www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Photo Gallery St. Michael OCA, Mt. Carmel, PA

Here are some pictures I snapped this past weekend, on Saturday afternoon.

This parish is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year, after breaking from Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Catholic Church in the same town. Perhaps some of our resident historians could shed light on the reasons. Today the two parishes enjoy good relations. My Roman Catholic parish too - a few years ago, for our Fall Festival, half of our pierogies came from the Greek Catholics and the other came from St. Michael's. That's what I call ecumenism!

The icons were originally the "Western Holy Picture" style, and were replaced in the late 1980s with the ones you see here.

The Altar Cross was a gift of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, to support this new congregation.

My late grandfather, a master carpenter, installed the faux-marble wainscoating, a staircase which went to the basement, and the front doors in the 1950s. Not to brag, but they look as good as the day he put them in!

Enjoy!

Frank Sawicki is my late grandfather - good eyes.

Some of those ads are amazing. The amount of clothing stores and grocers and department stores, etc. that were once in little ole Mt. Carmel is amazing.

My grandmother has that book - because her husband sponsored the ad and did the work.

A little story my grandmother likes to tell: She and Fritz were invited to the golden jubilee dinner, which was going to be held in the hall of St. Peter's [Italian] Roman Catholic Church (their home parish). She went to Fr. Dinkle, the pastor, and explained that they were invited to the dinner - and asked if they should they go or not. He said something like "Make sure you have some other event that you have to attend that day." There wasn't animosity or anything, just "good fences..." We're all glad things are friendlier nowadays.

Jon, can you please explain this story more by your grandmother that she was told by the priest named Dinkle that she should make up an excuse not to go to a function for some church?


Also, to clarify about St Michael's creation.


This reflects my understanding of St Michael OCA parish's creation. St Alexis Toth already started the return to Orthodoxy movement maybe 10 years earlier. And Ukrainian/Carpatho-Rusyn Catholic parishes like Sts Peter and Paul already existed in Mt Carmel and Shamokin in the 1890's. Immigrants were coming from the Carpathian mountains and Galician Ukraine in the 1900's. Some were already Orthodox and so didn't "break away" from any greek Catholic churches in Mt Carmel. One lady, Olga Gondola, told me her father said about Sts Peter and Paul "It's not like in old country." Her father may have helped set up St Michael's in Mt Carmel.

First the Orthodox in Mt Carmel met together before the church was created. Maybe they met in a school someplace, I don't remember. Then they built the church based on styles in Carpatho-Rus mountains, with the biggest dome first followed by 2 domes gradually decreasing in size. The chuch was made so as to be seen from various hills around the city, and in this the builders did a great job, as you can see driving towards the city from at least 3 directions. I expect that some members of Sts Peter and Paul did jon St Michael's and the members who already were Orthodox. It's possible some of them were already Orthodox in belief but attended Rusyn/Ukrainian Catholic churches in the absence of an orthodox church nearby. I think this was possibly the case with one gentleman who told me his parents or grandparents were married in Transfiguration Catholic church in Shamokin, and they joined St Michael's as it was founded.

However, a big breakaway to St Michael's from Sts Peter and Paul did really occur later, and this is probably what is had in mind. A lady I met whose last name starts with H, unfortunately she has passed away, told me the story of her father who had a diamontown business and was the Diamondtown postmaster. He played a leading role in Sts Peter and Paul's social life and was the president of its social organization. Already years after St Michael's founding, he in the 1910's left with many others to join St Michael's OCA parish, bringing the social organization's flag with him (named after a saint). The reasons of this change I believe were financial mistakes or perhaps financial operatiosn of a shady nature on the part of the Greek Catholci parish. Possibly unmentioned could be ethnic or other problems as you could have heard of. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN CITADEL is a book by the UNA of the UNA's history in America, and it does discuss real financial shady operations in the Ukrainian/Rusyn Catholic church at that time, done for personal gain surounded by accusations of unethical doings. So I believe this reason and accept it as one stimulating the leaving of many Peter and Paul members for St Michael's OCA, which had already been founded in 1906-1907. Further information and stories on the history of St Michael's OCA and other Rusyn/Ukrainian churches in Northumberland and Columbia counties will be interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I am now in Kiev Ukraine on a summer internship, so if someone has contacts in the old country, please tell me. I also intend to go to the 100 anniversary, and expect Olga Gondola to be there too.

John S. - I think we did meet coincidentally at a Mt Carmel gathering at the American legion, I attended with Charlie Barnes, and you told me your father made the church's doors.

Hal Smith
St Michael's OCA parishioner in Mt Carmel

Hal: Wouldn't it be nice if we (The intrepid Eastern church explorer Jon, you and I) could all meet at St. Michael's Centennial dinner on September 21. I am looking forward to reading St. Michael's Centennial history. I have over 1,000 Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox parish histories.