www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Church of the Resurrection - Smithtown: Any Updates?

However, not changing rite shoot's the priest's paperwork through the roof--he has to get permission for every funeral, every wedding, etc.

hawk

Not the parish, but the priedst. The same kind of priest who would tear down the playground - yes this happened this past week.

The advantage of being "Catholic" should be that you - as a baptized Catholic - are welcome in any Catholic church.

The paperwork BS is a Rome/Dicastry/Bureaucracy thing. As Bishop Andrew's writing makes clear: you are a member where you worship, pay tithes and support the parish. To paraphrase a political old-saw: "All worship is local".

Any system that denigrates ANY of God's baptized children is sinful. Period. Any Child of God (as in the Parable of the Prodigal) who appears at the door is to be welcomed, embraced, given food and drink and made to understand that he/she is the answer to our prayers that we can be found worthy to welcome any of God's children who come to the door.

If some 'priest' is shoo-ing people away, I have two friends in Jersey who for $200 bucks, no questions asked, will come and "explain" things to them. Contact me. :-)

Dr John

The parish is seeing an upsurge in people coming to mass. there is alot of talk about future projects. People seem happy. The parish will survive. You can take away the bazaar, you can take away the school, you can destroy the outside kitchen and grounds, you can take away the playground, you can banish people from the choir area, you can do all these things. You cannot take away or destroy someone's belief in God and Jesus Christ.


This too shall pass, and people will notice what really happen here.

Well, we will be making our way 'home' within a few weeks. I hope to see some faces I recognize. =)

osailor....I agree with your statement that no matter what is taken away no one is capable of taking your faith. However, I cannot agree with the remainder of your statement. I see no extra faces at D.L.. I hear of no "future projects"...unless what you refer to is the further dismemberment of church property. A grimace is not a smile. There can be no joy if there is no heart. If and when the lies, omissions and deceptions stop, only then, will healing start and motes of happiness return.

Is that like applying "Canon" Law?

Potsy...I'm glad you brought up Canon Law...this may need to be its own discussion but I know Church of the Resurrection in Smithtown and St. John the Baptist in Trumbull, CT discussions have often become intertwined (due to tactics and now the administrator of Trumbull being the pastor of Smithtown) ***moderators feel free to break it off to its own thread if necessary***

I could be wrong, but I thought Canon law said that if a parish is merged the assets of the merged parish go to the receiving parish??? If that is the case, why would yesterday's bulletin at St. John's be simply a letter stating the financial difficulties with the parish (only have $89,000 "and change" left)...Wouldn't the $1 Milion from the selling of Holy Trinity in Bridgeport rightfully have transferred to St. Johns in Trumbull??? Or at least a great portion of that $$$

Job

Job, You are exactly correct BUT Holy Apostles Parish in Palm Beach County was closed with two and a half weeks notice to get out and don't come back. It was then sold for about $7 million dollars to home developer. The church sat on about 42 acres of land. About three months later the bishop notified us to send the balance of our saving account to him in a certified check. We are still a Byzantine community without a church and celebrate the Holy liturgy every Saturday evening. Our celebrants are a retired priest and a Bi-Ritual Roman Priest who are very generous to us. We are barely able to pay the rent and stipends for Sat. eves.

In Smithtown, the property is being sold off piecemeal, at bargain prices to only God knows who and we are told we can't afford to put on the heat for meetings. It is not good to have valuable property with your church building. No one will tell us what is happening next. It is widely believed that the parish is destined for extinction after all the assets are drained off and put in the Eparchy's Bank.

Remember in your prayers the faithful parishioners of Holy Apostles, Holy Resurrection, Holy Trinity and the remaining parish in Trimble, Conn.

St. Michael's in South Hadley, MA was told the week before they were closed that the next week's Liturgy would be their last. There was no honesty, transparency, or compassion and it seems like nothing has changed. You have to wonder where this $$$ is going.

You guys are lucky! HT had no notice. Simply a letter read at the end of the Sunday DL saying this is it don't come back.

There is only ONE REASON why any Church is sold so quickly like so many of our Churches have been recently sold or Priests suddenly leaving with no plausable explanations.
The root cause is a SEXUAL ABUSE scandal or scandals.
We have had them in the Passaic Diocese within the past three years.
This is the truth I'm sorry to say.
However I truly love my Church and I will never lose my faith.

Are you saying Fr. Dan was involved in a SEX SCANDAL? LOL

Gospodi Pomiluj! Say it ain't so! Keep praying!

Clearly somebody wants and is reaping large sums of money. But people are apt to want money for any number of reasons, which need not necessarily involve sex scandals.

Fr. Serge