www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Update on Holy Trinity in Bridgeport, CT

Well I guess my prayer back in December wasn't heard. Apparently, George, Andrew and Bob didn't find Christ this past Christmas. People were once again blatently lied to with the throwing out of the items from Holy Trinity's Heritage Room. Thank the Good Lord that we had a "dumpster diver" who was able to save much of it. I say "blatently lied to" since back on October 30, 2005 when the closing occured Malitz was asked directly about the materials in the heritage room. His response to the poor older crying parishioner was that the materials from the heritage room were being transferred to the Basilian Fathers of Maria Poch. That, we were told, was already a done deal and it had already been discussed with the basilian monks. Once again, the priest, who had just stood at the altar and not only concecrated the body and blood of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ but consumed it as well. LIED again! There is no shame and apparently the arrogance leads to no remorse as well. I only hope Johnstown gets a good number of parishioners since I know Passaic isn't. This is another case where no Ruthenian can ever honestly say "Johnstown stole our people." The Ruthenians discard, and our Mother Orthodox Church acts pastorally and picks up the pieces.

How vile of them! I had heard that they removed some items from the hall but never dreamed they would dump holy articles. This is so upsetting.

I'm sure you know by now that Bishop Andrew is planning a "Pastoral Visit" to St. Johns in Trumbull the weekend of Feb. 18th & 19th.
He will be celebrating Liturgy at 10:30 on Sunday. He shouldn't anticipate a warm welcome.

Does anyone know where the majority of Holy Trinity's people have settled? How many went to Trumbull?
This remains a very sad situation.
Prayers continue,
Sam

I believe there are 3 families who joined St Johns. The majority of the parishoners would not join St Johns because of the fact that Fr. George is there. This is quite understandable.
The parishoners of St Johns would love to welcome the faithfull from HT to Trumbull but respect their decision to worship elsewhere.

Many of the parishoners of St Johns believe that neither the Bishop nor Fr. George is interested is increasing the number of parishoners at St Johns. This would justify the closing of the parish & selling the property which is worth millions.
We are awaiting a copy of our financial records from 2005 as well as 2004. We have alot of questions to ask.
I find it interesting that we have already received our individual contribution statements for 2005. Previously we had to put the request in writing & did not get them until late in Feb.

Dear Sam,

Thank you for asking the same question that has been burning on my mind.

Dear Angel Lady, do you know how many parishoners have decided to maintain their traditions but move to a different affiliation as opposed to the Eparchy of Passaic?

My prayers are with all of you. Every Sunday now, near the end of Divine Liturgy, I wait with dread for that announcement...

This is not how it should be.

Thank you.

Michael

Michael, I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question.

I agree that the closing should never have been handled the way it was. These "priests" showed a blatant disregard to the Church & it's faithful.
Apparently, unlike the rest of us, they feel that accountability for their actions is not necessary.
How can they wear their collars in good conscience?

Fr George once commented that the church is a business & has to be run as such. Running it into the ground is not good business practice.
I think he has taken the wrong career path & should reexamine the direction he is headed.

Michael,
I think a lot of us wait, every Sunday, for that same axe to fall.
Are there any statistics out there regarding the status of Passaic? By this I mean- how many parishes have been supressed now? How many priests are active? How many priests have two parishes? Three parishes? How many parishes count attendance at Liturgy at less than 80?
Looking at the "Where Are We" section of the Eparchial website tells us nothing, as quite a few of the parishes still listed no longer exist.

I hear Smithtown/Westbury now have a full time priest at the expense of a smaller parish in SE PA that now has one Liturgy served by a neighboring BC parish. This is great for NY, but has it come down to this all over the eparchy? Merging or closing parishes each time we lose another priest? Do we deserve a heads up or a game plan from our shepherd or do we just wait for the axe notification one random Sunday morning?
Sam

The 3 families who did join St. John's left HT long ago. One family was a trustee of HT who just came to HT when Fr. George needed blank checks signed (once every few weeks). His heart was long gone from Holy Trinity.

Even so, three families is a very small percentage.
So in effect, Bishop Pataki and Fr Malitz have led what? say 100 people into Orthodoxy? Not quite +Alexis Toth, lol, but they just need to keep doing what they're doing. :rolleyes:
We'll all be home soon.
Sam

We should really pray for these sad men and for their defense at the dreadful judgement seat of Christ.

I can only imagine how He deals with shepherds and pastors who lead so many of their people astray.

It is very, very upsetting.

Logos Teen

I just returned from a Holy Trinity Community gathering. We utilized St. Johns Orthodox Church in Stratford (Silver Lane)we had 4 ACROD priests present as one community reaching out to another. We began the evening with a prayer service to St. Nectarios. Followed by a coffee social/question and answer period regarding the Orthodox Church. The evening was approximately 3 hours for the gathering. Personally I was very pleased that here we are, exactly 3 months from the closure on October 30th and approximately 25 of us were able to, once again, come together as a community to continue to pray and discuss where we are headed. The faith community is strong and it's pretty sad that such a stong community was discarded with apparently no remorse as was shown recently with the items from the heritage room being discarded the way they were. These "men" can not have any respect for themselves, since they apparently don't have any respect toward others. As much as I ask for everyone's continued prayers for the Holy Trinity Community. It is time, if you have not already, to pray for the souls of the Heirarchy of the Ruthenian Church. They are the ones who will need to account for these actions to GOD Himself at the final judgement.

Was the new Apostolic Pro Nuncio for the U.S. notified of these events? Surely the lowly parishioners should have some due process and recourse according to the Canon Law for the Eastern Churches? Once again we (i.e. Hierarchial Administrators) remain are biggest enemies of survival. Hospodi Pomiluj!

Ungcsertezs

God be with you on your journey.
It is difficult to read how easily and callously a shepherd can abandon his flock. If this can happen to you it can happen to any one of us at any time.
Thank God for the ACROD priests who have reached out to you. Prayers for peace in the new year.
Sam

This is sad, indeed!

I am reminded of Jeremiah 23:1,3 when the prophet speaks:

"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!...
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out ... and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them,and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord. "

So what is the situation with the parishioners?

It seems like none have found another Byzantine parish, so are people mainly going Orthodox? Ukrainian Catholic? Roman Catholic?