What is an Outreach?
The Eastern Catholic churches are arranged into eparchies, which are similar to dioceses in the Roman Catholic church. The Byzantine Eparchy of Parma (Ohio), consists of 12 states throughout the Midwest, including Iowa. Byzantine parishes exist in six of those 12 states. In Wisconsin and the Dakotas, we have no presence. In Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, we have what are called “Outreaches.” An outreach has neither the status of a parish nor even a mission. It is “attached” to an existing parish. For the Iowa Outreach, that parish is Annunciation Church in Homer Glen, Illinois, outside of Chicago.
Origin of the Iowa Outreach
The early origins of the Iowa Outreach were in Eastern Iowa. Starting 11 years ago, the fledgling congregation held Divine Liturgies in Iowa City at Roman Catholic parishes. The Outreach was served by various priests who drove long distances to celebrate the liturgy for the faithful on an availability basis on Sunday afternoons. Eventually, the faithful identified a dedicated location, at a former restaurant in a Muscatine strip mall, which meant that a morning timeslot became available. The interior was given a Byzantine flavor, including an iconostasis.
Renewed Focus on the Outreach
When Bishop Robert Pipta was installed as Eparch of Parma in November 2023, one of his early visions was to establish a presence in every state of the Eparchy. To that end, and with the encouragement of Father Thomas Loya, pastor of Annunciation and Director of Mission and Outreaches for the Eparchy, he assigned Father Bruce Riebe as the Iowa Outreach’s first full-time priest in August 2024.
Expansion of the Outreach
In January 2025, the chancery office received an inquiry from Des Moines seeking a Divine Liturgy. Monthly services started in February, at an afternoon timeslot. After five months, it became evident that the “position of strength” for the Outreach needed to switch from Muscatine to Des Moines, which has a much larger population and continues to grow rapidly. In August 2025, this became a reality. Divine Liturgy is now offered weekly in Des Moines and monthly in Iowa City.
Invitation
St. John Paul II in his Encyclical, Ut Unum Sint (“That They May be One”), wrote about the church breathing with both lungs—East and West. Anyone interested in experiencing the richness of Eastern Catholic spirituality is invited to join us at either location!
The Eastern Catholic churches are arranged into eparchies, which are similar to dioceses in the Roman Catholic church. The Byzantine Eparchy of Parma (Ohio), consists of 12 states throughout the Midwest, including Iowa. Byzantine parishes exist in six of those 12 states. In Wisconsin and the Dakotas, we have no presence. In Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, we have what are called “Outreaches.” An outreach has neither the status of a parish nor even a mission. It is “attached” to an existing parish. For the Iowa Outreach, that parish is Annunciation Church in Homer Glen, Illinois, outside of Chicago.
Origin of the Iowa Outreach
The early origins of the Iowa Outreach were in Eastern Iowa. Starting 11 years ago, the fledgling congregation held Divine Liturgies in Iowa City at Roman Catholic parishes. The Outreach was served by various priests who drove long distances to celebrate the liturgy for the faithful on an availability basis on Sunday afternoons. Eventually, the faithful identified a dedicated location, at a former restaurant in a Muscatine strip mall, which meant that a morning timeslot became available. The interior was given a Byzantine flavor, including an iconostasis.
Renewed Focus on the Outreach
When Bishop Robert Pipta was installed as Eparch of Parma in November 2023, one of his early visions was to establish a presence in every state of the Eparchy. To that end, and with the encouragement of Father Thomas Loya, pastor of Annunciation and Director of Mission and Outreaches for the Eparchy, he assigned Father Bruce Riebe as the Iowa Outreach’s first full-time priest in August 2024.
Expansion of the Outreach
In January 2025, the chancery office received an inquiry from Des Moines seeking a Divine Liturgy. Monthly services started in February, at an afternoon timeslot. After five months, it became evident that the “position of strength” for the Outreach needed to switch from Muscatine to Des Moines, which has a much larger population and continues to grow rapidly. In August 2025, this became a reality. Divine Liturgy is now offered weekly in Des Moines and monthly in Iowa City.
