AP Regional Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Virgin Mary statue draws crowds after surviving church explosion

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September 14, 2004, 1:39 AM EDT

COLCHESTER, Conn. -- A white marble statue of the Virgin Mary is drawing hundreds of visitors at the site of an explosion that leveled a church last week.

Many are calling it a miracle that the statue, which was about 25 feet from St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, remained standing after Friday's blast, which authorities believe was caused by a leaking propane tank.

Patrice Dempsey drove up from Salem to pray to the Virgin Mary for a miracle for her 9-year-old niece, who is scheduled to have surgery at the end of the month for the spina bifida she was born with.

"I can't believe out of all this rubble, the Blessed Mother is still intact," Dempsey told The Hartford Courant, wiping tears from her eyes. "It's as if she beckons to the people and tells them, 'I'm here and I won't let you down."'

Others wanted just to see the statue and offer their prayers.

"I would call it a message from Mary," said Nancy Libby, who traveled from Haverhill, Mass., with her husband, Donald, to photograph the site. "It is a miracle, really. A miracle no one was in the church and that this (statue) survived."

The interest has swelled so much that police officers were forced to stop people from touching the statue and from taking pieces of the church. One woman even asked if she could spread a relative's ashes there.

The 6:45 a.m. blast was so powerful it knocked over chairs in nearby homes and could be heard for 10 miles.

To believers, divine intervention kept anyone from being injured: The pastor, his pregnant wife and their 3-year-old son were sleeping just 50 feet away in the rectory, which received minor damage.

"We believe it's a miracle," Ted Szarzanowicz of Newington said after he placed a vase filled with red roses at the statue. "I feel spiritually close to Mary. I feel she is the one thing watching over this world."

A spokesman for the Hartford Roman Catholic archdiocese, which is not affiliated with the church, said it was not surprising that some believe Mary intervened in Friday's events because no one was injured.

"They personally might see Mary's intervention in this particular case," the Rev. John Gatzak said. "Whether it is actually or it's coincidence, we'll leave that up to God. If through this, people can be brought closer to him and to each other, I think some good can come out of this."

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

Dear Pani Rose,

Isn't it the case but that it is an Eastern Catholic parish that is in the forefront of promoting the veneration of statues?

The parishioners obviously aren't regular visitors on the Byzantine Forum!

Most Holy Mother of God, save us!

Alex

SLAVA ISUSU CHRISTU!

What are the words to the Marian Hymn... Diti Moje, chodit k'mje, Ja uslisil Vas!

Presvataja Bohorodice, Spasi Nas!!!

marko

ps

Pan Doktor Alex, email me please, need your help!

Velmyshanovnyj pane Dokotor!

I'd say that this is just another example of how the history of our people and our Church is one case after another of " adding insult to injury."

Z poshanoju,

hal

Dear Pane Medved,

Please e-mail me at: Alexander.r@rogers.com

God bless!

Alex

Dear Pane Metsenas Hal,

Z poshanoyu to you too!

Alex

Funny, and they are all coming here too..

Read Alex's last post on here
http://www.byzcath.org/bboard/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001664

And now the latest from St. Mary's as published in today's edition of The Hartford Courant:

St. Mary's Church Welcomes New Addition: Baby Maria
September 15, 2004


Less than four days after an explosion leveled his Colchester church, the Rev. Cyril Manolev's wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl early Tuesday morning.

Manolev, his wife, Suzana, and their son, Alexander, 3, had been in the rectory 50 feet from St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church when it exploded Friday.

Suzana Manolev was due to have her baby today.

The pregnancy had been a difficult one because of some medical problems, she said Tuesday from her hospital bed at William Backus Hospital in Norwich.

"We got lots of prayers. I prayed a lot to Mary," Suzana Manolev said. "Now, there you go. I have a healthy baby girl."

The baby, 7 pounds, 1 ounce, was named Maria, in honor of the statue of the Mother Mary, which survived the blast.

Her middle name is Anastasia, which means "resurrection," in reference to how the Manolevs hope to rebuild their church.

Colchester Fire Marshal N. Reed Gustafson said the cause of the explosion is still undetermined.

Investigators were continuing to focus on the propane gas tank, which fed the kitchen stove.

And also in today's edition of The Hartford Courant, this letter to the editor regarding St. Mary's:

Hardly A Miracle
September 15, 2004


At what point do we, as human beings, finally dispense with supernatural explanations and start accepting rational ones [Page 1, Sept. 14, "St. Mary Still Stands, And People Come To See"]?

The tragedy of the explosion at St. Mary's Ukranian Catholic Church in Colchester has apparently turned the site into something of a shrine for the faithful. A large, immobile statue of the Virgin Mary was left unaffected by the blast. Was this a miracle worthy of "news"? I wonder when the Druids and Wiccans will start flocking to Colchester to pray to the bushes, which are much more fragile and fleeting than the equidistant stone Mary, yet were also unaffected by the blast.

Let's keep in mind that several Mary statues and paintings were undoubtedly destroyed in the blast, let alone a beautiful house of worship. Let's be thankful that no one was injured in the explosion. But please, let's also remain rational and realize that the stone Mary statue's continued existence is far from a miracle.

Stephen Wood
West Hartford

Perhaps a prayer of thanksgiving for the intercession of St. Barbara the Great Martyr, patroness of protection from death by explosion, also would be in order.

This story was on Good Morning America this morning along with pictures of the site and the Pastor and family. Diane Sawyer didn't comment on it one way or another, she just reported it and asked the audience what they thought about it.

Dear Friends,

That the survival of the statue was a gift from God - of this there can be NO doubt.

It could have been damaged, but it wasn't. And it is all that remains of the place of worship that people attended.

It has inspired prayer and hope in God and the Most Holy Mother.

If that ain't miraculous, then I don't know what is!!

Dear Pani Rose,

I inherited a small wooden (and very old) icon of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia from my aunt when she reposed from the shrine itself.

After the explosion which the icon survived, a very strong Greek-Catholic resistance movement developed around it to oppose Soviet atheist repression.

The shrine and village of Zarvanytsia belonged, by ancient right, to the Metropolitans of Galicia.

I have another, poster-size copy of the Icon of Zarvanytsia personally signed by Patriarch Josef Slipyj who would have been (had the communists not prevented it) the person entrusted with the safekeeping of the icon as the guardian of the Shrine.

God bless,

Alex