After a rather (at my age) brutal journey that started on Wednesday, I was met at Avram Iancu International Airport in Cluj late Thursday night by a somewhat tired-looking Father Vasile Tofana, SJ, Vicar General, who had been tasked with taking care of me during my time in Cluj. Fr. Vasile is a hard-working Jesuit who, like every Vicar General I know, carries too much responsibility and works very hard, so I kind of felt bad that my 10:55 PM arrival was so late for one whose day begins so early in the morning. He was, nevertheless, very solicitous and quickly got me where I needed to be: to a room with a bed.
The big event the next evening (Friday) was the liturgy at Schimbarea la Fața (Transfiguration) Cathedral in Cluj, celebrated on the occasion of a large national meeting of AGRU (Asociația Generală a Românilor Uniți cu Roma, Greco-Catolici, General Association of Romanian Greek-Catholics, United with Rome), but principally to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the night our Blessed Martyr Bishops were arrested in 1948. It was quite moving for me on several accounts, not the least of which was seeing so many priests whom I had met when they were seminarians at the Pontifical College Pio Romeno in Rome. Despite the (thinner) white hair and beards, the same youthful dedication and idealism, albeit a little softened by experience, shone on their faces.
I concelebrated with the bishop of the Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla, Bishop Claudiu Pop (whom also I had met when he was a student in Rome). It was a beautiful liturgy, complete with a wonderful choir and seminarian cantors whose strong, capable voices will make them highly sought-after priests in the parishes of the Eparchy.
Following the liturgy, there was a lecture by Ionuț Vida-Simiti, who recounted in bitter detail some of the events of the night of the arrests. His focus, however, was on the efforts of Fr. Leon Manu, OSBM, a Basilian monk and priest, to speak out for our church in the early days of its suppression by communist authorities. To my great surprise, he called attention to my presence there: Fr. Manu had been pastor of one of our American parishes, St. Michael in Aurora, Illinois, and Vida-Simiti pointed me out as Fr. Manu’s successor in that role. I think it was a surprise to both of us.
Today I finally began to feel that I had recovered from the effects of the roughly 24-hour journey from Canton to Cluj. I had much of the day to myself and was able to spend the afternoon with my cousin, Dr. Mariana Moldovan, and her husband, Ioan Pogarcean, who came to Cluj from Târgu-Mureș for the occasion. Mariana and I originally met on my first visit with my mother to Romania in 1983, and I have been very fortunate to be able to visit with her when I am here. It is a real blessing to have family in “the old country.”
Now I find that the other side of jet-lag has gotten to me—I’m wide awake, writing this when I should be in bed. Good thing the clock “falls back” in Europe tonight and I get an extra hour to make up for this extra time at the keyboard. But enough for now. God willing, more tomorrow.