Church History

Our 75-Year History

Church Fire in 1958

On August 10, 1958 the church building which had served the community for almost thirty years was destroyed by fire. But the parishioners did not long wallow in self pity. Exactly two weeks after the fire the General Assembly approved a $200,000.00 building fund drive, an ambitious undertaking for a small parish. On September 18, the sum of $4,500.00 was appropriated to rebuild and convert the former basement hall at 150 Lee Avenue into temporary religious quarters. On September 21, 1958 the parishioners officially authorized the change of the church corporation’s name from St. James to St. Dimitrie.

Progress continued at a blinding pace. During October, Deacon John Shunda became Father Vasilescu’s religious assistant. The church also purchased another parcel of land on Clinton Avenue for $7,500.00 which was necessary to complete a rectangular parcel for construction. Design of the church and hail was awarded to the architectural firm of Reisner and Diamond who commenced immediate work on a plan for buildings which would conform to the available land, provide aesthetic beauty and satisfy the community’s religious and social needs.

On November 11, 1958 a kick off dinner for the building fund was held. The importance of the occasion was heralded by the presence of His Grace, Bishop Valerian. Donations and pledges of money for both construction and the interior of the church came from most parishioners and the success of the drive amazed the community. The pledge of each member was set forth in the commemorative book which was part of the church dedication ceremonies in 1962 and space does not permit further individual acknowledgment at this time but it suffices to say that without them it could not have come to pass.

Three Honorary Members Named

The generosity of people outside the Bridgeport community further spurred the effort. The community gave special recognition to three of the donors and bestowed upon them life membership in the church. The three were C Theodore Tonna. of Worcester, Massachusetts, Elia Caleshu of Long Branch, New Jersey and Costa Bebe of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

The Berkshire Construction Company was selected to erect the church and hail. Ground breaking ceremonies took place in 1959 and construction commenced. During March of that year a fund raising Minstrel under the direction of Michael Shola, was held at the Bassick High School auditorium. On June 28, 1959 Father John Shunda was elected parish priest to succeed Father Vasilescu who retired after 30 years of service.

During the almost three years that Father Shunda served as parish priest the community’s efforts were channeled toward completion of the construction project. On May 20, 1962 the consecration and dedication of the church took place and St. Dimitrie officially entered its new home.

In early June, 1962 Father Shunda resigned as parish priest and the community undertook a search for a new spiritual leader. The call was answered by Father Stephen Feica who arrived in Bridgeport on February 2, 1963 with his wife and four children. One of his first official religious services heralded a sad occasion for the community, the death of their beloved Father Vasilescu. Father Kevhaves and Father Feica presided over the funeral services on February 16, 1963.

Our new priest immediately settled into his new role and within a month of his arrival published the first Sunday bulletin which was designed to keep parishioners aware of events and happenings within the community. The weekly bulletin was well accepted by the parishioners and has continued to date. Father Feica also started adult religious classes and the preoteasa established classes for the women in such things as Easter egg decorating, sewing and cooking.

Choir Visits Vatra

The following year, 1964, proved to be an active one for the church. The National Aroy Convention was again held in Bridgeport utilizing our new parish hall. The choir also had the distinction of making a trip to the Vatra. Church representatives attended on October 17, 1964 the dedication of the new education building at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. (St. Dimitrie’s had generously donated funds for the construction of the building. Father Feica was sent as the church’s representative to the 50th Anniversary celebration for the parish in Akron, Ohio.

A variety of improvements was made to the church properties in 1964. Two icons from the old church were restored and installed in our new religious home. A cantor’s stand and cross were purchased with monies from the Father Vasilescu Memorial Fund. Externally, lights were installed around the church to accentuate its beauty. The hall also received its share of attention. A glass enclosed bulletin board was completed and installed. The kitchen received a set of enclosures designed to close it off from the hall proper. Draw drapes were hung on the windows in the rear of the hall.

