www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Parishes being run into the ground in the Eparchy of Passaic

"We can't do it because of insurance purposes" is an excuse widely used by the His Grace Andrew and his minions...I remember I confronted Fr. Hospodar directly on this...since I work for a major insurance company and have some knowledge of this "line" they use...if there really are "Insurance Issues" then the insurer that the Eparchy is requiring...if I may be so frank is terrible...I also remember that with HT we needed to get rid of ADT for security of approximately $150 a month (3 bldgs being secured) for an armed guard service which, we were told the Eparchy was requiring, which brought the cost to approximately $1,100 a month...(figures are not exact...just going from memory and don't have the time or inkling to dig through papers for exact figures but that is pretty close)...it's just another example of "wasting money to get rid of it"...It makes one wonder if someone is getting kick backs on stuff like this...because it's too common in this eparchy for coincidence...

Sam, I moved to Indiana in 1997, but arranged with Fr. Dan to be married in the Church in 1998, which he was more than happy to do as he had known me for 20 years. Even back then, we had began to hear about "insurance issues" and that our Church facilities were not going to be rented for usage by non-parishioners. Now, I am not sure how serious Fr. Dan was about that, but we did begin to hear about it a decade ago.

As far as the recent property sale, I don't know what is meant by the building being out of code. Who was it sold to? Yes, had the parish been asked, volunteers would have come to help bring it up to code. I happen to know that the parish has people with many years of experience in plumbing, electrical work, construction work, and would have been able to fix whatever was wrong for a fraction of the cost, and the parish would have realized a larger profit from this sale. Oh wait, that would have required Fr. U to interact with the remaining parishioners. I must have lost my mind there for a moment, as I mistook him for someone who cared about the parish.

BTW, I would like to thank those who arranged to have not one but BOTH liturgies in Dad's memory. I was very touched and moved to see that. One of the few times I have been touched in a good way from something I have read in the bulletin these past months...

We (my parish) were told the same thing by our former pastor, when our church was asked to participate in a cultural/food festival put on the city (which BTW drew thousands of people). It would have been a perfect opportunity to not only evangelize, but educate people about our Church, parish, and Carpatho-Rusyn heritage by the displays, handouts, and food that we were planning to have. This event would have given the opportunity to perhaps garner more parishioners or at least occasional visitors. All we kept hearing was "It's an insurance issue, the eparchy won't be covered." The city had a blanket policy we subsequently learned.

What of the many parishes that still have festivals, fairs, dinners, food sales, etc. as fund raisers??? Isn't it the SAME issue for them? Why does it seem to be only certain parishes, while others continue on as usual?

Jeff,
Many of our parishes raised money by renting their halls, renting picnic grounds etc for years. Working together at parish functions strengthened the relationships within our parishes and with the outside communities. It appeared we were on an upswing in many areas.
At or around 1996 something changed in our eparchy. The "we can't do it because of insurance issues" line was the reason most of the rentals started to dry up, less income came in to parishes from these sources and a loosening of the community bonds with our churches had begun.

1996.

Sam

Sam, it isn't only in our Eparchy. A close friend of mine belongs to a Latin Rite church in the vicinity. A repair (don't want to go into too much detail here, for obvious reasons) had to be made to their church. Bids went out and they got a very good price for the work, from a local contractor, then proceeded to raise the money needed. When they had enough money, they were ready to do the work. They were not allowed to proceed on orders from their bishop, who told them they could only use a contractor that the bishop selected, and they also must take out insurance from the agency the bishop had contracted with for the diocese. It took them 4 years to raise the money needed to meet the price of the bishop's contractors. 'Nuff said.

Joe,
This is a matter of public record. Once the ink dries this information should be available.

[/quote] I must have lost my mind there for a moment [/quote]

LOL!

