History of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carteret

 

Part 2: Humble Beginnings (1949-1967)

 

 

Bishop Constantine immediately appointed Father Leo B. Pelensky as organizing pastor. He arrived in Carteret on Saturday, October 29, 1949 and celebrated the first Divine Liturgy for his congregation the following day at the Ukrainain Catholic Church of the Assumption in Perth Amboy. On November 5, 1949, he wrote to the bishop requesting him to procure the consent of Bishop Daniel Ivancho of the Pittsburgh Ruthenian Apostolic Exarchy for the use of St. Elias Church on Cooke Ave. in Carteret. Father Constantine S. Roskovics, the pastor of St. Elias, had graciously offered to allow the Ukrainian parishoners use the church at certain hours. Bishop Daniel granted his permission in a letter dated December 11, 1949. St. Elias thus became the temporary home for St. Mary's parishoners for the next three years.

 

Father Pelensky and his sister Ellen, who later became Mrs. Nicholas Schwailik and was also his housekeeper, secretary and assistant, found temporary shelter on Grant Ave. thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Anna Ginda and her husband John L. Ginda. Father Leo wrote years later, in a letter dated January 9, 1956, from Auburn, NY, "It was because of you and your wife, Carteret had a place for my sister and I; because of your wife and you we had a rectory and thank God, the same rests with the honor of building the church."

 

Father Pelensky began at once the arduous task of organizing the life of the new Christian community. First came the spiritual life of the faithful. The church registers show that the first child was baptized on November 13, 1949. On December 15, the first parishoner was buried, Michael Bobenchik, 73 years old. The first couple was married on February 18, 1950 and five children received First Holy Communion on May 21, 1950. During Father Pelensky's pastorate at St. Mary's, he organized an Altar Boys Society as well as the Ukrainian Catholic Daughters, Senior Holy Name Society and the Holy Rosary Society.

 

In 1950, four lots were purchased on Roosevelt Avenue, together measuring 100 feet by 100 feet for the sum of $3,300.00. They were deeded to a new corporation established in accordance with the same special law passed for the benefit of Ukrainian Catholic Churches by the legislature of New Jersey in 1911.

 

To raise the money for the erection of the church, the congregation plunged into strenuous money-making activities such as picnics, dances, bingos, pyrohy sales and solicitation of donations from their own members.

 

In October 1952, Father Matthew A. Konopka of Holy Family Church graciously offered his church's facilities for the celebration of services and when the old church was demolished, the services were held in their auditorium.

 

On September 27, 1953, a groundbreaking service was conducted by the representative of the bishop, Father Basil Holowinsky, assisted by Rev. Jaroslav J. Gabro of Perth Amboy, Rev. Dr. Basil Fedysh of Staten Island, Rev. Matthew A. Konopka of Holy Family Church and several other priests. On October 29, 1953, the contract was signed with John L. Ginda & Son to be the contractors for the building of the church. The architect was M. George Vukovich of Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

 

On October 12, 1953 Father Pelensky was transferred to Auburn, NY and was replaced by Father Paul Harchison. On Easter Sunday, April 25, 1954, Father Harchison was able to hold all services in the church. St. Mary's was solemnly blessed on September 19, 1954 by Bishop Constantine Bohachevsky, the Apostolic Eparch for the Ukrainians of the United States, and later the Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Eccleastical Province of this country. To commemorate this memorable event, a parish banquet was held in the evening with 600 persons present. The year 1954 was proclaimed a "Marian Year" by His Holiness Pope Pius XII in honor of the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception. Therefore, the parishoners were indeed happy that they had completed the edifice in Her Name.

 

Father Harchison resided in the rented house along side the church. During his pastorate, he instituted a program of improvements and made preliminary plans for the painting of the church, building a rectory and to purchase the iconastase. He was very interested in youth activities and organized the Junior Holy Name Society, the C.Y.O. and the Young Ladies Sodality. He also started bingo socials in the parish as well as junior baseball and basketball teams. On February 26, 1956, Father Jaroslav Fedyk, who had been ordained in 1952, replaced Father Harchison because of his impaired health.

 

On August 21, 1957, Father Fedyk submitted a request to the bishop for approval of the building of the rectory alongside the church since the mortgage on the church had been reduced to $6000.00 and the building fund had swelled to $22,000.00. This request was granted and contractor Joseph Sahulcik's bid of $28,000.00 was accepted. The rectory was completed and subsequently blessed on November 16, 1958.

 

During the course of the next few years, Father Fedyk provided the church with the appointments customary in the divine services of the Byzantine Rite. These included the beautiful mosaics depicting the stations of the cross (1959), the iconostase, the icons separating the altar from the naive of the church (installed in 1960) and the decorative painting of the interior. Father Fedyk also directed the church to purchase the neighboring house for $15,000.00 in 1961.

 

In 1964, Father Fedyk was transferred to another parish and Father John Malaschuk became St. Maruy's next pastor. He served our parish from 1964 to 1965 before being replaced by Father Basil Makuch. Father Makuch's pastorate was from 1965 until July of 1967 whence he was transferred to the Archeparchial Seminary of St. Josephat in Washington, D.C. It was during this time that the air conditioning system was installed inside our church.

 

Photographs 1949-1967

Click on Photo to Enlarge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next Installment: Part 3: A Thriving Community (1967-1995)

Foreword__________________________

 

This is the second installment of a five part series which documents the history of our church in Carteret. At the end of each installment, commencing with the second, is a photo gallery where you may click on the pictures to view larger images of each. I want to thank those who previously penned our church history in the 25th and 50th anniversary books without which I could not offer you, the reader, an insight into our church's history. Thank you.

Tapac