Invitation
St. John Paul II in his Encyclical, Ut Unum Sint (“That They May be One”), wrote about the church breathing with both lungs—East and West. Anyone interested in experiencing the richness of Eastern Catholic spirituality is invited to join us at either location!
Apostolic Origins: One Holy, Catholic & Apostolic Church
Thanks to the Holy Spirit working through Apostles, the Church quickly spread from Jerusalem throughout the entire Roman Empire and beyond. From five major port cities grew the five Apostolic Sees or Patriarchates, three of which gave rise to the various Eastern Christian traditions:
Thanks to the Holy Spirit working through Apostles, the Church quickly spread from Jerusalem throughout the entire Roman Empire and beyond. From five major port cities grew the five Apostolic Sees or Patriarchates, three of which gave rise to the various Eastern Christian traditions:
The Catholic Church is a communion of 24 “Sister" Churches. There are nearly 18,000,000 Eastern Catholics world-wide, from the Holy Land, Eastern Europe and beyond. Each country and each culture add to the richness of expression of the rite that they adopt as their own.
What is an Eastern Catholic Church?
The Catholic Church is a communion of churches. It is made up of churches from the Eastern Tradition and the Western Tradition. Eastern Catholics are in union with Rome. We share the same basic faith and the same mysteries (sacraments), however, our way of expressing them follows the same tradition as the Orthodox churches. In reality, there are many Eastern churches, each with its own heritage and theology, liturgy and discipline.
Jesus sent his disciples to the four corners of the world to spread the Gospel. Eventually, four great centers of Christianity emerged with distinctive Christian customs, but the same faith. These centers were Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome and Alexandria. A few centuries later when the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to the Eastern city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople, an adaptation of the Antioch celebration of the liturgy was made.
From this powerful cultural center the Byzantine church emerged.
(Radvansky, Joseph. A Brief Explanation of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Introduction)
Ruthenian Church
Who are we as Ruthenian Byzantine Catholics? The Ruthenian faith-journey begins in the homeland of our ancestors, “the old country,” central Europe. The word Ruthenian was originally used by the Catholic Church to describe the Byzantine (Greek) Catholics of Eastern Europe, predominantly those who were under the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Envision a map of the European continent. Our ancestral homeland known variously as Carpathian Rus’, Transcarpathia, Carpatho-Ruthenia, Carpatho-Russia, and Carpatho-Ukraine is the very heart of the picture, presently eastern Slovakia, southwest Ukraine, northeast Hungary and northwest Romania.
The religious life of these people came from the East. Like the other East Slavs, the Carpatho-Rusins received Christianity from the Byzantine Empire.
In the year 863, two Byzantine Greek missionaries, the brothers Cyril and Methodius – “The Apostles to the Slavs” – introduced Christianity and the new Slavonic alphabet to Greater Moravia, the present Czech Republic and Western Slovakia.
Thereafter, the followers of these Byzantine missionaries moved eastward, eventually converting the Ruthenian people.
During the late nineteenth century-early twentieth century many of these faithful traveled to the United States seeking employment, and their own Greek Catholic parishes. In 1924, Rome established the Pittsburgh Eparchy for the Ruthenians with Bishop Basil Takach as the first hierarch.
Sui Iuris
The Byzantine-Ruthenian Church sui iuris (literally “of its own rights)” is:
- Self-Governing
- Equal in Dignity to the Roman Catholic Church
- In communion with the Bishop of Rome
- Unique in its clergy, laws, institutions, liturgies, forms of spirituality, methods of theology
Dogma & Discipline
- We profess the same Faith as other Catholics but express that Faith in our own way.
- Dogma is the essential core of the Faith that all Catholics share.
- Disciplines give expression to the Church’s teaching. The are important but they vary from church to Church and can change over time.
This information is provided by the Web site of the Eparchy of Parma
The Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma
5000 Rockside Road, Suite 310 • Independence, Ohio • 44131
Phone: (216) 741-8773 • Email: [email protected] • Hours: Mon-Fri., 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.