St George Melkite Church in Milwaukee is celebrating its 100th anniversary. In conjunction with that, a parish history has been posted on its website.
Really, it is more than a parish history, as it contains much background on Syro-Lebanese immigration to the US Midwest from their homeland, the Melkite presence in Wisconsin overall, and snippets of Melkite history throughout the Midwest and occasionally elsewhere in the US. On one of its pages are some interesting insights into 'Archbishop' Antoine Aneed, the renegade Melkite priest whose career subsequent to his time in Milwaukee has caused his name to be found in the episcopal lineages of any number of
episcopi vagante.
The history is fascinating. The level of factual detail is great. It also contains all manner of touching anecdotes that are so universal in their appeal that one needs know nothing of the individuals described to enjoy them - because we all know a parishioner just like each of those discussed.
Unlike a lot of such histories, though, it is refreshing in not flinching from describing the warts that attend almost every parish's history. And those are a remarkable testament to the survival of this parish! The history also speaks to the supportive relationship that the parish and its pastors generally enjoyed with the Latin hierarchy through the more than half-century when it was canonically subject to the Latins - a reminder that not every Latin bishop was a John Ireland.
I'm sure that our resident history aficianado, John Schweich, will find this particularly interesting reading, as I suspect will other history buffs and those who know some of the great priests who have served St George's in the past few decades: Father Ronald Golini; Father Damon Geiger, OSsT; Father Archimandrite Frank Milienewicz; Father Archimandrite Paul Frechette; and, Father Philaret Littlefield.
History of Milwaukee's Melkites [melkite.org]Kudos to Paul Stamm, author of this excellent contribution to Eastern Catholic history in the US! George is the long-time parish webmaster and historian of St George's, as well as webmaster of the Eparchy of Newton's site, and is a member of our forum community, where he posts as GermanMelkite.
St George's is, as far as I know, the only Melkite church in the US listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, it is believed that it may have been the first Eastern Catholic church in the US to have had a web presence, with its initial site having gone on-line in 1995. (Its website is familiar to many of us in the on-line Eastern community, as links have often been posted over the years to a
page there [melkite.org] that catalogued many of the latinizations introduced to Eastern Catholic churches over the years.)
Congratulations to St George Melkite Church and its parishioners and may they be granted many years.
Neil