The interior of the church was not yet finished and plans were made in. 1965 to complete the iconastasis. The hand carved cantor’s stand, Bishop’s throne and vigil light were done by our own master craftsman, Tusa Caranica. Artists were commissioned and in a short while the work was completed. The church committee also authorized use of the hail on Friday night by the parish teenagers. The project was officially dubbed ATeenage Recreation Night@ and conducted under the supervision of a designated chaperone and the parish priest. Two ping-pong tables purchased earlier in the year were utilized.

Chandelier and Dome Completion

In 1973, our dome was completed with the icon of Christ APantocrator@ and the adjoining icons by Fr. Felix Dubneac. The church was occupied by a massive scaffolding for months Fr. Felix together with our Asculptor in residence@ Tusha Caranica already advanced in age would climb to the top together to assay the work. Finally, the large crystal chandelier obtained through the generosity of the Mr. and Mrs. Thedore Tonna far over $10,000 was installed and chosen by President George C. Fatsy and committee. Our church home was now complete. The cost of the iconography was generously donated by the Ladies Auxiliary. February 1973 saw the official turning on of the Chandelier and its dedication in the presence of the Tonna family.

It was also, in 1973, that Fr. Feica was voted in again as parish priest until his retirement in l979.

Fr. Vasilescu Epitafil

A beautiful hand carved Epitaf (Tomb of Christ) was purchased in 1974 by the Vasilescu family in memory of Fr Hrista Vasilescu, our pastor for over 30 years who baptized, married, and buried so many of our parishioners. It is still used every Good Friday and is still a beautiful tribute. It was in this decade, also, that the giving out of red eggs for the Resurrection became firmly established.

Building Fund Dissolved

Our community doctor, Nicholas Sholler, was honored with a dinner and Aroast@ in 1974 for all his work and devotion for the church and community. He was presented with a beautiful portrait in oil.

Having completed its work the Abuilding fund committee@ was dissolved in mid-decade. In these days our annual budget was a Awhopping@ $30,000 as compared to our budget of $250,000+ in the 90’s. There are just too many names to list from the hard-working committee, but there are certain men that have to be mentioned, such as Tom Tanase, Tom Lambro, Charles Vangel, Nick Nicola and Tom Dumitrie.

The St. Dimitrie Day banquet was still only $5.00 per adult and $2.50 for 16 and under for a full course meal. And yet, with these meager finances, the parish house next door was purchased in 1976 by 18 members lending $1,000 each for a down payment and a guarantee for a bank mortgage.

It was October 1974 on St. Dimitrie’s Day that our parish’s 50th anniversary was celebrated with a festive formal dinner at Mary Journey’s Inn. Archbishop Valerian was in attendance the whole weekend and it was a glorious celebration. The Epitaf was formally blessed with Prifteasa Vasilescu attending the emotional event Prifteasa and family, also donated the cantor’s stand area (the strana) and the cross on the altar. A memorial service was held for all the founders. priests, prifteasi, and parishioners who had departed. (May their memories be eternal!) All the beautiful plants used for decoration were brought to the shut-ins who couldn’t participate in the gala celebration.

The 50th anniversary banquet and program brought in $8,500.

The meeting room in the parish home was furnished by the Seferi family and named the Cleanthi Seferi room in her memory, together with the table used in the center of the Church.

50th Anniversary

Spiritual Retreat Weekend

President Peter Costulas made the arrangements to invite Mother Alexandra (the former Princess Ileana of Romania) from the Ellwood City Monastery to speak as part of our spiritual edification. A very large gathering of our parishioners participated and is still fondly remembered by those in attendance. For many it was the first time they had seen an Orthodox nun!

Tonna Testimonial

In January 1976, a festive Testimonial Dinner was given by the church to honor our major benefactor and supporter who made possible so much of what we have, Theodore Tonna. A beautiful brochure was distributed with Mr. Tonna’s likeness and events of his life to keep as a remembrance of this AHoratio Alger@ of the Macedo-Romanians. Archbishop Valerian was also in attendance for this major benefactor of the Episcopate, as well. His Eminence came cheerfully to our parishes in spite of some danger to himself because of all the adverse publicity to his person that was taking place at this time. It was this same year that the Merchant Street rectory was sold relieving us of a considerable financial burden. At the end of the year our budget had reached $40,000.

