Little Romania sau Cleveland-ul românilor: Condiția preotului greco-catolic în comunitatea româno-americană. Studiu de caz - Biserica Sfânta Elena din Cleveland, Ohio (1905-1935)
Little Romania or Romanians’ Cleveland: II. The Status of the Greek-Catholic Priest in the Romanian-American Community. Case Study: Saint Helena Church in Cleveland, Ohio (1905-1935)

Summary/Abstract: The present study analyses aspects related to the status of the Romanian Greek-Catholic priest in America (salary, accommodation, relations with believers, and the Romanian-American society) following the particular case of Saint Helena Parish in Cleveland, Ohio, for 30 years. The research is largely based on the Minutes of the Greek-Catholic Parish of Cleveland, Ohio (1905-1935), discovered in the archives of Saint Helena Church. The researchers also used The Minutes of the U.S. Priests' Conferences, 1914-1922, and the records of marriages, baptisms, and deaths of parish members: Registrum Baptizatorum of Saint Helena Church, 1905-2021, Registrum Matrimoniorum 1905-2021, Combined register (baptism, marriages, deaths), 1909-1919, Registrum Mortuorum, 1919-2021. In the period between 1905-1935, Saint Helena parish was administered in turn by eight priests: Epaminonda Lucaciu, Alexandru Nicolescu, Aurel Hațegan, Ioan Vanca, Ioan Spatariu, Victor Vamoși, Victor Crișan, George Băbuțiu. All were graduates of theological institutes, and most of them knew Hungarian, German, Italian and Latin. Well trained theologically and intellectually, these priests were sincerely involved in the progress of the new churches in America. The work performed by these first priests in organizing the religious and cultural life of the Romanians in America was titanic, and the difficulties they encountered were huge. Their primary attribution was performing religious services, but, in addition to this activity, they set up new parishes, created tiny schools around the churches in which they tried to teach children catechesis and notions of the Romanian language, history and culture, and published newspapers and books in the Romanian language. Also, the priests provided social assistance to Romanian believers in America, helping them in times of economic crisis, when many Romanians lost their jobs.Constantly subjected to harsh public control, these priests had to offer the image of an impeccable priest from all points of view. Sometimes they were praised and denigrated through the Romanian press in America and Transylvania, but one thing is certain: without these true missionary pioneers, the Greek-Catholic churches in America would not have existed.

• Details
• Contents