Thomas Dolinay

Thomas Victor Dolinay (July 24, 1923 – April 13, 1993) was the second Metropolitan Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church.

Early life Born on 24 July 1923 to Rusyn immigrant parents in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Dolinay’s father was a Greek Catholic priest, as was his grandfather. Dolinay attended public schools in Struthers, Ohio, and Uniontown and graduated in 1941. He earned his undergraduate degree at St. Procopius College in Lisle, Illinois in 1945 and completed his theological studies at the Benedictine Seminary in 1948. On May 16, 1948, Bishop Daniel Ivancho ordained him to the priesthood in the chapel of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery in Uniontown.

Dolinay had parish assignments for the next 18 years throughout the Pittsburgh Exarchate and the Passaic Eparchy. He also served as the first managing editor of The Byzantine Catholic World and the first editor of the Eastern Catholic Life eparchial newspapers. Pope Paul VI named him a papal chamberlain with the title Monsignor in 1966. The Pope appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Passaic, George Kuzma, to succeed Bishop Dolinay.

Metropolitan Dolinay Kocisko submitted his resignation and entered into retirement on May 16, 1991, automatically making Dolinay the second Metropolitan of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia.

After a brief illness he unexpectedly died at age 69 on April 13, 1993; he is buried in the cemetery of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.