By Curtis McKenzie, SJ
On May 27, 2026, Hieromonk Fr. Richard Soo, SJ, was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) by decree of His Beatitude, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk. While the title Archimandrite may sound unfamiliar to many Catholics, the deeper story is one of vocation, mission and the unity amid the diversity of the Church.
Fr. Richard was born in Vancouver, B.C., in 1956 into a third-generation Chinese Canadian family; he was raised in a mostly evangelical Christian background. As a university student at the University of British Columbia (UBC), he encountered two traditions that would change his life: the spirituality of the Jesuits and the theology of Byzantine Orthodoxy, also sometimes called Eastern Christianity. Through both, Fr. Richard discovered a vision of the Church that presented the salvific vision of Christ in a language that integrated faith with justice, and beauty with love.
As a result of these discoveries, Fr. Richard entered the Catholic Church while a student at UBC and later entered the Society of Jesus in 1979.
Some might call it a time of “three conversions.” The first was discovering the spiritual richness of Byzantine Christianity. The second was becoming Catholic. But the third conversion was learning how to live both of these faithfully as a Jesuit and, later, as an Eastern Catholic priest.
Some Roman Catholics are surprised to learn that the Catholic Church is not composed of a single tradition. Alongside the Roman Catholic Church are 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, each fully Catholic, in communion with the pope, and preserving their own theology, spirituality, liturgy and canon law. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest of these Eastern Churches.
The Second Vatican Council describes this synodal relationship as a communion of “unity without uniformity.” The Church is one, but one as an admirable bond of legitimate differences. Eastern Christianity expresses the mystery of salvation through the traditions handed down from the Apostles to the Fathers of the early Church. This is liturgically communicated through icons, chant, ancient traditions and a spirituality that reveals the Gospel proclaimed by the Universal Church.
For Fr. Richard, the Byzantine Catholic tradition was not simply an intellectual discovery. It was a vocation — a divine call to service in a particular domain — to preserve the way of life of the members of the Eastern Churches and rites in harmony with the Jesuit charism and its work for the salvation of souls. Yet living this vocation within the Society of Jesus has not always been easy. Eastern Catholic Jesuits are relatively few, especially in North America. Jesuit and Catholic structures are often built mainly to serve and support the many Roman Catholics in the Latin Church. This can sometimes lead to conflict, misunderstanding and struggles about the mission of “Eastern Jesuits.”
However, over time, the Jesuits of Canada came to see that Fr. Richard’s vocation and his Eastern Catholic identity were not in conflict. In fact, they deepen one another. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius note this in the practice of discernment, which means learning to distinguish what leads us toward God and away from created things. This discernment helped Fr. Richard and his Jesuit superiors remain faithful to the mission God has given Fr. Richard to serve Eastern Catholics.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1989, Fr. Richard has served in many different roles. More recently, his focus has been pastoral ministry, spiritual direction, supporting refugees, advocating for social justice and assisting Jesuits in formation. For the past decade, his home has been Richmond, B.C., where he has worked with many to rebuild and renew a Ukrainian Catholic parish, guided by a simple yet demanding vision: that the Church should be a home for all people seeking Christ.
This work reflects an important challenge facing many Eastern Churches in the diaspora. Historically, local church communities have often been closely linked to language and ethnicity. While this helped preserve faith and culture through difficult times, it also unintentionally made some feel like outsiders. Fr. Richard has worked to be a witness to something larger: that the Ukrainian Catholic Church is not merely an ethnic community, but a missionary Church called to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples.
That vision became especially important during the pandemic, when parish life nearly collapsed while efforts to rebuild were underway. Through livestreamed liturgies on an old laptop, and with much pastoral care and perseverance, Fr. Richard continued serving the Eastern Catholic Church in Richmond. Slowly, people returned. This included new converts, former evangelicals and even a few Roman Catholics who had fallen away; all found a spiritual home in “ECCR” parish.
His elevation to Archimandrite recognizes this service to ECCR, the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus in Canada and around the world.
As for the title Archimandrite, it comes from the Greek Orthodox tradition and originally referred to the head of a monastery or a group of smaller monasteries — a compound of the words arkhi (chief) and mandra (monastery). Today, in many Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches, it is an honorary title given to monastic priests, called hieromonks, in recognition of spiritual leadership and faithful ministry.
For Jesuits, receiving such an honor may feel uncomfortable as the Society of Jesus traditionally discourages holding ecclesiastical offices. Fr. Richard himself indeed hesitated before accepting this new title. Yet the honor is not about prestige, or, as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola calls it, pride. It points instead to the Church’s recognition of a life spent serving Christ.
In many ways, Fr. Richard’s elevation also carries a wider message for the Universal Church. It reminds Catholics that the Church breathes with “two lungs,” East and West, as St. John Paul II wrote in Ut Unum Sint. The Eastern Catholic Churches are not historical curiosities or cultural museums. They are living Churches with their own mission, theology, and witnesses of Christ and the Trinity.
For his part, Archimandrite Richard will continue his current missions in Richmond: celebrating the Byzantine Catholic liturgies at ECCR, accompanying people spiritually, and serving asylum seekers, the poor, the marginalized and anyone seeking help to encounter God.
Most people will likely continue calling him “Fr. Richard,” not the Very Reverend Archimandrite or Panasiotate or Дорогоє Панасіологія in Ukrainian, which means “Most Holy Theologian.” He will probably prefer it that way. To his Jesuit companions, he will always be our dear friend “Soo.”
We give thanks for Archimandrite Richard’s ministry and pray that God continues to grant him many blessed and happy years — Mnohaya lita!
For more information about the ceremony: https://nweparchy.ca/2026/05/aksios-za-novopostanovlenogo-arhimandrita/#