America’s Birthday

This year, of course, would be a very special year for our whole beloved country since it was the Bicentennial (200 years) of the founding of the United States. The church sponsored a special dance in honor of the Bicentennial and our parish’s l4th anniversary in our new church. The donation was an unbelievable $5.00 for dinner and dancing. The hall was decorated in red, white, and blue and looked very patriotic. At the same time the drawing for the Cadillac raffle took place that brought $9,000 to the church.

Archbishop Valerian had a special dream for many years for the preservation of our heritage. His special project was to become the Romanian Heritage Center at the Vatra. Mr. Tonna was one of the first supporters with a $10,000 bequest. He became one of the Board of Directors and Mrs. Tonna still remains in his stead.

Social Times

There were many dances, raffles, picnics, and dinners held throughout these years for the benefit of the parish’s upkeep, which was becoming more and more costly. And with all these events our parishioners were enjoying themselves immensely in a social setting.

Fr. Feica’s daughter, Diane, with Peter Costulas had arranged a ACabaret@ musical evening of entertainment with some of our local talent reminiscent of the old minstrel shows directed by Mike Shola.

The St. Dimitrie Day Dinner of 1977 will be remembered as a Aclassic.@ Naum Colimitra of New York joined our Afolk singers@ from Bridgeport: Christy M. Fatse, Margarit Ghitsa, and Andrei Rigea to entertain us in a program of old time Macedo-Romanian songs. What an event C they rocked the house and the applause was deafening! (All these wonderful men are now gone).

Fr. Feica celebrated 25 years of ordination and would be honored at a later date because of his heart attack.

The Ping-Pong Club was reactivated, meeting on Friday nights in the Church Hall with a good turnout and special events with their wives.

Post Series

The local newspaper, The Bridgeport Post ran an extensive series of full page articles on the ethnic groups that make up our city. Our community was greatly favored with 2 weeks coverage which shows what an impact our relatively small group makes.

The St. Dimitrie Day Dinner of 1978 had another Cadillac raffle chaired again by our ubiquitous Araffle-teer@ John Bileca with a profit of $11,000. Honorable mention was given to Peter Pucci at this time who had been maintaining our church grounds and odd jobs man without any renumeration for many years and finally retired in 1984. Another invaluable worker for the church was Christy Fatsy.

In 1979, Dr. Sholler, who had retired from his medical practice but not from his church involvement formed a fund-raising committee for purchase of other property and for upkeep of the facilities.

Change of Leadership

Fr. Feica had suffered a debilitating heart attack in 1978 that forced him to retire. The search for a new priest didn’t look very promising until a young chaplain in the Army chose to retire from the military to begin a parish life. And, so. Fr. Nicholas Craciun was installed as our new pastor in January 1979. He brought new hope and energy to the parish for a bright future and inspired many, but unfortunately his tenure was short-lived.

Retirees

Dr. Sholler had been petitioning the parish council to organize a Retiree’s group but nothing came of it. With Fr. Nick’s impetus, the Seniors group was organized, meeting on Thursdays and still functions to this day. Through all the years they have worked diligently and contributed labor and finances in excess of $30,000 to the church. Now in their golden years they still help at various functions, but obviously enjoy their social life together even more.The decade of the 80’s begins with Fr. Jonathan Mayo, a young convert from St. Vladimir’s as our interim priest until a new pastor could be found.

Sam Giavara Establishes the Endowment Fund

The Century Club had been started as a precursor to the endowment fund but it lapsed when its purpose was accomplished.

The Endowment Fund was firmly established in 1980 as a permanent fund for the future maintenance of our church to be kept in perpetuity. Sutiri (Sam) Givara began the action by bringing the parish council the idea and pledged $10,000 to kick it off. Theodore Tonna had pledged to match the three highest donations and so the Fatse brothers, Nicholas and George P. came forward with $10,000 each. Immediately we went from zero to $60,000 in no time at all. All the other parishioners donating to the original fund are honored with a plaque in the vestibule for bringing the total to $120,000, a princely sum.

