The Story of the “Golden Domed” Church<br/><br/>
The “Golden Domed” Church, also called the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, located in Unionville falls under the Catholic Church of the Oriental Rite; that is, it belongs to Slovak Catholics who celebrate in the Byzantine Rite. Lately, Eparch John Pasak, who is the spiritual head of all Slovak Catholics in Canada, has suspended permission for any of his priests to celebrate Mass in the former cathedral and asked Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic of Archdiocese of Toronto Latin rite priests not to celebrate Mass there. The altar in that church has already been removed.<br/><br/>
The church was built by Stephen Roman in the 1980s and was personally blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1984, thereafter named the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. Unfortunately, Stephen Roman passed away in 1988 before the interior construction had been completed.<br/><br/>
Eparch John Pasak said, “The cathedral should be owned by the bishop or the diocese, however, ownership still lies with Stephen Roman’s daughter, Helen Roman Barber’s trust fund. Hopefully the two sides could work out a permanent solution in the next year. The cathedral for the Slovak Eparchy will be the St. Mary's Byzantine Slovak Church on Shaw Street for the time being.”<br/><br/>
Slovak originated from Czech Republic. It became independent in 1993. Today there are approximately 10,000 Slovak Catholics in Canada. Eparch John Pasak became the spiritual head of the Slovak Catholics in 2001.<br/><br/>
The source of this story is the Catholic Register, the article was published on October 10th. I feel a bit sad after reading this article. We are outsiders and cannot fully comprehend all the details. What we can do is to pray for our Slovak brothers and sisters. Also, this story reminds us that beatitude is not guaranteed. This reminds me of a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.” (John 4:21-23)