NEWS AND VIEWS: St. Wolodymyr Parish in Monmouth County not ready to fade away (04/24/05)

NEWS AND VIEWS: St. Wolodymyr Parish in Monmouth County not ready to fade away

by Victoria Mischenko, Walter Pitio, Anna Poruchynsky and Anita Roik

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. - Twice, on March 31 and April 7, an article headlined "In the Christian Spirit: Area Church comes to aid of St. Wolodymyr Parish on Easter" by staff writer Alesha Williams was printed in the Asbury Park Press, in the newspaper's separate inserts for Marlboro/Manalapan and Middletown.

The reporter was inspired to write about the upcoming Easter celebration after a parish-sponsored event held at the Monmouth County Library in Manalapan, N.J., on March 13 sparked her interest. The event, titled "An Eyewitness Account of the Historic Ukrainian Elections," was a panel discussion of official Ukrainian election monitors that was sponsored by a group of St. Wolodymyr's parishioners. After interviewing a few church members, Ms. Williams uncovered what she thought was a newsworthy story.

The story took another turn when, three days before Easter, the most holy day on the Christian calendar, the parish found itself without a priest to celebrate the liturgy.

St. Wolodymyr Parish has existed for almost a quarter of a century. The parishioners are proud of all their efforts to sustain a Ukrainian Catholic community in Monmouth County, N.J. The unique parish community is still going strong in spite of the many difficult hurdles that have come its way. With the 1988 millennium of Ukrainian Christianity approaching, Msgr. Anthony Borsa came out of retirement in 1980 to help establish St. Wolodymyr Parish as a mission church. The parish was founded by six families who originally met at Msgr. Borsa's Matawan home to celebrate Sunday liturgy. Later the parish was able to move to the Chapel of St. Gabriel Roman Catholic Church in Marlboro.

The parish worshiped there for more than 20 years. The parishioners dreamed of establishing a permanent residence and virtually everyone in the mission church worked hard on fund-raising efforts and a substantial church building fund was established. However, rising real estate values in Monmouth County increasingly became a major issue.

Then, two more serious obstacles came in their path.

First, the death of Msgr. Borsa in 1997 led to a string of short-term assignments of more than seven priests in the next seven years. Each came and went before getting a chance to know the families.

Second, when the lease with St. Gabriel's ended in 2002 the parish obtained rental space at the Monmouth County Chinese Christian Church in Lincroft. Unfortunately, the church was available only on Saturday or Sunday evenings.

Predictably, some parishioners became discouraged and sought to fill their spiritual needs elsewhere. Attempts to secure a facility, preferably in a Catholic setting, were initially unsuccessful. But parishioners persevered and their hopes were restored when in 2004, the Old First Church, a historic congregation dating back to the late 1700s, generously opened its doors to St. Wolodymyr Parish.

The facility, centrally located in Middletown, N.J., was available immediately. Plans were made to move the parish to the Old First Church by the end of November. Good news the parishioners thought - until yet another hurdle appeared.

On November 21, 2004, at the end of Sunday liturgy, the parish received an unscheduled visit from Father Joseph Szupa. He was sent by the archeparchial office in Philadelphia to read a letter from Metropolitan Stefan Soroka. The parishioners heard a formal notification that a priest would no longer be provided to St. Wolodymyr Parish and that the trustees had been relieved of their duties. The parishioners were stunned. Father Szupa was not able to answer many of the parishioners' questions or offer a rationale for the sudden decision to close St. Wolodymyr's.

The parishioners scattered for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, wondering what the next steps would be. Everyone was in disbelief that it took only one letter from the metropolitan to dissolve a parish that had existed for over two decades with the hard work and generous financial contributions of nearly 80 families. Was this the end?

A group of well-meaning parishioners decided to make formal attempts to communicate with the metropolitan and Cardinal Lubomyr Husar in Philadelphia in February and March of this year, but to date there have been no responses.

The parishioners searched for a solution and found a Ukrainian Catholic priest willing to celebrate Easter liturgy and bless the Easter baskets on March 26. Plans were made, all the parishioners were notified, and the parish looked forward to once again celebrating together a traditional Ukrainian Easter liturgy.

Unbelievably, however, St. Wolodymyr parishioners learned they had yet another hurdle to deal with.

Three days before Easter, a shocking phone call came. The priest who had agreed to perform the Easter liturgy for the parish was notified by Metropolitan Soroka that he was not granted permission to celebrate the Easter liturgy with the parish and that there would be consequences if he chose to do so. The metropolitan's letter from November 21 had stated that due to the critical shortage of priests, he was not able to provide a priest for St. Wolodymyr's faithful. However, when the parish had found an available priest through their own efforts, this priest was told not to help the parishioners of St. Wolodymyr's celebrate Easter.

No attempt was made by the archeparchial offices and Metropolitan Soroka to contact the parish directly. Even requests for comments from the local newspaper, the Asbury Park Press, went unanswered by the metropolitan's office.

So, with only lay spiritual leaders, the members of the parish held a small and personal family service on March 26 to continue the mission of St. Wolodymyr's faithful. The Ukrainian Catholic Easter traditions were modified for the special circumstances. An introduction to the Ukrainian Church's Easter traditions started the gathering for visitors, and then traditional Stations of the Cross were read followed with selections from the Easter vespers.

Families later came one by one to perform the Ukrainian tradition of "blessing the food baskets." While there was no priest present to perform the ritual, families used holy water blessed in the previous year to sprinkle their own Easter baskets. Afterwards, participants approached each other with the traditional Ukrainian greetings, "Khrystos Voskres" - Christ is Risen - and "Voistynu Voskres," - "Truly, He is risen.

It was a happy day for St. Wolodymyr Parish, yet a somewhat solemn one. The 40 to 50 parishioners joined together during a coffee hour that followed the service and shared their feelings and desires to persevere in keeping St. Wolodymyr Parish alive.

The hope of finding a priest is not gone, nor is the parish commitment after nearly a quarter of a century. The parishioners respectfully wait, and wait, for a message or response from the Archeparchial Office.

To contact St. Wolodymyr Parish readers may e-mail [email protected].

Victoria Mischenko, Walter Pitio, Anna Poruchynsky and Anita Roik are members of St. Wolodymyr Parish.

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