This is a piece about the little engine that could—Armenian style. You might know it as a child’s fairy tale, about a small locomotive attempting to chug its way up a steep incline with a huff and a puff.
It made me think of what the conductor said on the Polar Express.
“The thing about trains is not where they are going. What matters is deciding to get there.”
All this may appear relevant to the Cape Cod Armenian Community and its attempt to construct a Diocese church on 3.5 areas of land adjoining Mashpee High School. The train they are on appears to be in slow motion with one additive.
It will arrive there so long as this society of dedicated Armenians has any say on the matter.
Most people would abandon a dream that’s been lingering for two decades. Not this bunch. Most would redeem the $40,000 they have in a bank account and donate it to some worthy Armenian charity.
Not this bunch.
Most would cut the cord, perhaps open some Armenian social club instead, have their kheyma suppers every month, and call it ethnicity. Not this bunch.
As organizer Alice Hagopian put it, “What we have here is grassroots Christianity.” There’s a serious look in her eye, one that means business.
I knew Alice from our AYF days together in Somerville. Back then, she was an Aghababian, bent on providing proper educationals with her brother Bob. Whenever we debated against other chapters, rest assured, it was the Somerville “Nejdehs” who came out supreme.
She wound up marrying my childhood chum Mark Hagopian, whose sister Geraldine was also in the chapter, and taught social studies in Westfield for 33 years before retiring to Eastham.
The church project was already a work in progress when they arrived. Now it has become a passion. Together with 11 other Parish Council members, they are determined to make it succeed.
Meet Ara Ishkanian, an Armenian on Wellfleet who arrived at the Cape from White Plains, N.Y. He married a non-Armenian named Ellen and together they chant the Badarak from their pews.
The fact that the average age is 72 and that most couples hail from mixed marriages pays little heed. The non-Armenians appear as involved as their Armenian spouses with this project.
I am enamored by Armenian communities throughout the world. They are the seeds to fertility, not futility. In Vienna where I studied with the Mekhitarists many moons ago, we had Austrians chanting the sharagans. You would have never guessed otherwise.
The Cape Codders have all the right pieces in place, expect one. Somebody please remove the apathy, which is the evil of every community. I find it incongruous that with a database of 400 Armenians, including 150 full-time residents, there hasn’t been a church anointed by now.
You’ll find them holding silent vigils every April 24th, introducing Armenian curriculum in the local schools, and conducting a vibrant social life on the Cape with dinners and dances.
They’re welcoming newcomers, visiting the sick in nursing homes, and offering classes in a community college. They’ve donated Armenian books to libraries, toed the line with the determination of a marathoner, and even sponsored a choreg bake-off to see who the best Armenian baker was on the Cape.
They’ve done everything you could ask of a community, but no church.
Holding monthly services at a rented Episcopal Church is a panacea of sorts but certainly no permanent solution. When the first Saturday of every month arrives, they put aside the household chores and off they go to worship.
It’s either that right now or nothing at all. If anything is keeping them together, it’s loyalty to their heritage and spiritual roots. Alice Hagopian told me it’s contingent upon the trail her ancestors blazed to keep the Armenian spirit alive.
“Since this is the only Armenian Church on the Cape, we can erase all religious and political boundaries,” she confirms.
I admire her thinking. We are Armenians first, not politicians. The absurdity of two religious seats each building a church within four miles of one another is cause for rebuke. I’ve seen it happen in my community.
In some ways, choices can be mind-boggling and extemporaneous. They create splits within our communities. That doesn’t seem to be the case at Cape Cod where unity is their biggest strength.
And for that reason, a sanctuary becomes both imminent—and eminent—depending on how you look at it. Like that little train clinging to the tracks, perpetual motion is better than inertia. Just give it time.
Tom Vartabedian
Latest posts by Tom Vartabedian (see all)
- Vartabedian: My Final Column - November 13, 2016
- A Hat to Match Any Occasion - October 19, 2016
- More Smiles Keep the Frowns Away - October 12, 2016
Tom, thanks for another great story. My current pastor, Fr. Krikor Sabounjian served this community for many years. My mother was a summer resident of the Cape for 20 years and attended church. The people of this parish are warm with a genuine spirit. Alice and Mark served the Indian Orchard parish of St. Gregory’s for many years. They are fine people and I am sure they will adda a great deal of value for the Cape Cod community. Thank you for writing these types of articles that sometimes fall under the radar of our community.