Except for such compelling reasons as scandal, heresy or outright incompetence, a Roman Catholic bishop is almost never separated from his see. For the past seven months, however, the Most Rev. Nicholas T. Elko, Ruthenian-rite bishop of Pittsburgh, has been in Rome, barred by his church superiors from returning to his diocese. The case of Bishop Elko, who describes his situation as "exile," casts fascinating light on Catholicism's current internal stresses—and on the problems of its little-known Eastern-rite churches.
The Ruthenian rite is one of 17 semi-autonomous branches of Catholicism that acknowledge the Pope as head of the church but have...