c. 1999 Religion News Service

CLEVELAND _ At St. Wendelin Catholic Church here, parishioners and visitors packed in the sanctuary prepared to receive the Eucharist as they sang “The Lord’s Prayer” to the tune of the Frankie Yankovic classic “Blue Skirt Waltz.”

The sound of accordions playing Eastern European melodies to the three-four rhythm of drums and tapping toes has filled the church for its annual polka Mass on the second Saturday of February for the last 12 years.

“And invariably,” the Rev. Jerome M. Lajack, pastor of the West Side Cleveland church, told the congregation, “every year someone will call and ask, `What the hell is a polka Mass?”’

The polka Mass was introduced on May 29, 1972, by the Rev. George Balasko, a priest of the Youngstown (Ohio) diocese, at Holy Rosary Church in Lowellville, Ohio.

“After Vatican II, the church was saying different cultures and languages can be used in the Mass,” Balasko said. “There was the folk Mass in Ireland, Missa luba in Africa, mariachi in Mexico, Missa criolla in Argentina.”

Balasko came up with the polka Mass concept in 1971, while attending a folk Mass in what was then Yugoslavia.

Seminarians who sang portions of the Mass with Slovenian lyrics adapted to popular American tunes, such as “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” were missing the boat, Balasko thought, since the point of using various forms of music was to let people worship God in their own culture.

Balasko is recognized by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame as the father of the polka Mass.

After his first one, he received requests for his polka Mass songs from across the country, including Texas, Oregon, Massachusetts and Minnesota. The Rev. Frank Perkovich, a musician/priest from Minnesota who is sometimes credited with creating the polka Mass, celebrated his first one May 5, 1973 _ nearly a year after Balasko debuted his polka Mass.

Worshippers at polka Masses do not dance, but generally maintain a reverential posture, now and then bobbing their heads, swaying, tapping their toes or bouncing to the beat while singing joyfully to God.

Many of the tunes played at the Feb. 13 event by the Orcades polka band were waltzes, but the instruments and arrangements were unmistakably of the polka variety. The six-piece orchestra has become the house band for St. Wendelin’s polka Masses.

“The polka Mass is like a regular Mass, but where we do all the service music plus all the hymns,” said drummer Dick Sakal of Bedford. “We put the words of the Mass to ethnic melodies _ mostly Slavic, Slovenian, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian _ that the older people remember dancing to years ago. We try to keep it liturgically correct.”

Marianna Anderkova of Slovakia, who was visiting relatives in Ohio, had never been to a polka Mass before coming to St. Wendelin.

“We have normal Mass in Slovak Republic,” Anderkova said, adding that she enjoyed the service. “It’s nice. People are happier with more music.”

Pat Sowa, a parishioner of St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Westlake, loves the polka Mass because, “I’m Polish, and it’s a fun thing. We come every year, because we have such a good time.”

Among the other nonparishioners who attended last Saturday’s service were 15 members of the Golden Shamrocks social club of St. Patrick Catholic Church, originally an Irish parish. Their enthusiasm was hard to contain.

“I can’t stand still,” Mary Oswald said. “I was thinking of my mother when they sang some of those songs.”

After learning the Orcades had done an Irish Mass _ using tunes like “Great Day for the Irish” and “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” _ for another St. Patrick parish, the Golden Shamrocks began discussing plans to engage the band for a similar event at their church.

Five years ago, the Orcades made a tape recording of polka Mass music, including settings of the Communion hymns “We Offer Bread and Wine” and “We Gather to Offer” to the tunes of the “All Star Polka” and the “Nano, Nano Polka,” respectively.

The musicians describe themselves as song leaders, not entertainers, when they play for a polka Mass.

“We let the people do the singing,” Sakal said. “The louder they sing, the more it pleases us, it pleases the priest and, we hope, it pleases God.”

DEA END BARANICK