www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Parish centennials in 2011

St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church of Nesquehoning PA was founded in 1910. Does anyone know if it celebrated its centennial in 2010?

Another 2011 Centennial addendum: St. John The Baptist (OCA), Nanticoke PA.

Gary,Indiana - both the OCA and BCC parishes...

http://lakemichiganrusyns.blogspot.com/2011/02/dual-centennial-for-northwest-indianas.html

Still more centennials in 2011: St. Nicholas (ACROD) Barton OH, St. Nicholas BCC Brownsville PA , St. Michael's BCC Canonsburg PA.

Yet another: Holy Trnity Ukrainian Catholic Chrch, Youngstown OH.

Founded in 1911, primarily by former residents of Osturna, the westernmost Rusyn village in contemporary Slovakia, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church (Carpatho-Russian Diocese), Barton Ohio, will be marking its centennial in 2011. The church was modeled on the church in Osturna, St. Michael's, and it is said that photos of each are indistinguishable. St. Nicholas' founders were drawn to the then booming coal mining industry in eastern Ohio. The church has hosted several reunions of Osturna descendants. Mnohaja L'ta!

Centennial 2011: St. Michael's Byzantine Catholic Church in the Scranton PA suburb of Dunmore will celebrate its centennial in 2011. The original founders, who previously attended St. John's and St. Mary's churches in Scranton, were John Bunda, Andrew Czarik, John Demko, Peter Dupay, John Feczko, George Juba, John Leginy, John Opasanik, Paul Potas and Basil Roscoe. George Juba was the the grandfather of the current President of the Greek Catholic Union, George Juba. Mnohaja l'ita!

Courtesy of Rich Custer, who used GCU info and naturalization data, here are the villages of origin of St. Michael's of Dunmore PA:

In Saryš:
Beňadikovce
Snakov

In Zemplyn:
Vyšna Olsava
Sandal
Berezovec
Kolbasov
Klenova
Strihovce
Zboj
Ubl'a
Rusky Potok
Kalna Roztoka

In Uz:
Volosjanka
Lubnja
Zaričovo
Stavne
Bystra/Verchovyna-Bystra
Dubrynyč
Turycja

In Lisko:
Wolosate

John,

I'm curious. If you happen to know, was 1911 the banner year that it appears to have been? Or were the number of parishes which date themselves from that year about average for the years surrounding it? And, if it was that banner year, any thoughts as to why 1911 in particular?

I ask because I don't remember anytime else in the past decade that there were so many centennials as to cause you to devote a thread to the collective list. (And, I have to admit, I'm amazed at the number you've documented so far.)

Many years,

Neil

St. John The Baptist Church, Uniontown. The coal mining industry around Uniontown PA attracted thousands of Rusyn immigrants to Fayette County in the early part of the 20th Century. Plans were made to establish a Greek Catholic church in Uniontown and funds were collected by John Bucko, Joseph Dunay, George Kalafurt, Michael Liska, John Mrosko, Mathew Patchan, Michael Varnik, George Volcsko, John Zavatson and Stephan Zubal. The first Liturgy was celebrated at the Greek Catholic Union Hall on North Gallatin Avenue in 1911. A cemetery was built on a plot of land donated by the H.C. Frick Coke Company. In 1924, St. John's served as the temporary residence of the newly arrived Bishop Basil Takach. The present church was built in 1918 at a cost of $76,000.00 on East Main Street the site of the former Madison Academy. St. John boasts of having two of its native sons raised to the rank of Archbishop, Thomas Dolinay and Judson Procyk. Mnohaja L'ita!

I think there were even more in 1912! By 1911, Bishop Soter Ortynsky was in the fourth year of his episcopate and there were pressures to establish parishes lest Greek Catholics be "lost" to the Latins and the Russian Mission. The arrival of Ortynsky, a Basilian monk from Galicia who was considered to be Ukrainian, itself touched off a debate among the immigrants about whether they were Ukrainians, Russians, Rusyns and those debates often resulted in establishment of new parishes, (e.g., in Gary Indiana.)

My dad told me stories that he had heard growing up about how rude many of the Rusyn Greek Catholics were in receiving Bishop Soter. Bishop Soter consecrated my home parish's original church building in 1907 but he was not there when the current building was erected in 1917/1918.

Many current OCA parishes trace their existence to the period when Bishop Soter was in America as they didn't consider themselves to be Ukrainian. Some migrated to ACROD when it was founded as they struggled to maintain their Rusyn identiy in the face of total Russification. Tough times for all back then!