www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Rev Joseph P Hanulya and Rev Emil I Burik

Fr. Hanulya was on the "short list" of candidates to replace Bishop Takach as ordinary of the Pittsburgh Diocese in the late 1940s. As things turned out, another Cleveland priest, Fr. Daniel Ivancho, got the nod.

Thank you all for your very informative posts. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner, but after I initially posted and didn't see any responses, I thought there wouldn't be any; until I checked back 1 1/2 years later.

My father, Philip Burik, Fr Burik and Fr Hanulya's grandson, is still alive and in fact, I assisted him today in registering so he may ask his own questions and possibly add additional information to the thread.

I do have one specific question for Neal. You mention my great grandfather Fr Burik actually founded Holy Ghost Church, but in all of the official publications and documents re the beginnings of the Church, his name is never mentioned as such. Great grandfather Fr Hanulya of course is mentioned quite frequently.

Thanks again and please keep in touch. My search for information is not over.

Regards,

Debi

Deborah,

Glad to see a post from you. As you can tell, your query prompted quite a bit of interest - there are more than a few amateur historians here. As memory serves, when we didn't see amy response from you, I think I sent you a PM to make you aware of the replies, hoping that you had enabled the function which notifies one by e-mail of PMs - but am guessing that you hadn't done so.

As regards the founding of Holy Ghost, the entry for the parish in "Silver Jubilee 1924-1949: Byzantine Slavonic Rite Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh" reads:


Of note, Father Hanulya was its pastor at the time of publication and a nice portrait photo of him accompanies the entry.

Likewise, the entry in the 1999 "Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory: Published in Observance of the 75th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh" reads:


I think the source for my original statement about him as the founder of Holy Ghost was an online piece to the history of Cleveland [tremonthistory.com], which I linked earlier. Although I titled the link as referring to St John the Baptist (which is peripherally mentioned in it as Father Emil's parish in 1909), the actual article is about Holy Ghost and says:


There are, undoubtedly, myriad other references to both Father Joseph and Emil in the two directories. If you are looking for copies of either, see my recent post to the Books forum here, where I posted links to a few copies that I had seen available on-line. One link is to a copy of the 1949 book, which isn't seen for sale very often.

If you'd like a copy of either of those directory pages, I'll gladly photocopy them and send them off to you. You can PM a mailing address to me.

Many years,

Neil

Thank you very much Neal. My plan is to purchase all of his available on-line books, especially the one signed by him in 1959.

My father will be posting as soon as his registration is cleared. He said there was a piece of the puzzle about his Grandfather Fr Burik's whereabouts before his mother, Martha, was born which you helped solve. Also, I believe you weren't aware of his whereabouts during the early 1920's thru 1943. He founded a parish in Bayonne. My father's recollection is a little fuzzy, but may be able to offer a little more information.

From what I'm gathering, the celibacy issue seemed to be a huge battle fought by my great grandfathers and others during that time, and considering the financial implications to the Vatican, not very winnable. Once the ruling was made by Rome, and Eastern priests could no longer marry, the family profession seemed to change from priest to dentists and doctors. Lol

Btw, sorry about the PM issue. When I tried it, it said I had accepted too many PM's, when actually I've not received any. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to "turn it on" because when I registered, I checked "yes" on the PMs.

Please keep in touch.

Regards,

Debi

Also Neal, I wanted to thank you for that tidbit of information re the village Fr Burik was born. The spelling you used may be the Americanized version(?), but I actually was able to track down a village called Nizne Repase, which I found on an old map. Both surnames Burik and Hanulya were listed there. My father said they were very clannish and you didn't dare marry outside your clan, so it's possible they both came from the same village.

Regards,

Debi

Debi,

Yes, your Dad is correct - Father Emil founded St John the Baptist in Bayonne in about 1921 or so. I made a brief reference to it in the same post where I spoke of being unsure of his whereabouts after that. If you check the posts following that, you'll see one by my good friend, 'DMD', whose family was from Bayonne.

David posted something to the effect that he remembers his father and grandfather (who were also also caught up in the celibacy issues of the time) speaking of Father Emil.