The Memorial Fund has been combined with the Endowment so that memorial donations can be made directly and the loved ones are memorialized in a glass enclosed, leather bound Abook of life@ opened to a particular page on the anniversary of the repose. Sam has been chairman for many years, with Nick Fatse, Bob Nicola and Bill Balamaci assuming responsibility and overseeing the fund which now totals $405,000.00.

Festivals

In the fall of 1981, an event that would prove to have a profound and lasting influence and effect on our church’s financial health in promoting her projects and, especially, in interacting with the general community even to this very day took place. It was a one and a half day affair chaired by Bob Nicola and Bill Balamaci that first year. The Harvest Festival, as it was called, featured our ethnic foods, pastries, and crafts. The responsibilities overall always fall to the chairpersons who oversee everything in detail. The expertise and culinary talents of our ladies was the mainstay under the able guidance of Acaptain@ Helen Vangel, who directed the work crews. She passed the mantel to Marian Coca, Peter Shanazu, and Tom Muzea (who still handle all the church dinners). Another person indispensable to these kitchen crews until today is Vichia Fatsy.

That first small affair brought in a total $8,000. In 1982, more people got involved and as word spread of our cooking, the affair grew to gross $27,000 annually.Today the Festival is our major witness to the greater Bridgeport community of our faith and ethnicity. We have tours of our church and explanations of the faith and religious materials in addition to the preservation of our ethnic heritage and foods.

Each chairperson has done a wonderful job of growing the Festival and each year it becomes bigger and better. These past four years, under the guidance of Florence Costulas and Gina Cook, the Festival has been fine-tuned to the point that the festival brings over $46,000 and the church realizes over $35,000 net annually to help our operations. The sponsors give a major boost to the success of the festival, this year contributing $14,000 through the efforts of Peter Costulas and Andrei Colimitra.

It has become one of our main supports in addition to our stewardship dues and donations. But more than this, it brings us together in a spirit of brotherly love to work for the Lord’s Holy Church and together with our fellow Orthodox Christians from our sister churches who give us a great deal of support. The Festival this year, 1999, was especially blessed with a large group of young people and children who worked hard, preformed our native dances, and did kitchen and cleaning duty, inspiring all of us with the hope of our future. And they made friends among themselves that will last a lifetime.

The chairmanship and working crews for these affairs are truly a great labor of love for our church and community. It=s impossible to thank everyone who does work to make the Festival a success, but we do acknowledge the chairpersons of the Festivals. In 1982, the Church School sponsored a bus trip for the students and community to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for the Alexander the Great exhibit, AIn Search of Alexander,@ a much acclaimed show of our pre-Christian culture and heritage.

Archbishop Retires

Sadly, in July 1984, Archbishop Valerian retired after an illustrious 33 years of service to the episcopate. In spite of the persecution that he underwent his last few years and his ultimate exile to Portugal, he left us a legacy that would be hard to surpass let alone equal for the small group that we are. He was a man of vision and practicality, and we owe our sure footings as a diocese to him. In September, Bishop Nathaniel was unanimously chosen as the new bishop of the Episcopate to carry on the work of his predecessor.

Congress

On Labor Day weekend, the First Macedo-Romanian Congress in America C a colloquium presentation of works pertaining to our culture C was organized by Professor Aureliu Ciufecu at Sacred Heart University. It brought participants from many countries and walks of life.

In January 1987, Archbishop Valerian reposed in Portugal in exile. (Memory Eternal) His name would later be cleared of all charges from Romanian authorities with information brought out by highly placed informants.

On April 23, the large construction project, L’Ambiance Plaza, collapsed, killing 28 men. Bishop Nathaniel visited our parish in May and made a special stop at the site to offer prayers of forgiveness there and at the parish council meeting.

