Martin Hyross  &  Associates

It has always been a great honor and privilege to accompany and translate for Father J. Kulick (in the center), Bishop of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It is also a wonderful opportunity to meet new, kind, and interesting people.

We met with Archbishop Jan Sokol just a couple of days after his 92nd birthday.  

On our way to Nová Bystrica, the village where Father Larry’s ancestors originated, we stopped briefly at the beautiful little church in Laňčar. 

Bishop Larry Kulick found his relatives in Slovakia years ago. Whenever he returns to Slovakia, he always makes time to visit them.

The Nová Bystrica reservoir (Vodná nádrž Nová Bystrica) was built in the Kysuce region of northern Slovakia between the 1970s and late 1980s. Its purpose was to provide clean drinking water, regulate water flow, and help prevent flooding in the region.

To create the reservoir, two historic mountain villages — Riečnica and Harvelka — had to be completely evacuated and flooded. The last residents left in the early 1980s. Although the villages are now underwater, their cultural legacy is preserved in the Kysuce Village Museum in Vychylovka, where several buildings from the original settlements were relocated.

The church in the former village of Riečnica is located within the area of the Nová Bystrica reservoir. It is the only preserved monument from the former villages of Riečnica and Harvelka. The church is owned and administered by the Regional Committee of SZOPK in Čadca, which was responsible for saving it from demolition.

Inside the Riečnica Church

Bishop Larry paying his respects to his departed relatives.

In front of grandmother's log cabin in Nová Bystrica

Time to take a short rest before heading back home.