The first official Pastor to the Armenian Catholics in New York was Very Reverend Mardiros Meguerian who was appointed by His Beatitude Catholicos Patriarch Stephan Peter X Azarian in 1896. Fifteen years later, His Beatitude Paul Peter XIII Terzian, Catholicos Patriarch of all Armenian Catholics of Cilicia, nominated Very Reverend M. Meguerian as General Vicar of Armenian Catholics in the U.S. Very reverend M. Meguerian’s mission in the U.S. was dedicated to the survivors and orphans of the Armenian Genocide 1915.
In 1921, the Vatican Congregation for Oriental Churches and the Armenian Catholics Patriarchate General Vicar Msgr. Johannes Archbishop Nazelian appointed Reverend Haroutioun Maljian as successor to Very Reverend M. Meguerian. Shortly thereafter he relocated to New York.
Very Reverend Haroutioun Maljian’s ministry spanned the years 1921-1971. These fifty years of dedicated missionary work in the U.S were very challenging and difficult, especially during the Great Depression of 1929-1933, followed by the Crash of 1929. Those years proved very challenging to Very Reverend Maljian and delayed the implementation and achievement of his ambitious spiritual, social and cultural goals.
In 1971, following the retirement of Very reverend Father Maljian, Reverend Father Krikor Guerguerian was appointed as his successor. Under his prudent leadership, the Armenian Catholic Parish in New York was modernized and began operating successfully.
Father Krikor Guerguerian spent much of his lifetime in Cairo as a Pastor. During these years he diligently compiled an exhaustive collection of over 5000 original documents related to the Armenian Genocide. He distributed clean papers to certain stores to get from them the “dirty” papers where he found these precious documents with Genocide documentation. He successfully defied the threat of the Egyptian government to save these documents. After he assumed his position as Pastor of the New York Armenian Catholic parish, he organized a committee for the Armenian Genocide cause with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as the committee President.
In addition to his pastoral duties, Father Krikor Guerguerian spent more than 40 years deciphering the Genocide related documents he compiled, translating them into both the Armenian and English languages. He published one collection of encyclopedic work. Father Guerguerian passed away in 1988 before publishing the entire documentary collection in defense of the Armenian cause. Today his massive study remains in the hands of his nephew Dr. Guerguerian.
During Father Guerguerian’s tenure in New York, the first Armenian Catholic Bishop assigned to the U.S. and Canada was appointed. In 1982, Bishop Msgr. Mikael Nerses Setian moved to New York and assumed his duties. Father Guerguerian continued his ministry in Queens and Brooklyn and officiated at services conducted in Roman Catholic Churches. At this time Father K. Saroyan assisted Father Guerguerian for a short term. In the early 1980s, Cardinal Terence Cooke of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York presented the Armenian Catholics with a facility from which diocesan activities could be conducted St. Ann’s Cathedral and adjacent rectory, located on 12th Street in lower Manhattan, was accepted and occupied by the Armenian Catholics in 1983. This represents the first official Diocese in North America.
In 1988, Father Hovannes Tertsakian replaced Father Guerguerian as Pastor to the Armenian Catholics in New York; Father Armen Karapetian and Father Khosdeghian assisted him. Father Karapetian’s ordination represented the first vocation to the priesthood from North America.
In 1993, his Excellency Bishop Nerses Setian retired at the age of 77. Father Tertsakian continued to manage the New York Diocese as Vicar and Pastor of St. Ann’s Cathedral. His assistant, Father Karapetian, left St. Ann’s Cathedral when he was assigned to Sacred Heart Church in New Jersey, where he replaced the late Pastor Father Bustani.
In 1995, Father Tertsakian was elected as the second Bishop Exarch to Armenian Catholics in the U.S. and Canada.
His Episcopal ordination took place in the Los Angeles area at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, a parish in Glendale, California. The ceremony was officiated by His Beatitude John Peter XVIII Kasparian, Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholics of Cilicia. The installation of Bishop Tertsakian took place in New York at St. Ann’s Cathedral. His ecclesiastical ministry remained in the pastoral activities at the renewed 125 year-old Cathedral.
In January 2000, Bishop Tertsakian announced that he would retire in one year. Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Manuel Batakian, Vicar of the Catholicos Patriarch in Beirut as Bishop of the U.S. and Canada to succeed Bishop Tertsakian, who left his position in January 2001.
There are 75 million Catholics estimated to be living in the U.S and 13 million in Canada, with approximately 450 bishops to oversee these Dioceses. Therefore, the appointment and presence of an Armenian Catholic Bishop was welcome, especially during the U.S. Episcopal Synod, here Bishop Batakian defended the rights of the Armenian Catholic flag and received encouragement and assistance from the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to further the doctrines of the Armenian Catholic Church.
From the first days of his ministry in New York, Bishop Batakian began to institute a new order between the parishes under his jurisdiction and the Exarchate. Successor Pastors of St. Ann’s, included Father Nareg Dadourian who assumed his duties in New York 2001-2002, followed by Father Andon Noradounkian who served as Pastor from 2002 to 2003. Father Noradounkian was assigned as Assistant Pastor at St. Gregory Armenian Catholic Church in Glendale in 2003. At that time, Father Thomas Karapetian, the second diocesan priest of the U.S. took charge of St. Ann’s Cathedral.
In 2005, Father Noradounkian was reassigned to New York, once again taking charge as Pastor of St. Ann’s Cathedral, while Father Karapetian assumed pastoral duties at St. Vartan’s Armenian Catholic Church in Detroit. It is notable that there are over 1,000 Armenian Catholic families in the greater New York area. However, it must also be noted that, due to the parish’s expansive jurisdiction and the location of St. Ann’s Cathedral in lower Manhattan, only a few hundred families regularly attend and participate in the spiritual life at the Cathedral. Nevertheless, St. Ann’s has it own Parish Council, Ladies Guild and Choir. Their activities are spiritual, social and cultural in nature.
