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Special to Horizons
PARMA, Ohio — One of the longest-standing parishes in the eparchy celebrated its 120th anniversary last month. St. John the Baptist Parish, whose church serves as the cathedral of the Eparchy of Parma, celebrated its 120th anniversary on the feast of its patron, June 24.Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma celebrated the Divine Liturgy, followed by the annual Tuscan Sunday Supper in the parish hall. The liturgy was moved to a later time to accommodate the luncheon and to add to the celebration.
The bishop urged the congregation in his homily to imitate St. John the Baptist in his humility in setting himself aside and preparing everyone he would meet to receive Jesus Christ.
The beginnings of the parish that grew to become the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist were humble.
Around 1898, plans were formulated to organize St. John Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church in Cleveland. The first pastor was Father Peter Keselak. The first services were held at St. Joseph’s Chapel, located at East 23rd Street and Woodland Avenue. Later, the small congregation rented a hall on East 22nd Street and Woodland.
However, the congregation grew, so it became obvious a church of their very own was necessary. A church building and a parish house were purchased on the corner of East 22nd and Scovill Avenue in Cleveland Aug. 31, 1901. This property was used until 1913, when it became apparent a larger church would have to be built to accommodate the still-growing congregation.
A triple-domed church was built on the site under the leadership of Father Stefan Makar.
“Coming out of the depression years, in 1945, the pastor, Father Stephen Gulyassy, wanted to purchase a ‘picnic grove’ out in the country,” said Father Michael Hayduk, the current cathedral rector. “He petitioned the then Pittsburgh exarchate for permission to buy 50 acres of land in Parma and was refused. So, the married priest, out of his own funds, purchased the land on Snow Road, which originally extended from Broadview Road down to the little bridge by McDonald’s,” he said.
In the late 1950s, the church’s location was in the way of the proposed Innerbelt Freeway. So construction began in 1959 for a complex, including an elementary school and high school, which operated from 1961 to 1975, at the “picnic grove” site in Parma. The old church was demolished in 1961.
In April 1969, Pope Paul VI established the Eparchy of Parma and St. John’s was designated as the cathedral parish of the new Byzantine Catholic eparchy.
On Nov. 6, 1969, the new St. John’s church, formerly the high school auditorium, was dedicated in Parma by Bishop Emil J. Mihalik. In the early 1970s, work began on an icon screen to give the parish church cathedral stature.
Christine Dochwat was commissioned to paint the icons. On June 21, 1971, at a Liturgy of Thanksgiving celebrated by Bishop Mihalik, the parish observed the burning of its mortgage, and the new icon screen was blessed.
In 1983, during the time that Msgr. Frank Korba was rector, the cathedral interior went through a complete renovation.
“We tried, little by little, to change the space from the look of a former hall into a proper church,” he said.
The current facilities of the cathedral consist of the church edifice, chancery offices, catechetical classrooms, upstairs hall and the former gymnasium, where social activities are held. The cathedral complex also houses the Carpatho-Rusyn Heritage Museum.
However, earlier this month, Bishop Lach told Horizons the chancery offices would be moved from the cathedral complex to an office tower in nearby Independence.
Caption: Some of the women parishioners of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist pose for a photo at the Tuscan Sunday Supper, celebrating the parish’s 120th anniversary (l. to r.): Sharon Rayokovich, Lisa Olexa, Alex Shirilla, Rita Basalla and Alison Metzger. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Olexa)
As published in Horizons, July 22, 2018.
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