[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15147]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          IN RECOGNITION OF THE REOPENING OF ST. EMERIC CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 13, 2012

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of St. Emeric 
Church, one of the 11 Cleveland Catholic Diocese parishes that will be 
reopening this year.
  In 2009 it was announced that several of the Cleveland Catholic 
Diocese's area churches, including St. Emeric, were to close. However, 
just months ago, the Vatican overruled this decision and St. Emeric 
reopening its doors on and celebrated its first mass on Sunday, 
November 4, 2012. St. Emeric was the last of the 50 churches closed and 
was to be the last of the eleven to reopen.
  St. Emeric Church was founded in 1904 and has been home to many of 
the Cleveland area's Hungarian-American Catholic community. Prior to 
its closing on June 30, 2010, St. Emeric Church was home to nearly 650 
parishioners.
  The celebratory mass that ushered in the reopening of St. Emeric 
Church was held on November 4th, which is especially significant for 
the parish because it is also the feast day of St. Emeric. The mass was 
led by the parish's former pastor, Reverend Sandor Siklodi, who was 
transferred to Chicago's St. Stephen King of Hungary parish in 2010. 
Siklodi had served as St. Emeric's pastor for 24 years after being sent 
to the church by a Hungarian bishop in Romania. The parishioners of St. 
Emeric appealed for the return of Rev. Siklodi because he performs mass 
in their native Hungarian language.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing the 
reopening of St. Emeric Church, a beloved parish that has returned to 
Cleveland's near West Side neighborhood.

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