During this time, Inter-Orthodox Bible Classes were moved to our church for four years. Florence Marsala was honored for being the secretary of the parish council for so many years. Fr. Dimitrie’s suggestion for an Easter Card similar to the Christmas Card in >88 continues with great success even today. The Cadillac raffle that year brought in $21,000 sold at $100 a ticket and the Endowment fund reached $200,000.

Victoria Bileca First Woman President

For the first and only time in our history to the present time, a woman was elected as Parish Council President, Vicki Bileca. (Even the United States hasn’t progressed this far yet!) She proved to be an able administrator and is still heavily involved in parish administration.

In 1990, Fr. Dimitrie and some of our parishioners participated in the Pro-Life March in Washington D.C. with over 250,000 participants.

After the Revolution in Romania, the AHelp Romania Fund@ coordinated by our parish brought in the largest single amount in the Episcopate. Over $22,000 was distributed to the people of Romania.

And Seraphim Rohlman, our altar boy supervisor, was ordained to the priesthood in Alaska.

Changing Times

Fr. Dimitrie had decided to accept His Grace’s invitation to become the Episcopate’s representative in the effort to aid the people of Romania. In February, the parish sent him off with a testimonial that filled our hall to overflowing. Mother Alexandra reposed at this time and the church sent $500 in her memory to the building fund of the monastery.

Fr. Michael Koblosh served our cycle of services for Pascha until our new priest arrived.

Fr. Cornel New Pastor

Right after Easter, Bishop Nathaniel sent us our new priest, Fr. Cornel Todeasa, our present pastor who served his first liturgy on May 5, 1991. We’ve been most fortunate in receiving young, well-educated and devoted men as our priests. Fr. Cornel had served in Washington and St. Paul and was well experienced with being a parish administrator. He=s been a good listener to our problems and an equalizing influence keeping our situations harmonious. He is, also one of those famous sons of the Sibiu Seminary like so many of our Episcopate priests. His wife, Psa. Louisa, has high credentials in her own right and has been an extremely talented Sunday School director, teacher and musician. Fr. was officially installed as parish priest in May, 1992 by His Grace Bishop Nathaniel. Fr. Cornel brought us hope and peace after Fr. Dimitrie’s departure and our parish has progressed steadily under his care. Under his loving care, the history of our parish now continues under Father’s administration.

FORCC

A new pan-Orthodox organization took form in 1992, called the Fellowship of Orthodox Churches in Connecticut, to bring a united effort of our endeavors with the possibility of building a senior citizen complex. Today they hold an annual fund-raising dinner with invited speakers, distribute scholarships, and promote charitable endeavors. Fr. Cornel and our church were among the original members, and Father serves as a spiritual advisor and this year Bill Balamaci serves as president.

The Society Farsarotul celebrated their 90^th anniversary!

Future Planning

A new advising organization was formed in 1992 to aid in the direction the parish would take and to offer continuity from council to council. Former presidents and members of parish councils would meet to plan the future as much as it’s in our hands. The Long Range and Planning Committee allows the parish council to concern itself with the most pressing demands of the parish which this committee can devote its time to larger issues. It’s proved essential to our community’s well being more than once.

At the St. Dimitrie Banquet that year, all past and living presidents were honored with icons from St. Dimitrie. Special mention to Robert Nicola, our parish attorney, and devoted worker in all aspects of church work.

We have to mention that our present parish council president, George C. Fatsy, has been our longest sitting president ever in our 75 year history, an honor that was held by our first president, Spiro Pittu, until now.

Royal Visit

In 1993, Princess Marie, Daughter of King Michael of Romania, graced our parish with a visit and attended our annual picnic. It was the first visit of Romania’s royalty since Princess Ileana’s visit in 1957.

Since 1994, we’re had various dance groups, musical, and comedic troops from Romania that have performed in our Tonna Center. It’s a wonderful means for our newcomers to have an oasis of refreshment in their newfound land.

