www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Smithtown Church & Fr. Daniel Bitsko

Sam:
It looks to me like 'forced to resign'.
Hopefully,Father Dan still has his Priestly faculties and a pension. However, since everything is so secretive, who knows?
Most Holy Mother of God save our Church!
Chotki

Sam:
This is from the Smithtown news October 6,2005:

"This is the most unfair thing that could happen to this church. TThis is how you say thank you to a person like this- a man who has been here for 40 years." said Diane Stobodzan, an assistant cantor at Church of the Resurrection.
"Now were worried we will lose our church, that this Bishop will close it and sell this land."
According to Mrs. Stobodzan, Father Dan was tired after last month's Byzantine Bazaar and from serving as pastor in Smithtown and Westbury, so he asked for a brief leave of absense. She said Bishop Pataki denied the leave, and instead removed Father Dan from his post.

So it sounds like some people DO know what happened.
This accounting is a little easier to take than worrying about Fr. Dan being 'fired", although still very painful. Sadly, a 67 year old man who has put so much of his heart and soul into his community has earned the right to be tired.

Sam

I didn't think there was anything else that Bishop Andrew could come up with that would surprise me...I have given up trying to figure it all out after hearing about Connecticut and Long Island.

I'm getting a bit nervous about those of us here in NC.

Vie

This madness has to stop before it spreads to the the other Eparchies of the Ruthenian Metropolia!

Ungcsertezs

Unfortunately, this behavior has occured in an eparchy other than Passaic. The common thread is Bishop Andrew Pataki. He did this with 10 parishes while he was in Parma and now another 7 in Passaic. Although, the "bloodletting" apparently stopped when he left Parma. If Bishop Andrew won't submit his resignation the clergy and laity needs to stand up and either force him to resign or have him removed as was done with the late Bishop Elko. "We have nothing to fear, except fear itself." This can only be done with everyone's support. There are no eunichs allowed in this movement that is forming. (I know I'll probably get "kicked off the forum" for saying this but, I hope it's not my last posting. )

quote:

"According to Mrs. Stobodzan, Father Dan was tired... so he asked for a brief leave of absense. She said Bishop Pataki denied the leave, and instead removed Father Dan from his post."

The quote from Mrs. Stobodzan is only a speculation.
When have you heard of a Bishop fire a Priest
for asking for a short leave of absense?
Why is Bishop Pataki silent about all this?
Why aren't the Parishoners given any official
explanation from anyone about this?
If Father Dan had resigned for health reasons
we Parishoners could very well understand that.
Father Dan did not say that he was resigning for
health reasons.
Also, the Bishop knows how much the Parishoners and the community love Father Dan and what the
ramifications and sentiment would be if he
removed Father Dan against his and the Parishoners wishes.
It's only speculation but at this point after 6 weeks and no official word from anyone about the future, it seems that the Bishop has an ulterior motive for removing Father Dan.


ulterior motive behind the Bishops

Who if anyone is serving Divine Liturgy in Smithtown and Westbury these last 5 weeks?

Smithtown has one Liturgy on Sunday by Father Hospodar and Westbury is administered by a Deacon who gets Bi-ritual Latin Priests or Ukranian Priests on Saturday evenings.

Is there anyone out there who was at the church on Fr. Bitsko's last day? I have heard that he read a letter to the congregation at the end on why he was leaving. What did the letter say? I was not there and only have heard third hand what it said so I do not want to start any rumors. Any first hand info out there?

A letter was read for Father Dan(because he was too upset to speak himself) by Deacon Nickolas Dadonna at Sunday Liturgy.
All Father Dans letter said was that he was resigning for personal reasons.
Nothing more.

Wow.

How many active families do each of these parishes have?
The current pastoral situation doesn't sound good at all.
Does anyone know what percent of our parishes are administered to by bi-ritual priests from other churches? What percent of our priest have two or more parishes? (I suspect there are very few that have one parish).

It sounds like Bishop Pataki owes his envelope-carrying flock some kind of an explanation of his plan for the future. "The Shepherd Speaks" needs to be written with some substance very soon.

Sam

Smithtown has about 300 families and Westbury about 30.
Both Parishes are thriving, especially Smithtown.
I don't think that Bishop Pataki cares about anyone, least of all parishoners.

300 families! That has to be one of the largest parishes in the Eparchy. Obviously Fr. Dan was doing something right.

I would think the bishop would have a hard time justifying the supression of Smithtown.

Sam

Uhh, Chotki, I really don't know anything about this incident (I am originally from LI, though!).

I just think that it's important to give everyone the benefit of the doubt in situations like this. When there is absolutely no apparent explanation for something, usually the real reason is not simple depravity or evil motives; usually it is because there is a real pressing reason that the bishop knows about and we don't. Give Bp. Pataki the benefit of the doubt as long as doubt exists.

LatinTrad