Magyar News, 2006. január-május (17. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

2006-01-01 / 1. szám

STATISTICS THAT MAKE YOU CRY

Bishop Andrew Pataki

Statistics surrounding parish closings are very hard to come by via internet which is the only option there is, and for certain years only.

Bishop Andrew was first installed as the bishop of the Byzantine Eparchy of Parma, Ohio in 1984. He continued his "reign of terror" there until 1995.

So what was before him. In 1970 there were 25,523 church members in the eparchy of Parma. The eparchy was on an upswing. In 1976 their were 31,067. From 1970-1976 the number of parishes increased from 46-50.

IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE EPARCHY OF PARMA WAS GROWING!!!

After 1976 figures were not available until 1990. The 80's, with Bishop Andrew at the helm, saw the number of parishes drop to 43 and the number of faithful drop to 20,019.

The number of parishes in 1999 was down to just 39. Approximately 10 parishes closed. And it seems that none had closed since he left.

Then we find Bishop Andrew in Passaic for 10 years.

The number of members in Passaic was 72,500 in 1995. Number of members at year end 2004 was 24,031. So we see a drop of members of 48,469 from December 1994-December 2004. (approximately 4,847 members lost on average each year during Bishop Andrews "rein of terror")

The number of parishes in Passaic in 1990 was 95, and by December 2004 it went down to 89. Now we have 2 new closures in 2005. One is the Holy Trinity in

Bridgeport, CT and Holy Apostles in FL. So he had closed 8 parishes in 10 years in Passaic.

What does this add up to:

Bishop Andrew's policies in Parma and Passaic have lost (conservatively) between

65,000 and 69,000 members of our Church, and 18 parishes under his regime.

RE MARRS :

The closing of a Black Rock church has angered parishioners, who claim their church hierarchy was determined to shut down the 111-year-old congregation. "We're furious at how it happened," said Chris Gombos, a cantor at the now-defunct Holy Trinity Byzantine Catholic Church on Scofield Avenue. "We've been writing Rome about financial issues, but we couldn't get any answers. It was like everyone's attitude was, 'Shut it down.'"

At last Sunday's service, the Rev. George Malitz read a letter announcing the immediate closure of the church from the bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic, N.J., which oversees Connecticut. An eparchy is like a diocese in the Roman Catholic Church.

Holy Trinity member Jeanette Paraska said she was "heartbroken" over the closure announcement. "It's so sad because we've worked so hard to keep it open," she said.

Church member Cal Jones also was upset. "They never would cooperate with us or even meet with us," Jones said of church leaders. "We begged [Malitz] to talk about expenses but he wouldn't, so we were operating in the dark."

Membership at Holy Trinity in recent years had declined to less than 40 families, most of Hungarian heritage, but parishioners had rallied to raise extra funds to keep the church operating. They sponsored, whenever they had permission to do so, dinners, dances, bake sales and other activities to generate income.

The church's operating budget was about $110,000 to $130,000 annually, although some members claimed church leaders purposely inflated those figures. Parishioners had generated about $80,000 so far in ten months of 2005 to offset the expenses.

St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church in Trumbull, where Malitz is the pastor, Also administered the Black Rock church. Attempts to reach Maltiz early this week were unsuccessful. Holy Trinity parishioners complained he rarely returned their phone calls.

Church members said the bishop's letter had pointed to dwindling membership and the failure to raise more funds within the parish as reasons for the immediate closure.

Many parishioners left the service while the letter was still being read, remaining outside for a while to discuss their unhappiness with the situation. Malitz then left the church with two security guards. Parishioners claimed the guards were armed.

Members questioned the fiscal management of the church. Heating, air conditioning and lighting were being used unnecessarily, and they couldn't understand how the annual budget was so high when the priest was only at the church for an hour or two on Sundays. Nobody worked at the hall in recent years. The last full-time priest left at least seven years ago.

$1,000 a month was being spent on a security service despite the fact that two church members lived next door. Also all the buildings were set up with a state of art security system.

Parishioners had been informed a few years ago the church's $250,000 in savings was gone, without any explanation. "They were overspending, yet all of us worked so hard to raise money," One of the parishioners personally gave $5,000 out of his own pocket in the hope that it will help to keep the church door open

The parish had an empty rectory, and leaders church had rejected an offer to rent the house to a group of nuns without explanation.

Church leaders eagerly took people off the membership list if they missed services. "They were playing with our books to make our numbers look bad,"

During the last service, members were encouraged to start attending St. John Church in Trumbull. Jones said she wouldn't attend a church headed by the same priest. "I'm not sure anyone will."

For the recent years the usual festivals were shut out, even though these took in $100,000 each time. The insurance that was to be paid for a full time priest is about $12,000and was paid by this church instead the St. John. The administrator, of the Black Rock Church, should only be $2,000 a year.

Besides pushing all dignity aside by the priest and the bishop, it is the money that comes to the foreground. There is a difference between the amount that a small congregation could provide compared to the three and a half million dollars that the sale of the property would generate. What is the money needed for so badly?

A parishioner, as they were escorted out, walked up to the priest and said: “May God punish you for this.” The punishment should go beyond the priest. I wonder who might be able to look into this. □