www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Closure of Holy Trinity BC Church in Bridgeport, CT

Stay tune folks -

More closures to come!

This is just the beginning.

I agree with you here, Ray.
As good and responsible stewards, is it time our heirarchy begin to asking itself "Is it really necessary to have FOUR separate CHANCERIES with accompanying electric bills, building maintenance, the strain of added repeat eparchial responsibilities on an already short staff, etc."?
With Pittsburgh being so much smaller now, wouldn't it make fiscal sense to absorb Passaic into Pittsburgh?
No armed guards necessary, just a direct no-questions-allowed order the likes of "In a month We will become one with you."

Is this feasible? Why or why not?
Sam

Armed guards to throw the parishioners out of their own Church? As I said, "pray, pay and go away"!

There's no reason not to have a Metropolitan in Pittsburgh and a Bishop in Passaic. However, one may seriously wonder if the elaborate, RC-style diocesan structure is warranted, whether each eparchy requires its own newspaper, etc.

Still more seriously, one may gently inquire just why the faithful have no voice whatever in the selection of the bishop. Has that system produced such outstanding spiritual luminaries as to make it unquestionable?

Ironically, had the Hungarians stayed in Hungary they would have had at least a nominal voice - because in the Communist days the Hungarian government had an agreement with the Vatican that episcopal nominations had to be agreed between both sides!

Incognitus

What a sad thread.

A parish closing is always a sad affair, even when it becomes necessary. However, it seems that a parish closing must be done with love, concern, and open communication between the orphaned parishioners and the church hierarchy. Too bad this isn't the style of some.

Armed guards in church... geez.

Dave

Very sad.

I wonder what the property is worth? Perhaps when it is sold, that will help to pay the parish debts?

Nick

My heart goes out to those in CT. I have much to say but I am just going to say a prayer instead.

I can't believe this is a real happening. The Bishop should at least have the courtesy to make an appearance and show some empathy at the loss of a parish. Instead we have a "see ya later, and don't let the door hit your [butt] on the way out!" Why? Is this bishop planning on switching to the OCA or ACROD soon? Maybe he's giving his parishioners just cause to leave to the Orthodox before his departure? What possible reason could there be for this kind of behavior?

To simplify-
You can't give what you don't have.

Sam

Two items:

1.) Question for Ray S. ... You say more closings are to come. Do you speak from actual knowledge or are you just surmising? (Not trying to sound snarky... just curious.) The past three closings (Florida, Conn., and N.Y.) sure came as a surprise to those folks.

2.) And for those who don't already know... Passaic DOES have an Evangelization Committee. Yep, they do. I know this because I was going to mention in our bulletin Fr. Loya's efforts in the Parma Eparchy and how he was looking for input from far and wide. I was told I couldn't do that since our Eparchy already had its own Evan. Comm. and to post about another Eparchy's efforts would be an affront to ours.

Do the words "I just want to go running and screaming into the night" apply here?

An affront?!!
"My eparchy is better than your eparchy.. na na na na na na"

Proposal....

Let's unilaterally close the eparchial offices of Passaic, Van Nys, and Parma, and usher the staff out of the offices.

Other 'companies' and institutions are doing it! It must make financial sense.

Let's down-size the heirarchy, and go back to having a simple single Exarch in Pittsburgh. We would cut the cost of administration by three fourths, and eliminate an awful lot of overhead.

If necessary, the bishops and their retinues and staffs can be removed by armed guards.

We'll save tens of thousands of dollars every month, and then they can lower the taxes and 'bishops appeals' that have crippled so many parishes and pushed the people in debt to these bishops.

...simplify, that's my new mantra!

Let's simplify our top heavy administration. A Church this size, cannot afford the obese and insensitive administrative structures now in place.

Nick

wanna save a parish from closing? get out there and do a little evangelism, bring in the bodies (and the bucks). parishes, or any other church, regardless of theology wither and die when new blood does not flow in. I have seen a number of Protestant churches wither and die because they closed in on themselves, and never reached out. so before we have priests, prelates, and faithful ushered out at the point of a gun, as some suggest (to my astonishment), let's get to work. surely we have a message that people need to hear, don't we?
Much Love,
Jonn

Hey Nick,
Thats what I just said! See above. LOL!

AMEN!!!! Now who will give the dumb sheep the time of day on this one??? If you want to honestly talk about wasted resources in such a small Church, HERE IT IS! One RC diocese can easily be 5 times the size of our entire Metropolia, and somehow THEY handle it. Of course they ARE Roman Catholic, lol.
Distance means nothing. Its 2005. Global companies are successful with the same strategy. Small satellite offices can be put in place in strategic parishes- oh, wait- thats what the Protopresbyters have right now!

He who has eyes to see and ears to hear... :rolleyes:

Sam

Nick...

Amen! Amen! Again, I say, Amen!

And as others have pointed out... why not just one newspaper for the whole country... and have that run by lay folks (with ecclesiastical review and approval, of course) and use the clergy for what they have been called to do.

Also the Website Administrator recently posted a "modest proposal" for developing a Byz. Cath. Church in America (the Greek Catholic version of the OCA). I think that is a most excellent idea. I would amend it though to either reduce the number of proposed eparchies from the get-go or phase them out over a 10-20 year period. And during this time,(gasp) work towards dual communion with the OCA and ACROD.

With the utmost respect for the customs and small-t traditions of the Byzantine Churches, we can no longer afford both spiritually and monetarily to have churches divided on how they spell pirogi... I mean, pirohi... I mean, piroghi... or no pirohi at all, but kibbi instead.

I firmly believe given 10-20 years this will be happening anyway...

Pirohy? For heaven's sakes you are right! The question of how to spell them is much less important than the new issue at hand> Homemade or Mrs. T's??
I do hope at some point in our history we will 'find our identity' and realize it is much more broad than which side of the mountain range our great-great-great-greats came from!

Sam