Founded October 8, 1909 by a group of fifty families with the Reverend Emil Burik as first pastor.

Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church had its beginning in 1909 when Father Emil Burik, with the approval of Bishop Stephen Ortinsky, called the first members of the parish to a meeting on September 14.

Before this time, Reverend Emil Burik, who was then pastor of St. John’s Church on Scovill Ave., obtained episcopal permission to meet with prospective parishioners for a new West Side church. On October 8, 1909, Holy ghost Greek Catholic (now called Byzantine Catholic) Church was granted a charter by the state of Ohio.

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

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.

^ While I am not an expert, I do not think that the popular American Rusyn publications of the first half of the twentieth century such as the GCU Messenger, the Americansky Rusky Vistnyk and the works of writers like Michael Roman, Fr. Orestes Koman, Fr. John Yurcisin (both in his GCU days and his ACROD days) and Fr. Stephen Varzaly (either in his days as a Greek Catholic priest or a great friend of the Russians later on in his life) etc... used the term "Ruthenian" as a general rule, either in the Rusyn language or in English. The term was always used by Rome to differentiate the Rusyn Greek Catholics from the Ukrainian Greek Catholics and is muddled in the 'ethnic'/national identity issues faced by Carpatho-Russians/Rusyns/Rusins....over the years.

Deborah,

Welcome to the forum.

The book you are seeking is, I believe, Historical Mirror: Greek Rite Catholics 1884-1963 by Rev. John Slivka. The full text of it is available and readable on-line here. An actual paper copy, last time I saw onr on-line, was running about $175 and, from the description, its condition would be described as 'fair'.

Not knowing what info you may already have, I apologize in advance for any repetiton.

Father Joseph Hanulya, of blessed memory, was particularly prominent in the history of the Greek-Catholic Church and the Carpatho-Rusin community in Cleveland. He pastored Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church there until his retirement in 1953. I believe that he remained there, in residence, until his repose in 1962. (Interestingly, Holy Ghost was founded by your other great-grandfather, Father Emil Burik, of blessed memory). Holy Ghost, regretably, was suppressed in Nov 2009. You can see photos of it at our Directory entry and a history of it here

Exactly when he was first assigned to Holy Ghost is a bit harder to nail down. I've seen him listed as arriving there in either 1908 or 1918. From 1921-1924*, he was at St Gregory the Theologian Greek Catholic Church, 2037 Quail St, Lakewood, OH.

Father Joseph was instrumental in establishment of the Rusin Cultural Garden, erected in 1939. It is one of 20 such gardens dedicated to ethnic groups prominent in Cleveland and if you use the garden as a search term in either Yahoo or Google you will inevitably find mention of him.

There's a biographical entry on him in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, which is available on-line. He's also prominently mentioned in the encyclopdia's entry on Byzantine Rite Catholics. The biographical entry provides his dates of birth, marriage, ordination, immigration, and death. It also indicates the village in which he was born and names your great-great grandparents, his wife - your great-grandmother, one of your grandparents, and those who would be your grandaunts and granduncles. He served parishes in PA before his arrival in OH, one being Ss Peter & Paul in Duquesne - another being in Allegheny, possibly also at St Nicholas in McKeesport.

He was very involved in the fight to obtain a Greek Catholic bishop in the US and also in the battle against Rome's imposition of a celibacy requirement for Greek Catholic priests in the US.

He authored more than a dozen books - several of which were texts for use in the parish school. You can find information on some of them here and if you search his name at www.alibris.com , www.abebooks.com , or www.amazon.com , you will find a few of his books available for purchase from used booksellers - one on Rusyn literature, one on Rusyn ritual.

Father Joseph and Matushka Mary are buried at Holy Spirit Byzantine Cemetery in Cleveland.

Father Emil Burik, of blessed memory, was pastor of St John the Baptist Greek Catholic Church in Cleveland from 1906 to 1908.

In 1907, he was present at a meeting to plan a welcoming for Bishop Soter Ortinsky, the first Greek-Catholic bishop sent to the US and in 1908 both he and Father Joseph were signatories to a letter of protest sent to Rome by the Greek-Catholic clergy in the US.

In 1909, he founded Holy Ghost and served there until 1913 when he became the first pastor of the new Ss Peter & Paul Greek-Catholic Church in Erie, PA, where he remained a year.

In 1919, he became pastor of St John the Baptist Greek Catholic Church in Bayonne, NJ, where he remained until 1920 or 1921 and oversaw the construction of a new temple. *From 1921-1924, he was back at Holy Ghost in Cleveland, while Father Joseph was at St Gregory the Theologian in Lakewood.

He reposed in 1943, when his obituary appeared in a Bayonne, NJ, newspaper. Where he was assigned in the 2 decades from 1924 to 1943, I don't know.

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.)