After his ordination to the Catholic priesthood in 1909, Charnetsky returned from Ukraine to Rome so that he might complete a Doctorate in Theology, which he did the following year.

[1] Upon completion of his doctorate, Charnetsky returned to his homeland in order to teach dogmatic theology and philosophy at the Ukrainian Catholic seminary in Ivano-Frankivsk (then called Stanislaviv) where he remained for the next nine years, also serving as spiritual director to any student who wished.

[5] As he was already an ordained priest, after his first profession in 1920, Charnetsky immediately began working in a nearby parish before being sent to teach at the minor seminary (for students in their teens) run by the Redemptorists.

[1] However, in 1926 the congregation opened a mission in the Volhynia region of northern Ukraine (then part of Poland), the main purpose of which was to promote a better relationship between Catholic and Orthodox Ukrainians.

As Charnetsky had been ordained in the Ukrainian Catholic Rite, he was well acquainted with the liturgy and Christian spirituality as lived by those of the Orthodox churches and this gained him much respect amongst their people and clergy.

[6] His devotion to the people together with his tireless efforts at fostering Orthodox-Catholic relations caused Pope Pius XII to name him as titular bishop of Lebed and Apostolic Visitor to Ukrainian Catholics in the Volhynia region as well as those in Podlaskie (Ukr: Pidlashia) in southern Poland.

Unfortunately, Charnetsky never had an opportunity to return to Ireland; World War II and the Soviet persecution of the church severely restricted his activity.

Two years later, Charnetsky took up a professorship at Lviv Theological Academy[5] (now the Ukrainian Catholic University) which was revived in 1941, after Nazi Germany occupied the city.

It was reported that, during all this time, he maintained a dignified, gentle and calming presence in spite of enduring over 600 hours of interrogation, which included torture.

[4] By 1956, Charnetsky's health was in such a dismal state that a shroud had already been prepared; the prison authorities then decided to release him in order that he die elsewhere.