www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Move or die

While in the middle of doing some job contacts, I took a look at today's local newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dearler. Reporter Karen R. Long wrote a front-page article about the affects of a 33% decline in membership of a local synagogue entitled, �It�s Solon or else for synagogue, leader tells Heights congregation.� Here are some clips:

- - - - - -

As the Jewish High Holy Days began 10 days ago, Denny Hershey stood before a packed sanctuary and asked why Temple Emanu El deserved to be saved.

He listed some harsh facts:

The University Heights synagogue has dwindled from 900 families 15 years ago to about 600 families now.

Religious school enrollment has dropped off 40 percent in the last decade.

An attempt to hire a young assistant rabbi failed to attract a candidate three years in a row.

Hershey � looked out over 700 upturned faces and delivered a �move or die� message. If the proud reform congregation intends to survive, he announced, it must follow Jewish migration east.

For a long moment, the temple was silent. Then the Rosh Hashana listeners did something unprecedented. They enveloped Hershey in applause, and later filled his electronic mailbox with congratulations.

No one called the rabbi or the temple offices to complain.

Board member Ken Myers, � said the transition will not be easy. �� Our older members still live in the Heights, and the younger people are moving into the Chagrin Valley.�

Ruth Elliot, the Temple�s executive vice president, supports the move. �We should feel a strong enough connection to say, �I�ll bite the bullet and drive the extra few minutes,� she said.

The S-word, Solon, stands at the center of this division. For some socially conscious Jews, moving to Solon epitomizes the abandonment of the inner-ring suburbs. The precarious future of the aging Jewish Community Center on Mayfield Road � where services have diminished � fuels the disquiet.

Tension about out-migration in the Cleveland Jewish community is decades old.

When Temple Emanu El broke ground in 1947 on Green Road, it stood at the tip of this trend. Now, there are four reform congregations within three miles of its building �

Moreover, a new Orthodox campus just south of Temple Emanu El means the shared neighborhood is becoming more Orthodox.

�The question for Temple Emanu El is are those people interested in what we have to offer in Reform Judaism? The truth is the families who would be interested in us have moved further east.

Locally, Jewish leaders say many remain on the margins of synagogue life.

The new Jewish Population Survey, sponsored by the United Jewish Communities, found 300,000 fewer Amercian Jews in 2000 than in 1990. �We�re not replenishing ourselves, and we�re marrying outside the faith,� Hershey said. �By being in a place to attract all kinds of families, including those on the margins, we can actually make a positive impact on Jewish continuity.�

- - - - - - -

Comments? Do we have anything in common with the Jewish communities in this article? Was Denny Hershey correct in giving a �move or die� talk to those attending a Holy Day service? What issues face each community, 1947 Temple Emanu El and the eastward Solon congregation? Would a parish of 600 families be so bad? Why wouldn�t any newly minted rabbi take such a job? Are there any examples where two struggling communities in our church merged to become something vibrant and exciting?

Cantor Joe Thur

I have noticed something here at the forum as of late.

More and more posts are being made in areas where it is questionable if they should go there.

I can see this post in the Town Hall topic, but in the Byzantine News section? The description for this topic is, Discuss current news about the Church.

Just my two cents... (Nickel for you Canadians :p )


David

Probably. But this "news" article is posted in lieu of the issues facing our church today. If you wish only to discuss the issue facing the Jewish community (just down the street from where I live) then feel free to do so. Otherwise, my interest is in how we should face similar issues. Please overlook my misjudgment in what forum to post it. I should be more careful next time.

So, now that I have your attention ... what comments and/or observations can you make about the article in comparison to our church?

Joe Thur

Dear Cantor Joseph,

Well, I've always thought the Ruthenians should merge with UGCC . ..

O.K., I'll get back to work . . .

Have a great day, Big Guy!

Alex

Joe,
Sorry if my reply came off a bit snippy... Busy/rough day at work.

As for the Move or die issue, I think it is something that we must be aware of in our Byzantine Catholic Church. Such as myself.

I live in Rochester, NY, where there is no Byzantine Catholic Churches. I attend a Melkite parish, which is nice, but it is different. As for the UGCC parishes here, I do not wish to share their ethnic enclave mentality and their use of the recitied liturgy for the Divine Liturgy in English is horrendous.

So I must make a choice, to move or to die as a Byzantine Catholic..... I am looking into moving into an area that has more of a Byzanitne presence.

Now for Alex....

Even with the smilly face I still this this suggestion offensive.

We are not Ukrainians.


David

As the bumper sticker says, "The Church with the Most Parishes Wins!"

Dear David,

The Ukie Church now has English, Portuguese et al. in the Liturgy.

