NJ Byzantine Church tries to survive amid falling attendance

Newark Star Ledger ^ | 12.19.04

[Coleus]

Holy Wisdom Byzantine Catholic Church had a promising beginning when it opened in the Succasunna section of Roxbury in the 1970s: The modest building was the only Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic parish for 38 miles.

Worshippers from coal and steel mining towns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with roots in Eastern Europe joined Holy Wisdom to practice their religion, which follows the principles of Roman Catholicism and the customs of the Eastern Orthodox church.

In recent years, membership has declined. Holy Wisdom's congregants, like Byzantine Catholics elsewhere in New Jersey, have joined Roman Catholic churches that are closer to home. Decreasing membership, combined with the church's dire financial situation, has prompted the Rev. Dan Staniskis to hold fund-raisers to keep the church's doors open.

"For the people who have been here, this has been their spiritual home for the last 30 years. It's the sole representation of the Byzantine church in Morris County. If we were to close, where would these folks go?" Staniskis said.

Without her church, Marie Esolen, a 63-year-old widow in Stanhope, would have to give up the traditions of an Eastern Rite church or commute to St. Michael's Byzantine Chapel in West Paterson, the closest Ruthenian Byzantine church.

"I'd have to go to a Roman Catholic church. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I'll do it for my religion," Esolen said.

Membership has declined as a growing number of Eastern Catholics have wed Western Catholics. Those couples and other Eastern Catholics often end up going to Roman Catholic churches for convenience. New Jersey has 24 Ruthenian Byzantine churches, 20 Ukrainian Byzantine churches and a handful of Melkite and Romanian Byzantine churches. By comparison, there are more than 700 Roman Catholic churches in the state.

[Coleus]

star ledger articles are on line for 14 days, if you want the article save it now.

[csbyrnes84]

This is odd. The Ukranian Catholic Church, St. John the Baptist in Whippany is thriving. The Ukranians have gotten so big that they are constructing a large new Church building on North Jefferson Rd, off of Rt. 10 in Whippany.

Maybe it is their location which is causing them to lose membership?

[Clemenza]

I know NOTHING about Roxbury. Demographic changes in the area (IE more people at the Hindu Temple these days)?

Its a shame, as I have enjoyed attending Byzantine Churches in the past. I know the main church in the East Village, constructed only about 35-40 years ago, sees most of its congregants commute from, you guessed it, the Garden State.

[thor76]

St. George's Ukranian Church on East 7th Street in Manhattan's East Village was built in 1976, replacing a church dating back to the 1840s. Since it was built the Ukranian commmunity there has shruck rapidly. They allegedly boast a congregation of some 14,000.......but as you indicated, most of them do not live anywhere near there. Most are in NJ now, as they fled the drugs and violence in the worst years of the late 70s and early 80s.

Now that neighborhood has yuppified. On a Saturday eve one only observes a handful of older Ukranians going into St. George for mass. The attached school is populated with mostly either Russian or polish childen of recent emigrants. Few ethnic Ukranians attend the school now.

[NYer]

Maybe it is their location which is causing them to lose membership?

Or ... perhaps, its a lack of advertising! I have found this to be the case at the Eastern Cathoic Church that I attend. There is little or no interest in self promotion. On the few occasions where the church's name appeared in a local paper, new faces showed up at the Divine Liturgy. That was from 'free' advertising. Father is adamant about actually investing in advertising. (I'm working on him though ;-D)