Ivan Hado takes first step toward the priesthood through ordination as a subdeacon for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Long ago, Ivan Hado was inspired by the courage of the Catholic priests in his native Ukraine who were faithful to their ministry amid persecution under Soviet rule.
As a child, he echoed their devotion at home, playfully reenacting the Divine Liturgy with his family as his congregation.
Later in life, Hado studied theology, including the role of the family in light of St. John Paul II’s teachings. Through his studies, he realized he was called to the vocation of marriage. By the time he earned a master’s degree in theology, he and his wife, Natalia, had become parents.
The idea of priesthood never faded, though. As a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (part of the Eastern Church’s Byzantine Rite), Hado knew the path to ordination remained open to him.
Ivan Hado was ordained to the subdiaconate of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago on Dec. 28 by Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk.
He continued his studies and, by 2021, defended his doctorate at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow. But in early 2022, Russia had begun its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By the end of that year, the Hados and their four daughters came to St. Louis via Poland after leaving Ukraine in an effort to draw humanitarian aid back to their homeland.
They found a new faith community at St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church in south St. Louis County. With the support of their new community, Hado recently took a first step toward the priesthood by becoming a subdeacon with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago presided at the Dec. 28 ordination at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Chicago.
Hado explained that in following Christ’s call, there’s an “understanding that I couldn’t follow Jesus with only my own power,” he said. “I need God’s grace, and it’s also very important for me to receive support from my family, especially Natalia. I need many prayers about this. We try to recognize this vocation together.”
Path to priesthood
Hado was born in 1981 in Lviv, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The Catholic Church faced persecution. In the 1940s, Hado’s grandfather and his family were taken to Siberia by Soviet authorities, and the family’s home and land were seized. The family returned to Ukraine in 1960.
After Ivan was born, his grandfather found an underground Greek Catholic priest to baptize him. Growing up, Hado watched his grandparents often praying on their knees in the mornings and evenings. Even though Soviet authorities blocked radio and television signals from Europe, the family found a way to tune into Vatican Radio.
After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, Hado and his family were freer to worship in public. Hado received his first Communion, and his grandfather took him to church, where he helped serve at the Divine Liturgy.
Ivan Hado opened doors of the iconostasis, which separates the nave from the sanctuary, before the Divine Liturgy at St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Hado had the opportunity to meet priests who had faced persecution for years. “I admired them, but at the same time, I somehow could not imagine how this could be achieved,” he said. “They were a great ideal for me.”
Subdeacon to priesthood
As a subdeacon, Hado belongs to the highest of the minor orders of the Byzantine Rite. His primary duty is to serve the bishop and priest at the Divine Liturgy, including preparing the altar and handling vestments and sacred vessels.
While the next steps for ordination to the diaconate and eventually the priesthood are to be determined, Hado has put his theological formation to use in offering catechetical lessons after liturgies at St. Mary’s Assumption, leading an online Bible study and teaching ecclesiology online through the Lviv Theological Institute. Ivan and Natalia are also part of a community called Milites Christi Imperatoris, dedicated to education and evangelization, including publishing Catholic books and websites.
After arriving in St. Louis, the Hados reached out to Deacon Eugene Logusch, the parish administrator at St. Mary’s Assumption, to see how they could be useful to the church. The Hados see their role as providing for the faith development of parishioners; Ivan has also been training several boys to serve at liturgies.
“We understand that we have received a gift from God, and we need to share this gift for all people, because it’s for the Catholic Church,” he said.
Ivan Hado talked with parishioners during social time following Divine Liturgy.
The parish has experienced some growth in membership since 2022, including Ukrainian citizens displaced by the war who came to the United States through the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program. Hado said he feels called to help others to discover that the family is responsible for building the Church — much like he witnessed firsthand when his family continued to practice their faith to the best of their ability under Soviet rule.
“I see my direction … primarily to Ukrainian families who are going through difficult times because of the war,” he said. “Despite such difficult circumstances, the true strength of every family is to reveal itself more and more as a domestic Church.”
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is one of 23 Eastern-Rite churches that are in full communion with the Holy See. It is also recognized as the largest Eastern Catholic Church in the world, with more than 6.5 million people.
These are the Eastern Churches that have communities in the St. Louis area:
Ukrainian: St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in south St. Louis County is under the Eparchy of Chicago. Deacon Eugene Logusch serves as parish administrator, and Father James Deshotels, SJ, regularly celebrates the Divine Liturgy there. To learn more, visit stmaryugcc.org.
Maronite: St. Raymond Maronite Cathedral in Downtown St. Louis and St. Elizabeth-St. Raymond Church in Crestwood are part of the Catholic Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon-Los Angeles. See stelizabethhungary.org and www.straymond-mc.org for more.
Byzantine: St. Anthony the Great Byzantine Catholic Church is part of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio. See stlouisbyzantine.com or facebook.com/ stlouisbyzantinecatholic
Syro-Malabar: Sacred Heart Syro-Malabar Mission was established in October 2023 at St. Martin de Porres Church in Hazelwood to serve the Syro-Malabar Catholic community. It is part of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Chicago. To learn more, visit sacredheartstl.org.
