St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral (Parma, Ohio)

School growth In 1947, Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio, purchased of land in then-sparsely populated Parma, Ohio. The $32,000 ($ in dollars) school was dedicated on May 31, 1951, and opened the following November 15. The school was staffed by the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great. which served as a mission church to Ukrainian Catholic families in the area. The chapel was renovated in 1959, at which time the name of the school was changed to St. Josaphat School. A second, $100,000 ($ in dollars) school building on the site was completed in 1953 A convent building for the Sisters of St. Basil was blessed on the site on May 9, 1954, as well. A five-classroom addition to the St. Josaphat School was built in 1965. Construction of the "Astrodome" In the summer of 1961, St. Josaphat Parish began construction of a high school on its property. Parishioner Nicholas Baiko, an engineer with the Arthur G. McKee & Co. industrial engineering firm, did the preliminary drawings. Parishioner For various reasons, the school never opened. but by 1975 had been nicknamed the "St. Josaphat Astrodome" for its resemblance to the Houston Astrodome. Congregation and chapel Archbishop Constantine Bohachevsky erected St. Josaphat Parish in August 1959, appointing Rev. Andrew Ulicky (an assistant pastor at SS. Peter and Paul Church) as the pastor. Brookpark Road was named the dividing line between the mother parish and the new St. Josaphat, whose boundary extended south to Medina, Ohio. The erection of the new parish came about due to the significant growth among Ukrainian Catholics in the area (now numbering some 450 families). A fire broke out in St. Josaphat Chapel during the evening mass on April 11, 1973. It began in the sacristy, and 40 worshippers fled the blaze. The fire did $100,000 ($ in dollars) in damage, destroying the sacristy and main altar and scorching some pews. ==Cathedral==

Construction Rev. Ulicky originally sought to build a church immediately after erection of the parish. Church leaders, however, believed construction of the high school should come first. In 1973, Father Ulicky was appointed pastor at St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His successor, the Very Reverend Yaroslaw Sirko, continued to plan for construction of a church, The Right Reverend Michael Fedorowich, assigned to St. Josaphat in December 1979, began the process of organizing committees to plan the new church. Ground for the cathedral was broken on June 24, 1982. Topping out of the church occurred on August 30, 1983, when the main aluminum onion dome was set atop the church. During construction, the Eparchy of Saint Josaphat was erected in December 1983. A ceremonial cornerstone was laid and blessed on November 11, 1984, which happened to be the 25th anniversary of the congregation's establishment as well. St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral held its first services on June 24, 1985. Eparch Robert Moskal led a procession from the chapel to the cathedral carrying the Blessed Sacrament and relics of St. Josaphat, then celebrated a pontifical divine liturgy at the new church. The cathedral was blessed once. Cathedral history The cathedral is the seat of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Josaphat. A shrine to Our Lady of Pochaiv was dedicated on the cathedral grounds on May 23, 2010. The shrine was the result of a seven-year design and fundraising effort by the St. Josaphat Apostleship of Prayer, a group of women congregants. The shrine was designed by a Cleveland firm, Kulchytsky Architects. The brick shrine holds a mosaic in the likeness of the painted Ukrainian icon, which was designed by Eikona Studios of Cleveland and created in Italy. The shrine was blessed by Bishop John Bura, then apostolic administrator of the Eparchy of St. Josaphat. The domes atop the cathedral were replaced in 2015. Parishioners of St. Josaphat began raising funds about 2010 to replace the cathedral's five domes, which had deteriorated over time. Architect Christ J. Kamages was hired to design the replacements, and Unique Services & Applications installed them. The new domes are made of stainless steel and covered with titanium nitride, a ceramic material with a brilliant gold sheen. Construction of the domes began in the spring of 2015, and were blessed by Eparch Bohdan Danylo on October 5. Installation was completed in November. The $550,000 ($ in dollars) domes are expected to last from 50 to 200 years. ==See also==