I meant no offense, although, yes, I do believe Ruthenians and Ukrainians are one people with different world-views.

But the point is not what my personal views are but what Cantor Joseph wrote above.

If Cantor Joseph was in our Ukie Church, he would be ordained a priest long before now - that I believe absolutely.

And he wouldn't be talking about the number of parishes, people in them etc.

He would be out there with his dynamic, charismatic personality winning souls for the BC Church!

(Ultimately, the Ukie Church won't be as "Ukie" as it likes to think it is. The old guard are leaving and we are facing similar problems that you are.)

Alex

Attention David: please note that "Byzantine" has never designated an ethnic group. The attempt to apply this term to the Pittsburgh Metropolia in an exclusive sense is a clear abuse of language and leads to much confusion (which can sometimes be amusing but is nevertheless quite undesirable). Incognitus

Attention Incongnitus (see I can be as rude as you).

Please show me where I use the term Byzantine to designate an ethnic group.

I did not. I only used the word Byzantine when describing my church, the Byzantine Catholic Church which happens to be the Pittsburgh Metropolia.

When people speak of the Ruthenian Church (of which there is no such thing today) they mean the Byzantine Catholic Church.

To call the Byzantine Catholic Church anything else, such as the Ruthenian Church or even the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church, is an abuse of language and causes confusion as it is refering to a church that does not exist.


David

ps I tried to send this via private message to Incongnitus but that wasn't an option so here goes. Before you attempt to rebuke me in public please make sure you know what your talking about as well as understanding what I am talking about. As Mark Twain said, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Dear David,

I think you have a calling to be an Archimandrite one day . . .

Alex

No such thing as the Ruthenian Church? Well, I wonder what the people of the Eparchy of Mukachevo and the Exarchate of Prague would have to say about that. Who/what are they, DavidB?

Or maybe you mean there is no such place as Ruthenia. You would be correct. But is the Ruthenian Church named after a country, or a people?

Maybe you mean there is no such people as Ruthenians. Ukrainians, whose historic name was Ruthenians (Rusyny) would beg to differ. Carpatho-Rusyns, who are sometimes called Ruthenians in a modern sense, would beg to differ; otherwise, where does all the content come from on sites like
www.carpatho-rusyn.org [carpatho-rusyn.org]
www.carpathorusynsociety.org [carpathorusynsociety.org]
www.rusynmedia.org [rusynmedia.org]
??

You are giving me an identity crisis now. I thought I was a member of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church.

Lemko,

There is no such thing as a Ruthenian. Ruthenian is a latin term that the Latin Church developed to describe us. The correct term would be carpatho-rusyn. My ancestors did not call themselves ruthenians.

Maybe Eparchy of Mukachevo and the Exarchate of Prague have Ruthenian in their titles but I do not think so, as I did a quick search and I found them called Greek Catholic
Eparchy of Mukachevo (at rusyn.org) and I only see Slovakian Byzantine Apostolic Exarchate of Prague or Apostolic Exarchate for Catholics of Byzantine Rite in the Czech Republic.

No where did I see Ruthenian.

In the United States, the church that used to have Ruthenian in its name, dropped it and is called the Byzantine Catholic Church. This is the Church Headed by Metropolitian Basil in Pittsburgh.


David

ps getting those thumbs down going again!

Dear Archimandrite-in-spe David,

Begging your Reverend pardon, but . . .

"Ruthenian" is truly a Latin term that was used by Rome to describe those who are today in Ukraine, Carpathian Mountains and Belarus.

The Hutsuls of Carpathia were called that - and "Ukrainian" were people to the east.

St Paissy Velichkovsky lists the Carpathian Hutsuls and Ukrainians as two of the ten national groups he counted among his followers.

St Volodymyr the Great is, in Vatican documents, "Rex Ruthenorum."

Now I"ve forgotten why I started this post . . .

Alex

Dear Alex,
I stand corrected but the point I was making is still correct.. Ruthenian is an artifical term used by Rome to describe a large group of peoples. It does not reflect any one ethnic group.


David

But David, the origin of the term is not one whose intent was to describe "a large group of peoples". It was the Latin term for Rusyny--eastern Slavs of Austria-Hungary, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and western Russia. There are separate Latin words for Croats and Magyars (who were not Byzantine Christians at all when "Rutheni" made its appearance in the Latin language).

Also, it is not an "artificial term" any more than most of our English words of French or Greek origin are "artificial"--"Ruthenus" was an exact translation of the word "Rusyn" where "s" was replaced by Latin "th" and "-us" was appended according to standard Latin morphology for words of this type.