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

Dear Fr. Deacon Lance:
Thank you for your input and the link. Someone from Utah had also notified us regarding it and we are looking into the possibilities. Unfortunately, we must question the ultimate outcome were we successful in asking for a stay of closure pending review. The devasting, deliberate, Eparchy-approved actions that have been taken place in the past 2 years have totally decimated the size of the once-vibrant Parish Family in a manner which does not leave any door open to expect return of any of the faithful. Our famous biennial Bazaar and the Nursery School, revenues from which were needed to support the parish, were shut down. Maintenance, once performed by parishioners is now contracted out on a pay-per-job basis. Given these circumstances which are fact, the number of families left (many retired and on fixed incomes) will most likely not be able to contribute or generate sufficient monies to pay the bills in order to justify "saving our parish community."

Our pain is unfathomable and we will be left with nowhere to go within our Rite.

Dear Deacon Montalvo,
My apologies....I addressed my prior post incorrectly to Fr. Deacon Lance instead of you.

Dear Spinrose:

I don't mean to add insult to injury, but given what you posted above, can one really say there was a "once-vibrant Parish Family" if you needed the Bazaar and Nursery to subsidize parish collections?

I can't speak for anyone else, but proper stewardship (i.e.,tithing) should provide for the normal parish operating costs. Bazaars and other income-producing ventures should be used to fund special projects (eg, parish endowments, capital building renovations or new projects, etc)

I apologize if I misread your post.

Does anyone at the Church of the Resurrection know who used the timeshare vacation this year? It was donated to the church and was given as a prize at the bazaar? As there was no bazaar this year, has it been sold?

Dn. John,

In the Archeparchy, most parishes have to rely on money-making events to pay the monthly bills. I would like to know what parishes are soo wealthy that they do not have to raise "extra-ordinary" income?

Ungcsertezs

U-C:

It is not a question of wealth, but a question of stewardship.

There is perhaps one thing we can learn from our evangelical brothers and sisters- the proper biblical teaching on tithe and offerings.

Sunday collections meet the operating expenses at our parish of 135 families. Income from monthly Fish Fry's (weekly during the Great Fast) have been used for such things as capital improvements, physical plant renovations, property acquisitions, etc.

I would say that the parishoners of the Church of the Resurrection, Smithtown understood the parable quoted below, The Parable of the Talents. They gathered themselves as a group every two years, took their hard earned monies, planned, prepared and invested their cooperative "talents" into an "investment" for their church. These monies over the years were used to purchase additional land, build buildings, develop programs (which included outreach to the community vis a vis the school).
There is no "investment" going on there now - the hearts of the congregation have been wounded by the priest sent there by a bishop who does not care what happens to the parishoners. They only care about what the "investments" have purchased for the Eparchy over the years.
I am one of the non-parishoners who helped out at the bazaar. It was a wonderful example of people coming together of all faiths to assist a church. I personally learned many lessons there in how Christ truly wants us to live together in unity on this globe whatever faith we may be.
I continue to pray for this congregation.

The Parable of the Talents

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master�s money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. �Master,� he said, �you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.�

His master replied, �Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master�s happiness!�

The man with the two talents also came. �Master,� he said, �you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.�

His master replied, �Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master�s happiness!�

Then the man who had received the one talent came. �Master,� he said, �I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.�

His master replied, �You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

�Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.�

- Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)

A note to those parishoners who cannot with a good heart stop donating their monies to the Church of the Resurrection. Give - but give with direction. Do not give cash. On your check memo - write specifically what the money is to go to - the electric bill, the water bill, for the dance troupe, seed money for the next bazaar etc. You might also want to include a note with your check. I have done this with my church - when they have wandered away from the direction of the Gospel. Prayers continue.

Dear Deacon Montalvo:

Our once-vibrant community was/is not wealthy, but rather middle class. It attracted many from surrounding areas because of the Christian spirit that eminated from here. Life on Long Island is extremely expensive, and I am sure each donated as they were able and still continue to live here.

We had a full Liturgical calendar, Bible classes, Religious Instruction for the children and interacted as a Parish Family. It was through our "special projects" that we paid off our mortgage, erected a dome on our Church, purchased and maintained the buildings for religion and nursery school. Additions were made by member contributions of money, lots of time, and many, many talents. The calendar, people and projects, by and large, are gone now.

Canonical jurisdiction of the members had been a political issue in the area back in the early 1970's as members of the Latin rite came and embraced our Liturgies and customs. Fr. Dan Bitsko could not and did not get into evangelization...this is too long to explain. However, he made it known that the Church was open and welcome to all who wanted to come and worship, and the parish community grew in size, faith and love. Now we are reduced in size by more than 3/4...none of which was the Parish Family's doing.

I guess one had to be here...and has to be wearing our moccasins in order to truly understand.

Sunday collections meet the operating expenses at our parish of 135 families. Income from monthly Fish Fry's (weekly during the Great Fast) have been used for such things as capital improvements, physical plant renovations, property acquisitions, etc.

Substitute 300 families for 135 families, and substitute the Biennial bazaar for monthly Fish Fry's, and you have described Church of the Resurrection as it once was.

September 30, 2007 - quoted from the bulletin of the Church of the Resurrection, Smithtown NY
"The House at 11 Mayflower has been sold for $200,000. The property was not up to code and no bank would grant a mortgage in that circumstance. The parish did not have the money to bring the property up to code. The money realized has been deposited in the parish account."

This was done without notification to any parishoner - there are electricians, plumbers, carpenters and lots of others who could have done a complete renovation on that property to bring it up to code. Then a sale of at least double that amount could have been realized. This is not proper stewardship from any angle!

The red brick building was not up to code. The house next to the red building has mold (so he states) and now this house is not up to code. What does not up to code mean? It must be a Latin rite house.

Oh no that wouldn't do ...the parishioners (even if they make a living doing this type of work) are incompetant with this and the insurance company would not allow it...Wish I didn't have to say this...but I've seen this before...it's these types issues that don't let me fall away into the night and simply leave the issues of the BCC behind...I've seen this numerous times...it is systematically being done...it is evil...

Chris

Dear Chris,

Do you mean that an insurance company really wouldn't allow it, or that the pastor or chancery would claim that an insurance company wouldn't allow it? (I get the feeling you're being ironic, but I'm not sure in which direction).

Jeff

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