The village name as I gave it probably is an Americanized version (my facility at languages is decidedly limited). I'm certain it was however it was presented wherever I found the information. Glad it helped - researching the somewhat obscure queries that folks sometimes post is high on my list of enjoyable activities.

Regarding PMs, new members aren't able to access the PM function until they've been here for a period or posted several times (it helps us avoid hackers and spammers). During that time, the user gets the message that you mentioned. That lock was taken off your profile probably within a day or so of your initial post.

To activate e-mail notification (or other features) go to the top of this page, click "My Stuff" on the menu bar, then click "My Preferences" in the drop-down menu. A ways down the page, you'll find that one of the options is to receive or not receive e-mail notification of PMs.

Your Dad's account has been fully unlocked already since we were able to verify the legitimacy of his membership from the outset.

Many years,

Neil

To everyone out there:

My name is Philip Emil Burik. I am a retired educator
living in Long Beach, Calif. I was born in Scranton, Pa.
9/3/34 (77) and have 5 children (3 boys/2 girls). My Mom
was Martha (daughter of Rev. Hanulya) and Dad was the son
of Rev. Burik ( the Bayonne Burik). I believe my Dad's Dad
was related to the "Forest City, Pa. clans Dad". All the
Forest City clan is now deceased. My Dad was a D.D.S. He
died in 75 at the age of 72. My Mom died 9 yrs. ago at the
age of 96. I had 1 brother (Nicholas---a San Francisco M.D.)
who passed away 6 yrs. ago.He left behind a wife, a son and
2 daughters. Rev. Hanulya had 5 children ( my Mom, Alice(who
lived at the H.G. parish house in Cleve.), Mary (from
Youngstown), Mitchell and Joseph. Rev. Burik had 3 children
(my Dad, his brother Paul ( D.D.S.) and sister Ann ( married
to Rev. Jackanich (of Youngstown) who died at 100. All are
deceased.
I went to Scranton 2 yrs. ago to visit the house I was
raised in until I went in the Marine Corp in 53. Our church
(St. John's) across the street is not full-time anymore.I
can remember taking piano lessons as a kid from Rev.
Ladomersky's daughter. Rev. Kostival was the last G.Cath.
priest I remembered.
2 Yrs. ago we visited my Grandpa's Bayonne church. The
parish house is new ---but I can remember running around the
old one at 8 or 9. I can remember everyone clustered around
Grandpa when he died in the upstairs bedroom (we were'nt
allowed to go upstairs to see what was happening).
2 or 3 x a yr. we would drive or take the Pullman to
Cleve. Grandpa. I could'nt wait to ride the bike around the
yard, play Pinocle with my Dad and Grandpa, go see the
Indians play and run aroud the huge parish house.
Since I only came on the scene in 34, my only
recollections are of Bayonne and Cleve. When the G.Cath.
priests started to come here in the 6's,8's,10's, it seems
they were all over the place (from Jersey to Chi.). I knew my
Mom was born in Duquesne---but my Dad never told me where he was
born ( however he spoke Rusyn and Hungarian. He came here at 5.
My cousin Joe ( who also lives in Long Beach) Alice's son
told me yesterday that he has the books written by the Cleve. Grandpa. I want to read them. I was stunned to learn that my
Bayonne Grandpa was in Cleve. before the Cleve. Grandpa! The names of the priests that have been mentioned in the info my
oldest daughter has garnered thus far I'm familiar with because
Mom + Dad knew all of them and talked about them from time to time. It seems like all the G.Cath. clergy who came to the U.S.
to build, raise their families, gather the flocks and quickly
assimilate themselves in this new world, all new each other in
Europe-----kind of a "huge clan"!!!! Slowly, I'm trying to learn
more about those "mystery" yrs. between 1906 and the late 20's.
Being that "Joseph" and "Emil" were my Grandpas---I kinda
have a vested interest in 2 individuals who did all they could to
adore Jesus---to spread his "Word"----and to live a life of love
and compassion.
My e-mail is phil1934@hotmail.com----

good luck to all------Phil Burik

(Mod note: anyone wanting to directly correspond or speak with Phil to share additional information relative to his rightfully famous grandfathers, can PM or e-mail him for contact info. As well, it can always be posted here for the edification of all the amateur historians.)

