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OREGON, Ohio — Father James Kubajak has taken his retirement after 41 years of active ministry in the Eparchy of Parma.
Parishioners at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Oregon, Ohio, where he served for 33 years, held a retirement party for him after the Divine Liturgy, Aug. 12. About 40 people attended.
In an interview with Horizons, Father Kubajak, who turned 70 in May, said the highlight and most prominent event in his years of active ministry was the construction of the iconostasis in the new St. Michael church.
St. Michael Parish, founded in 1914, was originally located in the Hungarian neighborhood on the east side of Toledo; it moved to Oregon in 1985.
Father Kubajak said many churches in the larger cities in Hungary were given to Byzantine Catholics by the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, they did not have icon screens, which the original Byzantine Catholic village churches did.
When Byzantine Catholic Hungarians immigrated to Toledo, they built a church modeled on the ones in Hungary’s big cities — without an iconostasis. The new church offered an opportunity to return to the Eastern tradition of icon screens.
The iconostasis in Oregon was built in 1987, by an amateur cabinetmaker, Tony Zirngibiel, from two non-matching sets of old pews.
Father Kubajak did not want to use the pews in church, so Zirngibiel, over two months, used the wood from the pews to build the iconostasis.
The principal icons on the iconostasis were by a prominent Ukrainian iconographer, Christina Dochwat. The Pantocrator was transferred from the old church to the new church.
A three-bar cross with rose carvings, which was donated by a parish family and placed in the sanctuary of the old church, was also transferred to the new church.
Father Kubajak told Horizons the iconostasis, Pantocrator, and the cross could be taken for granted now in the new church but they are “used as aids to help people come closer to God.”
Bishop Emil Mihalik ordained Father Kubajak July 10,1977. His first assignment was at the chancery and at Holy Ghost Parish in Cleveland. After about a year, he was assigned to St. Michael Parish in Akron, Ohio (1978-1979), and then as pastor at St. Mary Magdalene in Fairview Park, Ohio (1979-1985). He served at St. Michael Parish, from 1985 until his retirement. He also served on the eparchial tribunal throughout his active ministry.
Father Kubajak was succeeded by Father John Russell, as of Sept. 4.
Father Russell is also administrator of St. Stephen Parish in Allen Park, Michigan, where he resides with his wife and four children. The double appointment for Father Russell has led to a change in liturgy times at St. Michael Parish.
Father Russell drives between parishes and celebrates Sunday Divine Liturgy at St. Michael Parish at 12 p.m. He usually celebrates Divine Liturgy for feast days on the day itself at 7 p.m., and Sixth Hour and Divine Liturgy most Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
Father Kubajak is one of four priests who retired this fall and who will be featured in upcoming issues.
Caption: Father James Kubajak poses with a cake for his retirement party at St. Michael Parish, Aug. 12.
(Photo: Linda Solfavi)
As published in Horizons, Nov. 11, 2018.
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