Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology Catholic Theological Union
Motto	Fear not, little flock

Styles of John Michael Botean
Reference style	His Grace The Most Reverend
Spoken style	His Grace
Religious style	Eparch

Since 1996 he has been eparch in the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George's in Canton, the second to hold that position in the United States' sole Romanian Byzantine Catholic eparchy and the only Romanian Rite eparchy outside of Romania.[1]

Biography

Botean was born on July 9, 1955, in Canton, Ohio, to a Romanian-American couple, John and Amelia Botean (née Popa). He has one younger brother, Mark S. Botean. He was ordained a priest on May 18, 1986. In 1993 he was appointed apostolic administrator for the diocese and then eparch on March 29, 1996. He was consecrated a bishop on August 24 that year by Archbishop Lucian Mureșan, assisted by co-consecrators Archbishop Judson Michael Procyk and Bishop Nicholas James Samra.

As the second eparch in the history of a unique eparchy, a large part of Botean's activities consist of compliance work, bringing the organization into conformance with the requirements of his split jurisdiction, both American and Romanian. Most of his parishes long predate the creation of the eparchy, often by many decades. The first mission established during the lifetime of the diocese to be raised to the level of a parish was raised on June 29, 2008.

In 2005 Botean established traditional Romanian Byzantine Catholic monasticism in the Diocese of Canton with the transfer of Holy Resurrection Monastery to diocesan jurisdiction. On October 17, 2006, the Holy Theophany Monastery for women (nuns) was established as a dependency of Holy Resurrection Monastery under the Botean's jurisdiction.

In his 2003 Lenten pastoral letter, Botean spoke out against the Iraq War. The letter was a direct condemnation of the conflict, and termed it "objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin".[2] This was the most outspoken language used by a United States Catholic bishop or eparch about the war.[3] No other United States ordinary directly condemned the Iraq war.

On June 28, 2008, Botean called the eparchial assembly to meet. It was the first serious effort to convoke the eparchial assembly in conformance with the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (Canons 235-242) during Botean's episcopacy. This preliminary session focused on organizing issues. At that meeting the practice of yearly assemblies was announced, and the next was held at St. Basil's in Trenton, New Jersey, in June 2009.

Botean is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and also the Romanian Catholic Synod. He is in the unusual position of being directly answerable to the Pope and not to his synod. This odd position is a consequence of the very real modern development of understanding between viewing the Church as one with different rites within it and the Universal Church uniting 24 different sui iuris churches. The present situation of the eparchy is a midpoint between the two, within the newly formed Romanian synod and within the USCCB, but not answerable either.

References

1. (in Romanian) Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. Pastoral Letter Iraq War.pdf Iraq War pastoral letter Archived 2011-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, at the Center for Christian Non-violence; retrieved November 7, 2007
3. Carl Olson, "Brumley Responds to Bishop Botean" Archived April 7, 2007^{[Date mismatch]}, at the Wayback Machine, in Envoy Magazine, March 21, 2003; retrieved November 7, 2007

Additional sources

• Botean, John Michael (19 February 2020). "'Nothing' bishop gets frank on married priests, Vatican under Francis" (Interview). Interviewed by Joshua J. McElwee. National Catholic Reporter.

External links

• Eparchy of St. George in Canton