Phil,

Welcome to the forum. I really enjoyed reading those recollections of your childhood and look forward to hearing whatever else you and Debi might uncover in your research. And, as I said in an earlier post, this place is replete with amateur and would-be historians, who know a lot of minutiae or know from where to ferret it out, and love sharing it.

I'm not a Ruthenian and can't claim to know much of the early Carpatho-Rusyn history here in the US - though I've learned a lot of it over the years, both here and in the course of compiling the online Directory of Eastern & Oriental Catholic Churches that's hosted here. However, it's very clear in reading through parish histories, the histories of Cleveland, and the church documents of the time, that Father Emil and Father Joseph, both of blessed memory, were very involved and influential priests.

Like all the clergy (and laity) of that era, including those who left the Greek Catholic Church for the Russian Metropolia (now the OCA), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or the American Carpatho-Russian Archdiocese, they were faced with difficult choices. The decisions made tore some families asunder for decades afterwards, until the healing efforts of Metropolitans Jusdon (Pittsburgh) and Nicholas (Johnstown), both also of blessed memory, gave them the peace to be able to see that all of them were vistims - regardless in which Church they subsequently worshipped.

Many years,

Neil

Vitajte! (Weclome). I collect the histories of Greek Catholic parishes and the Orthodox communities which originated from those communities. I have about 1300 such volumes. Since I am also from Northeastern Pennsylvania, I have a particular interest in the churches there. When Fr. Hanulya celebrated his 50th anniversary-- he was pastor of Holy Ghost in Cleveland at the time--, the commemorative booklet published for the occasion noted that he had authored a history of then Pittsburgh Exarchate, completed in the 1950s. I have inquired and searched high and low without success. Have you ever heard of such a history?

Hi John:

Just read your post and remembered I was actually given two books from Fr Hanulya's other grandson, Joe (Hanulya) Ahern. One is "Rusin Literature", 1941 and the other is a signed copy of "The Eastern Ritual, dated 1950, second supplemental edition. On the opening page is says "Dedicated as a token of gratitude on my Golden Jubilee".

Please let me know if this was what you are searching for.

Regards,

Debi

Hi Neil:

FYI, re your comment "I'm not a Ruthenian...", I just opened the first page of "Rusin Literature" and the first chapter heading states: ""RUSIN" and NOT RUTHENIAN, RUSSIAN or UKRAINIAN".

It appears as though he was very adamant about that distinction.

Regards,

Debi

There was a commemorative booklet published for the 60th Anniversary of Fr. Hanulya's Ordination (November 10, 1957). It lists his various publications, including: 1955 "Chronicle of the Pittsburgh Byzantine Rite Catholic Exarchate" with the note: "the work is in the hands of the diocesan censor and will shortly be published."

Hmmm. I suspect it was never published. I can send you excerpts for the Ordination anniversay booklet if you'd like.

That would be great John, as I'm trying to gather as much as possible before they're lost forever.

I'm not sure if that particular book was ever published, too, but I am now in the process of trying to retrieve some of the books given to another relative and will keep you posted if I come up with anything.

Regards,

Debi

Before chiming in, I had to do a little research via discussion with the Forest City, Pa. parish cantor, Mr. Ted Kowalick. I am deacon at Holy Ghost B.C. Church in Jessup, Pa. Our pastor, Msgr. John Sekellick, is also administrator of St. John the Baptist parish in Forest City, Pa. The latter parish had been pastored, many years ago, by Fr. Nicholas Burik, I believe the brother of Fr. Emil Burik. Fr. Nicholas and Pani Vilma had five children, all of whom have now passed on to their eternal reward. When were were first given responsility for Forest City in 2001, three of them were still alive and active in the parish. They all had interesting careers. Of the 3 boys, one was a psychiatrist, one was a dentist, and one was a Gynecologist. The two girls went on to be teachers. The tabernacle on the altar is dedicated to Rev. & Mrs. Nicholas Burik. If I can be of any help in obtaining info, let me know.

In Christ,
Dn. Robert

Dn. Robert:

Thank you very much for the addtional information and any other pieces of the puzzle you may be able to provide in the future.

As I stated earlier, it appears as though once Rome ended married priesthood as a vocation, the extended family made medicine and education it's primary "soup de jour".

Regards,

Debi