The Eighth Tribe, 1978 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-05-01 / 5. szám
Page 12 THE EIGHTH TRIBE May, 1978 Presenting the HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY OF TOLEDO, OHIO:— Part III. — St. Michael’s Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ST. MICHAEL’S CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE BYZANTINE RITE”. In the late eighteen hundreds, when the great migration from the Austro-Hungarian Empire was taking place, among the peoples who settled in the Birmingham area of Toledo were the Magyars and the Carpatho-Ruthenians who were Catholics of the Byzantine Rite. These Byzantine or Greek Rite Catholics who belong to the Church of Rome and stand in equal dignity with their brethren of the Latin Rite,were a deeply religious people who found themselves in a new land without the consolation of their native Byzantine churches and priests. They found natural solace and a place to worship with their brethren of the Latin Rite who had already paved the road for active Catholicism in America. It was at St. Stephen's Catholic Church on Consaul Street that together Byzantine and Latin Catholics worshiped. To show the fraternal love between the two equally catholic rites, the then wooden structured church of St. Stephen's bore the name "Szent István Romai es Görög Kath. Templom”, which translated means: "St. Stephen's Roman and Greek Catholic Church". The word Greek Catholic is synonymous with Byzantine Catholic. Catholics of both rites were served by the Latin priests who pastored St. Stephen's Parish and, on occasion, a Byzantine priest from St. John's Byzantine Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio would come to offer special services peculiar to the Eastern Catholics. This was nothing new for the Magyars in Birmingham since it was customarily practiced in certain parts of Hungary and Carpatho- Ruthenia. It wasn't until 1912 when Father Paul Staurosky from St. Mary's Byzantine Parish in Marblehead. Ohio beaan reaularlv to administer to the particular needs of the Byzantine people. It was a perfect arrangement; however, many of the Byzantine faithful began to fear their loss of traditional identity. Their beautiful Eastern heritage was slowly being assimilated and westernized. Living as Byzantine Catholics in a new nation where being catholic was synonymous with being Latin, it seemed they always found themselves being asked to explain their unique and ancient customs and traditions along with their relationship with "The Catholic Church." Realizing the need to preserve their time honored Byzantine Rite, they, with the help of God, about 50 families, and Father Basil Berecz, in the year 1914, organized themselves into the present St. Michael's Catholic Congregation of the Byzantine Rite. The first mass of the newly organized congregation was celebrated in the home of George Majores, located at 1947 Genesee Street. Mr. Majores was the father of Katherine Meyers of 2025 Consaul Street, who is still an active parish member. Later the masses were celebrated in an upstairs hall on the corner of Genesee and Conqaul and, as the movement grew, a store front on Front Street was used. In the meanwhile, funds were being raised by the men of the congregation, among whom was Joseph Orosz who solicited help from the Byzantine Magyar congregations in Pennsylvania and New York. At last their dream was realized. Land was purchased on the corner of Bogár and Valentine Streets and the men of the parish dug the foundation of the present structure with their own hands, using the pick and shovel áKills that they brought with them from the old country. The first mass was joyfully celebrated in the basement in the autumn of 1914. The venture was such a success that it took them only one year to complete the upper structure of the church, which can still be seen today. During the years that followed the parish continued to grow, but due to a lack of an elementary school, many of the faithful were forced into sending their children either to public or other religious schools, which resulted again in another type of assimilation. Today, however, the Byzantine people are again remembering their beautiful ancestral ways and there is a resurgence of interest in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, especially among the third and fourth generations. And so it is just and fitting that the Pope of Rome issued a special document on the Eastern Churches during the last Vatican Council. The faithful members of the present day St. Michael's Congregation, along with their pastor, Father Stanley Christo Bartkus, are anxious to share their customs and traditions with all our other ethnic friends and neighbors. Indeed, our Byzantine community welcomes all Christians, regardless of ethnic origin, to come worship God with us according to the traditions and the customs of the East ... the cradle of all Christendom.