The International Institute requested our church to host their annual ethnic dinner this year after Pascha and we obliged with a full course Macedo-Rornanian meal of lamb and fixings and, of course, pita. We opened their banquet for over 125 people with the singing of AChristos a-inviat!@

In September, the second Macedo-Romanian Congress took place for the whole weekend, opened in prayer by the local visiting clergy which included Fr. Dimitrie Veriga of Korce, Albania.

The ambitious cookbook project of the Ladies Auxiliary was completed.

In October we celebrated our 70th anniversary with Bishop Nathaniel celebrating the full cycle of services and our annual banquet in honor of St. Dimitrie.

Spiritual Awareness Weekend

A beautiful spiritual experience never to be forgotten took place on Annunciation weekend, March 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th, 1995. As a project of establishing an annual major spiritual event, we invited Fr. Peter Gillquist, the dynamic leader of the 3,000 plus Evangelical Christians that entered into the Holy Orthodox Church, to lead our retreat. We began with the Vespers service for the Annunciation and Father’s first presentation following. On Saturday, we celebrated the Divine Liturgy and a full day of presentations. What an incredible turnout for this most inspiring speaker C a total of over 500 people for the 2 days, including a Afull house@ on Sunday for the Liturgy and sermon.

The following year we had the renowned Frank Schaeffer, son of the internationally famous Protestant Theologian, Francis Schaeffer, again with great success and great turnout with luncheon for everyone on all occasions.

Each year we’ve coordinated the spiritual awareness weekend with the Ladies Auxiliary Lenten Retreat, with Mother Gabriella, from Dormition Monastery this year.

In 1995, we began to rent part of our facilities to the Board of Education and later to ABCD, which has been a tremendous income for our church’s work.

The Tonna Family very generously donated a large walk-in cooler for our hall, which has become invaluable, especially for our Festivals.

Entrepreneurs Honored

The complexion of our parish has changed and grown over the years. As more and more people moved here from Romania, they found solace and comfort in the Church, and our parish was fortunate to be there for them and grow together with them. Many professionals were among them and they’ve made their mark in American society and continue to do so. Two of these young men who formed a successful robotics company,. Nicholas Borcea and Alexander lonescu, were honored by the business community with the ASouthern New England Entrepreneurial Recognition Award@ in 1995. The families of all these young Romanians who are devoted to our parish have become a part of our community and we’re all the more fortunate and blessed because of it.

They donated the beautiful hand-carved signs over our church doors with our name as a gift from these young Romanian professionals.

A new kind of raffle was attempted in 1995 that would encourage stewardship and give a token prize and a full dinner and refreshments to the participants. The church realized $26,000 in donations from this approach.

Native Son

On the weekend of the Epiphany, January 6th & 7th, 1996, Bishop Nathaniel visited our parish for the celebration of the Lord’s baptism and to ordain one of our own to the diaconate. Proto-psalt George Coca became subdeacon on Saturday and Fr. Deacon on Sunday. Our sister parish, St. George Albanian, closed their church that day so Fr. Sergei Bouteneff and parishioners could join in the festive celebration. The proceeds of the banquet following arranged by Prifteasa Mariana were donated to the church. It was a once in a lifetime event because the snowfall that was to become the ASnowstorm of the Century@ began during the ordination and kept going.

Special Help

One of our parishioners who had moved away to Texas had a young daughter who unfortunately needed a new heart. The church prayed for her as a community and sent $500 together with Society Farsarotul’s $500 to the special fund that had been started for her to defray the many thousands needed for her medical expenses.

The church had a special dinner for Nicholas Lee, a young child with a debilitating disease. We raised over $5000 to help with medical expenses.

We also gave a closed captioned TV to Ionel and Ileana Ciufecu who are both speech and hearing impaired. They’re newcomers to our parish with gifted carpentry skills and we’ve given them monetary help as well as a trip to Romania for all their help on the properties.

In April of 1996, Romanian Voice TV filmed our church services and televised our church on New York television and to Romania.

