Bishop Andrew Pataki, who served as the third bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic from 1995 until his retirement in 2007, died Dec. 8 as a result of injuries he sustained in an automobile accident.

The accident was said to have occurred on the Garden State Parkway and he died in Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune. He was 84.

Funeral services will be held in the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, 96 First St., Passaic, beginning Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. with the reception of the bishop’s body. The bishop will lie in state from 5:30-7 p.m. when of the Office of Christian Burial for a Bishop will be celebrated.

On Dec. 14, Bishop Pataki will lie in state from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the Office of Christian Burial for a Bishop beginning at 7 p.m.

On Dec. 15, the Hierarchial Funeral Divine Liturgy for a Bishop will be held at 10 a.m. with Bishop William C. Skurla, current bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, presiding. A repast will follow the liturgy in St. Michael Auditorium.

On Dec. 16, Bishop Pataki’s body will be interred in Calvary Cemetery, Mount St. Macrina, 500 West Main St., Uniontown, Pa. A repast will follow in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great.

Bishop Pataki was born Aug. 20, 1927, in Palmerton, Pa., and was the son of the late Ignatius and Sophie (Dejak) Pataki. Following his early education in the Palmerton Public Schools, and Central Catholic High School, Allentown, Pa., he enrolled in St. Vincent College, Latrobe, Pa.

In 1944, he began studies for the priesthood. He attended St. Procopius College Seminary, Lisle, Ill., where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in 1948. He completed his theological studies in the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Pittsburgh, Pa. he was ordained a priest Feb. 24, 1952, in the Byzantine Seminary Chapel by Bishop Daniel Evancho, Exarch of Pittsburgh.

Among his early assignments as a priest were Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Braddock, Pa.; St. Pius X Church, Pittsburgh; Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Endicott, N.Y., and St. Nicholas Church, Lorain, Ohio. He was later appointed pastor of St. John Chrysostom Church, Pittsburgh.

Bishop Pataki was sent to pursue studies in canon law at the Pontifical Institute for Oriental Studies, where he received bachelor and licentiate degrees. Upon his return to the United States, he was appointed rector of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary, Pittsburgh, where he taught courses in pastoral theology, canon law, Byzantine chant and the Ruthenian language.

In 1974, Pope Paul VI designated him a monsignor, with the rank of Prelate of Honor and appointed him a consultor on the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Eastern Code of Canon Law. In 1979, he was named pastor of St. Mary Church, Weirton, W. Va.

On June 14, 1983, Msgr. Pataki was named auxiliary bishop of the Bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, which at that time was headed by Bishop Michael J. Dudick. The Passaic Diocese covers Byzantine and Ruthenian Catholcis living in New England and on the East Coast. He was consecrated a bishop Aug. 23, 1983, in St. Peter Roman Catholic Cathedral, Scranton, Pa. The following year, he was appointed the second bishop of the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio.

On Nov. 21, 1995, the Vatican announced that Bishop Pataki was appointed the third Bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic. Hundreds of well-wishers crowded the St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral, Passaic, Feb. 8, 1996, to join in the enthronement Hierarchial Divine Liturgy.

As Bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic, Bishop Pataki established a new governing structure for the eparchy, promulgated a standardized form of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and the Sacraments of Initiation. Other norms he established included the restoring of the ancient practice of administering Holy Communion to everyone, including babies at the time of Baptism. He reorganized most of the epiarchial commissions and programs; established a diaconate formation program; reestablished the ancient tradition of the Byzantine clergy wearing pectoral crosses and conferred a Greek-styled cross on each priest in September, 2000.

Bishop Pataki was the former chairman of U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Relationship between Eastern and Latin Catholic Churches. He was also a regular presence at the Vigil for Life in Washington, leading rosaries or night prayer in the Byzantine tradition in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the night before the annual March for Life.

In 2006, he joined his fellow New Jersey bishops in advising state lawmakers against using same-sex civil unions as the remedy to solve other ills.

“A need for justice…may indeed exist” in such areas as health and retirement programs, property rights, tax advantages and inheritance laws, they said. But “this need should not be determined solely on the basis of a sexual relationship.”

A year later, Bishop Pataki and the other New Jersey bishops called for a vote to abolish the death penalty. In 2001, they had argued a moratorium on capital punishment.

In 2007, upon reaching age 80, Bishop Pataki’s request to retire was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI.

In retirement, Bishop Pataki remained active in ministry, serving in St. George Byzantine Church, Linden, and as the administrator of St.  Nicholas Byzantine Church, Perth Amboy, until the time of his death.

Bishop Pataki was preceded in death by his parents, Ignatius and Sophie Pataki; a brother, Ignatius; four sisters, Mary Kern, Sophia Iliades, Ann Roberts and Julianna Gamble. He is survived by a brother, Charles (Betty) of Cincinnati, Ohio; two sisters, Helen Hahn, Ellicott City, Md., and Peggy Rendish, Hope Mills, N.C., and numerous nieces and nephews.

The obituary was compiled from information provided by the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic and Catholic News Service.