Newark's Redemptorist Fathers celebrate 50 years of service to the community (11/17/96)

Newark's Redemptorist Fathers celebrate 50 years of service to the community

"The Gifts of the Spirit are manifold. He calls some to bear open witness to the longing for a dwelling place in heaven and to keep this fresh in the minds of all mankind; He calls others to dedicate themselves to the service of men here on earth, preparing by this ministry the material for the Kingdom of Heaven."

- Vatican Council II

by the Rev. Frank Szadiak

Fifty years ago in 1946, Archbishop Constantine Bohachevsky invited the Ukrainian Redemptorists of Canada to serve the spiritual needs of the parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, N.J.

The Redemptorists are a religious congregation of priests and brothers founded in 1732 in Scala, Italy, by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Their mission was to work among the abandoned and the poor. From Italy, the congregation moved north across Europe, coming to America in 1832 and settling in Canada in 1874. Today the Redemptorists labor in 50 countries on every continent and are divided into provinces, vice-provinces and regions. The main service of the Redemptorists to the Church is preaching missions, retreats and tridiums. And in cases of need they are also involved in administering parishes and foreign missions.

The eastern branch of the Redemptorist Congregation was founded by Father Achilles Delaere, a Belgian Redemptorist who spent 35 years among the Ukrainian immigrants in western Canada. In 1899, Father Achilles was assigned to work among the Slav immigrants in the vast diocese of the French Archbishop Langevin of St. Boniface, a great friend of the early Ukrainian immigrants. Father Achilles, originally of the Latin Rite, arrived in Yorkton in 1904. Daily contact with Ukrainians who had very few priests of their own rite to serve them convinced him that his work would be fruitful if he changed to the Eastern Rite. This he did with the approval of his superiors. Because he needed much more preparation for and knowledge of Ukrainian Church traditions, he went to live with the Basilian Fathers in Winnipeg. In 1906, Father Achilles celebrated his first Byzantine Rite liturgy and dedicated his missionary life to the service of the Ukrainian people in Canada.

This was the beginning of the eastern branch of the Redemptorists. Soon other Belgian Redemptorists followed suit. They built their own monastery and church which became known as the Ukrainian Catholic Mission. Still more new churches were built in the Yorkton district as Redemptorists from Ukraine joined their Belgian colleagues. Thus the torch was handed to Canadian and American Redemptorists to further the work of the Congregation for the Ukrainian people.

In 1910 Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky visited the Ukrainians in Canada among whom Father Achilles and his confreres worked. He was so impressed by their self-sacrifice on behalf of the Ukrainian people that he invited the Belgian fathers to start similar missionary work in western Ukraine. The first Belgian priests arrived in western Ukraine in 1913 and settled near Lviv, in Univ and then in Zboisk and Holosko Velyke on property donated by Metropolitan Sheptytsky, where they founded a minor seminary for boys, a novitiate, and a monastery. The Redemptorists flourished. New centers were formed in Stanyslaviv, (now Ivano-Frankivsk), Ternopil, Volyn, Pidliashsha, Kholm and Polissia. In 1937 Metropolitan Sheptytsky helped the Redemptorist Fathers open a monastery in Lviv.

The Red Army occupied Ukraine in 1939 and the persecution of the Ukrainian Catholic Church ensued. None of the Redemptorist Fathers surrendered to the "persuasions" to join the Russian Orthodox Church. Consequently, some were thrown into jail and others exiled to Siberia or both. Among the latter were two Redemptorists, namely Bishop Mykola Charnetsky (1884-1959) and Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky (1903-1973). Upon their release most of them were allowed to return to western Ukraine, but they were forbidden to engage in any kind of apostolate among the Ukrainian people. To keep alive, the Ukrainian Catholic Church went underground. The late 1980s brought a measure of relief and an easing of tension by the Communist regime. The Ukrainian Church took advantage of this. One of the results was the repossession of the Preobrazhenska Church in Lviv by the Catholics at the end of 1989. The first Divine liturgy after this was celebrated there by a Redemptorist, Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk, on Christmas Eve, January 6, 1990.

What is the legacy of the Redemptorists in Newark? Throughout these 50 years, they have devoted themselves to the spiritual growth of St. John's. They have striven to provide service for their faithful concentrating on sound preaching, availability and personal contact. The priests have made liturgical services and the sacraments accessible to all. They have revitalized exiting Church organizations and fathered the formation of new ones.

During their tenure much has been accomplished at St. John's. A new grammar school and a new church were built, a pre-school program started, and a parish council organized. Three former pastors were appointed bishops - Bishop Michael Hrynchyshyn (1983), Bishop Michael Kuchmiak (1988) and Bishop Michael Wiwchar (1993). They have planned and coordinated countless missions, retreats, guest lectures, workshops and concerts. They have been able to do this with God's help and the cooperative faithful of St. John's, and God willing, they shall continue their labor, doing their utmost in the Lord's vineyard.

The Rev. Frank Szadiak CSsR is pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Newark, N.J.