Death of Two Friends

Two men who had worked closely together for our community for many years departed from us within a short time of each other. The man who had treated our physical ailments, Dr. Nicholas Sholler, died and then our former spiritual leader, Fr. Stephen Feica was brought from Canada. His Grace served the hierarchical liturgy and funeral service for a priest with other Episcopate and local clergy. There was a large turnout to bid farewell to Father. The church and her auxiliaries sponsored a lovely memorial repast.

After our >96 Festival we donated $1000 to the Greater Bridgeport Fund to help needy students as a give back to the community for our successful Festival and for God’s bounty.

We fully air-conditioned our hall, the Tonna Center, for a cost of $20,000.

Sister Parish

Our sister parish, (actually our mother parish since it was established first and so many of our parishioners have come from her to us,) St. John’s in Woonsocket, RI., celebrated the 85th Anniversary of its founding in 1997. Fr. Cornel and Fr. Deacon George attended their banquet and liturgy with a group of parishioners and our church has assisted in their various projects.

In 1998 and 1999, Fr. Dn. George, participated at the White House Conference in Washington, D.C., and at the invitational reception for the president of Romania.

God Parents’ Sunday

The Sunday closest to the Meeting of the Lord called APapandina@ in February has traditionally been observed by the Ladies Auxiliary with coliva and special prayers. Because it’s the day that our Lord was presented in the temple, we instituted God Parents Sunday when God Parents will bring their god children to church and they both receive Communion together in honor of their responsibility to each other. This year, 1999, there were so many people receiving the Sacrament that they were lined up double file to the outside doors.

In March, our proto-psalt emeritus reposed in the Lord.

We have been searching for new land for a possible relocation of the church. The $5,000 donation in memory of Nicholas Nicola became the first for the building fund drive.

The altar area was completely redecorated and refurbished in memory of John Babu.

Sunday of Orthodoxy was held in our church combined with the local parishes. His Grace, Bishop Nathaniel was the invited speaker and he honored us with a full weekend of services and a Lenten repast for 600 people.

Honorees

At the 1998 St. Dimitrie Day Dinner, George Hallas, the founder and driving dynamo behind FORCC, and James Connolly, the Superintendent of Schools for the city of Bridgeport and a wonderful friend and supporter of our community and of our Orthodox church in general, were both honored by our community.

During the Christmas break, a new annual event C the showcase of youth talent concert organized by Bill Balamaci C takes place for the community. This year, in anticipation of our festival, we had the whole kitchen redone with new ovens, convection ovens, sinks and counters for over $12,000.

We also instituted a Prayer and Support Group that meets the first Wednesday of every month; a ABooklet of the Month Club@ with a new booklet read each month and then discussed at the Prayer and Support Group. A group of young adults, married and single, known as the AEgg-on-a-Stick Group@ (since it was started on the Sunday before Great Lent when we do Aharahasca@ C the egg on a stick), meet together socially. During Great Lent we held Presanctified Liturgies every Wednesday with a short video presentation following for the participants. All these are part of the life of the parish and the efforts of her people.

Although this history may seem to be just a compilation of facts and dates and concerned with financial matters of how much was collected and spent with little emphasis on the spiritual, it is a record of the archives and events that have taken place in our parish. Unfortunately, archives don’t reflect the true spiritual life of the parish and the progress one makes in his or her journey with the Lord. Time and again, every parish council, to their credit, has concerned itself with the growth of the parish, with the education of our children and youth and with bringing back those who are straying from us.

LADIES AUXILIARY

As in their native villages the Macedo-Roman women contributed their time and effort on behalf of the community. As the settlement in Bridgeport grew so did the contribution of the wives and daughters of the new Americans. By 1931, the need for a formal organization to channel their efforts was recognized.

On January 4, 1932 forty (40) members joined to form the Ladies Auxiliary. It was the purpose of the Auxiliary to organize all women of Macedo-Roman background and to support the new church morally and financially. Meetings were scheduled on a monthly basis and each member paid dues of $1.80 per year. An election was held with the selection of the following officers.

President Alice Janello

Vice President Victoria Pittu

Secretary Alice Cashavelly

Treasurer Athena Chanaca

Back to Top of Page

Back to Home Page