Deacon John...having been the custodian of the bazaar books for the past 12 years, I can honestly state that no festival monies went into the regular fund or subsidized the regular costs of the church. The last project was the purchase of 22 acres of land for our cemetery. Bishop Michael gave us his blessing for growth and expansion. The land was bought, sites were planned, graves lined and all brought up to state standards. We were on the finishing touchs (landscaping and site sales) when Bishop
Andrew sent us a letter forcing us into inaction. We were not allowed to go forward in any manner. The land is now in waste and up for sale. Of course there are rumors, but we have no solid information as to its future. Just when our investment would have begun giving us returns, it was shelved. With all the mismanagment that is now evident, it would appear that plans for us had started many years ago.

This has been a fallacy that has been going around for a long time...At HT we proposed several times that the hall was the biggest expense...we/the eparchy...could sell that...and with simply keeping the church and rectory we could be self sustaining...however, if the hall was sold while we still existed the eparchy would not have gotten the $$$ and it wouldn't be so easy to "jack up expenses" if it was gone...(it wouldn't hurt that that would have stuck serious money into the bank account as well...which would have guaranteed solvency...)

Picture this: the small stuff (e.g.the Catechetical Center, $200,000) will be sold. Ultimately, the Parish will be closed and the proceeds from the major real estate: church, parking lot and rectory will go to the Eparchy. BTW, hasn't the cemetery been sold?...or is it in contract stage? Again, we will never know until it is too late.

God Forbid that you should know or figure it out before it happens...

Just a thought:

When our ancestors came to America, they gathered together in small groups from the same ethnic group and even the same villages and regions. They incorporated 'societies' in the name of their patron saints, and as they grew and saved money, they eventually contacted bishops back in the old country to send them a priest. The bishops usually complied and thus many of our current parishes were founded.

So, why shouldn't the current 'ethnoi' continue to be together for mutual support and prayer and form a society to further their needs even if their parish status is dissolved? Perhaps at some point, some bishop will recognize the existence of the ongoing 'society' and decide to establish (re-establish) a Church parish? Jurisdiction? ....uhm....er.... yeah, OK.

Remember that "ekklesia" means gathered-together-community. It usually means under a bishop in a diocese, but if there is no bishop or priest, it doesn't mean that the community doesn't exist as a praying/supporting/living entity.

Just a thought.

Blessings to all.

Dr John

Please let us know what occurs this weekend. One thing I learned with HT was that it was pretty rare that something didn't occur each weekend...whether it was in the bulletin, a snide comment or comments, etc...always something...

Keeping you guys in my prayers...

Chris

Chris

Please let us know what occurs this weekend. One thing I learned with HT was that it was pretty rare that something didn't occur each weekend...whether it was in the bulletin, a snide comment or comments, etc...always something...

Keeping you guys in my prayers...

Thank you for your prayers, Chris. We truly appreciate them. There is nothing to report from this weekend. Our esteemed pastor is very, very low-key lately, and "escapes" almost immediately after Liturgy, as always. The Sunday bulletin was almost blank, and contained no information, but there were three items of interest to me. First, the heading is now blank - just contains the name of the church and address. It used to contain the name of the "administrator," the sacristan, and the lay representative. Now it is blank. Secondly, as of last week, the amount of the Sunday collections is being noted. They have gone down dramatically, and this week's collection was even lower than last week's. Thirdly, he is changing the time of the Liturgy to 10:30 when the clocks change in November. It's almost like we are a mission church already.

Your prayers and helpful concern are deeply appreciated.

Meg

Doesn't surprise me...it was clear ours didn't want to say anything that could tip anyone off or come back to haunt him...we had the same thing...we periodically would need to get a few of us together to stop him to speak with us...always played dumb..."I'm here." "I don't know what you're talking about." Would never answer questions or be responsive in any way shape or form...It's pretty pathetic for men claiming to be men of God acting this way...

Chris

Job: Do you think it is possible for people and even the clergy to lose their faith in God and Jesus Christ during their lifetime. I do.

Not every man is a man of action.