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

Are you saying that these adminstrative practices are irrational?

Mary

Mary:

I think what she's saying is that it is not necessary to pay someone to do these services when there have been parishioners who have done them voluntarily and whose donations are in the form of both cash and services, thus being good stewards of the talents the Lord has given them. To pay for something that a parishioner could donate is VERY poor business practice, and, at the end of the day, a parish is a small business and needs to be run like one. You don't turn away donations that can mean resources can be stretched to do other things.

This pattern has been used to liquidate parishes in my local Latin diocese. The assigned priest runs through a significant treaure balance through this type of mismanagement and in a short time the bishop comes along and closes the place so that it can be merged into another parish with the property being sold and the funds from the sale going into that black hole known as the diocesan treasury--substitute "eparchial" and you've got the Eastern version of this.

BOB

But there is no other parish to merge the Smithtown parish with!

Well then...that would make the eparchial arrangements appear to be irrational, would it not?

Does anyone know if the Passaic eparchy is so desperately in need of funds that it must ruin viable parishes?

There is evidence that it is not? Perhaps one might find evidence that there is no need to ruin viable parishes.

So we have irrational behavior. We have a decade of people writing to Rome asking what's to be done, with no response.

It is one of the most curious of circumstances.

I understand that the late prefect of the Oriental Congregation was a school mate of the current bishop of Passaic, and if that is a factor in the irrationality, then an "eastern" prefect is not an automatic "good thing"...one might postulate.

Perhaps old friendships have also contributed to the fact that the Byzantine Church now has a new liturgical order...a cheese with many holes.

Personally I think we are badly in need of curial reform and there is a need to reform the way in which we elect or select our bishops as well.

May God keep us free from harm.

Mary

The other parish is Westbury, 40 miles away.

I think I have seen this show before...Well I always take comfort in the saying...I forget who said it...the floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops...

Chris

It's amazing to me that they would look to merge with little Westbury and not vice versa...just goes to prove that the $$$ is what the real concern is...

Chris

Westbury has less than 30 families. It is a small church with no property, not even a parking lot. Smithtown has 6 acres. The realtor that got called in said the parking lot alone was estimated at over one million. Besides the church and 200 year old rectory, there are two houses and several outbuildings. I understand, perhaps incorrectly, that if a parish closes, all monies must follow the parishioners. Not many would make the trip to Westbury. How are funds divided? Many people have worked hard over the last 38 years to make this church florish. It is an insult to have our labor brushed aside without a word. No matter what prevails in the future, the heart and soul of this church will always be carried with its people.

Where did you get the idea that anything follows the parishoners? Not even good-bye and God bless....

Mary

The operative word, karenp, is "incorrectly." Unless Eastern canon law is different, all properties are the immediate property of the bishop of the place. He answers to no one but Rome. So it matters NOTHING that anyone has worked for 100 years to build up a parish, it can still be liquidated by the owner, the bishop, at will.

When our new parish church was dedicated, the keys were ceremonially handed over to the bishop as a sign of the reality that the place was now his, though the mortgage is still ours. He then presented them to our pastor in a sign that he was the one who would be "holding" the property for the bishop as long as this was his assignment.

BOB

Bob--you're right about the Bishops closing parishes to merge and then selling property to get money. The Latin Rite Bishop in your diocese did exactly that in my home town. There was an historic Hungarian Roman Catholic Church across the street from a hospital. The congretation was decreasing, yes, but still viable. They hospital wanted the property to expand. The church, which had been built by coal miners donating pennies if that was all they had, was declared "unsafe." Especially the bell tower. The experts the Diocese brought in said it was going to fall down at any moment it was so unsound. The upshot? It took weeks to tear the church down! The bell tower itself turned out to be built not of bricks, as the experts said, but with iron supports inside. They had to use a wrecking ball to break the iron apart. So much for "falling down on parishioner's heads any moment!" Now the hospital is expanding, a beautiful church has disappeared, the sacrifices made by illiterate miners and their families has been totally disregarded. What worries me most is theat my Byzantine church is less than half a block away from the hospital now. It keeps expanding--towards my church! I know it's a different Eparchy (we're in the Pittsburgh Metropolia) but I can see the same thing happening to my church--tear it down and sell the land to a place with a HUGE checkbook.

Tim

So what IS the deal with telling Roman Catholics to go back to their territorial parishes? This one gets me!
Are ALL Roman Catholics who've attended and supported BC churches for years now expected to pack up their families and go? Does the bishop pick and choose which RC's have to leave based on real estate values?
If we lost all RC's today, we wouldn't have a parish in the eparchy with more than 25 families. I'm guessing the current bishop's long lasting legacy will be one of destruction rather than spreading the gospel of Christ. What a way to end his life on earth.

Sam

I am not discounting the need to close or merge parishes. With fewer and older priests and no new ones being ordained in last few years, it's a necessity. It is unfortunate however, that every parish closed in the last few years in Passaic, has been done with little or no pastoral sensitivity for the remaining members. It is quite a legacy to leave.

So you know that the parishes that have been closed in our Metropolia, and the Passaic diocese in particular, have been closed due to a priest shortage?

Mary

Two other people also recall reading that the Bishops can no longer arbitrarily close a parish and keep the funds. Since our nightmare has started we have kept all written material. When I find it regarding this issue, I will post.