Relocation and Building Fund News

Peace be unto this House Luke 5:14

Dome & Cross Placement

January 30, 2008

*To see Pictures of the Ground Breaking Ceremony and the Blessing of the

Foundation that took place on May 7^th, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

The Official Groundbreaking Ceremony of our future church took place on August 20^th, the day after our annual festival. First Selectman, William Kupinse and John Guedes of Primrose Construction joined Father Cornel, Father George, George C. Fatsy, Bob Nicola, Andrei Colimitra, Alexander Ionescu & Simona Tudor, and other members of the community to launch off the start of the building of our new church. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shinning bright, birds chirping and children playing under the trees, as we held a service and lodged a cross into the ground of our future church site. Those who were present from the community got a taste of how truly blessed we are to be able to build a church in such a beautiful and natural surrounding. We are still asking for your support, so that we may build as quickly as possible and move into our new home. ***See pictures below!

When it Matters Most, Your Support Makes All the Difference!

The sale of our Clinton Avenue property closed on January 30, 2006. Relocation of our church activities to

St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church Hall, Bridgeport occurred on March 6, 2006. With God’s help, we

will celebrate Easter 2007 at our new Easton Location.

Our Community appears to continue to be guided spiritually during our journey to our new home in Easton.

$348,980.00 has been pledged since the initial Kick-Off Building Fund Drive at our annual Palm Sunday Dinner

at Testo’s Restaurant. We still need to take the last step together to raise another $200,000.00 as our Building

Fund Drive continues. Pledges are welcome in any denomination and can be made as a one time offering or over

a five year period. We ask you to please pledge as generously as you can within your capabilities.

Pledges may be made and given to Father Cornel Todeasa, George C. Fatsy (Council President) or either

of the two treasurers Bob Blashcke and Ted Schuster. They can also be mailed to St. Dimitrie Building

Fund, PO Box 753, Trumbull, CT 06611. We need your help!

A Letter from Father Cornel Todeasa, Parish Priest:

Dear Saints of St. Dimitrie Church,

You might be surprised by the way I address you. You might say, “Fr. Cornel can’t be addressing me, for

I am not a saint.” But yes, I address these words to you. Even though we are not “saints,” we are to become

holy as our God is holy. “But you are,” said St. Peter, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His

marvelous light” (1 Peter, 2:9). We are not yet saints, but hopefully we are saints in the making.

St. Apostle Paul called the members of the first churches that he established, as saints of those particular

churches. He writes, for example, a letter, “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi” (Philippians 1:2).

Many of them obtained the crowns of sainthood and are venerated as saints even today, for they suffered great

persecutions. Many of them became saints for their work to establish church communities, to spread the word

of the Gospel, to build altars, churches and places to worship the true God, the Lord Jesus. They made many

sacrifices – of time, talent and treasure – to accomplish this. They did everything for the glory of God, for the

love of His people, and for the salvation of their souls. They are saints because through them, for many generations

until today, great numbers of people came to the knowledge of truth, to the faith and to salvation – including us!

In this respect, I dare to address you also as the “saints” of St. Dimitrie. We are called today to build a house of

worship, a place of prayer, where God Himself will live. We are called today to sacrifice in order to establish a

church for ourselves, for our families, but especially for the generations to come.

Our situation today is not much different from the time of the beginning of the Church. We live in an environment

that is not Christian, one that is even anti-Christian. We live in a time when Christian virtues are considered

foolishness. In spite of these secular times, we are called to sacrifice for the love of God. Helping to build

a house of God and for His people is a unique opportunity that does not come our way often.

Therefore, I encourage you, dear “saints” of St. Dimitrie to take heed and approach this opportunity with faith

and love for God. Whatever you do to help build this house of God will be surely rewarded by God Himself.

“Grace to you and peace be multiplied” (1 Peter, 1:2).

A Letter from Father George M. Coca, Assistant Parish Priest:

Dear Brothers and Sisters of our St. Dimitrie Parish,

“This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Over the past few years, our parish has been in a preparatory stage for the future move to our new location,

that future is now present. We find ourselves expectantly awaiting the building of our new home, the place

where we worship the LORD and give witness to our faith.

This time of wandering itself will be a wonderful test of our Faith for us and of our commitment to our LORD

and our community. We have found that we can worship even in the most humble of settings. Where there is

Faith and Love, all our hopes can be realized for a beautiful new place of worship and gathering.

May the Most HOLY SPIRIT guide us in all endeavors and may we follow the LORD and his prompting of us

for “unless the LORD builds the house, our labor would be in vain.”

The time is now for us all to make our commitment to the LORD and to pledge our service and talents in HIS

honor. May HIS will be done. AMEN.

+Fr. George M. Coca

Assistant Priest

A Letter from George C. Fatsy, President:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ and Friends of St. Dimitrie:

The property in Easton is now ours with no further obligations with the final payment on the land in April, 2006.

We estimate that with the cost of the land included ($425,000), our final cost to complete our structure will

approach $2,600,000. Since the land is paid and we have $1,600,000 in cash, we have in essence, $2,100.000

of the $2,600,000 needed to finish our facilities, which lease us short $500,000.

We encourage those in a position to help to think of the future of our new church. Our budget of $200, 00

plus yearly to run the church has 60% of those costs as fixed – primarily Salaries, Episcopate Support, Utilities

and Maintenance and that money is realized from Dues, Candles, Offerings and Special Events (Festivals, Dinners

and Raffle.). For this reason, our hope is that this Building Fund Appeal can be fully realized so we do not have to

use Administrative Account monies or take a large mortgage out on the church.

To recognize those parishioners and friends who give to the Fund Drive, the Parish Council approved a

“Donor Plaque” to be installed in the Vestibule of our new church within the first year of our five year Pledge

Program. This will be next to the Endowment Fund Plaque, which was very successful in raising money twenty-five

years ago. To be included on the plaque, a Donor will have to pledge to one of the noted categories, listed elsewhere

in this brochure.

I am confident this appeal can be realized and that our future remains in good hands.

May GOD continue to bless our community, the friends of St. Dimitrie and us, His unworthy servants.

Yours in Christ,

George C. Fatsy, President.

Ground Breaking -- the Beginning

Our ground breaking in Easton went well, and now our work begins in earnest. Our Building Committee is in place, and we will be meeting more often now that construction is beginning. We will try to do our best to ensure that the end result is pleasing to everyone and are hopeful we will achieve construction and financial goals. We have much to be thankful for in our community, and as MAC-AROY said in 1985 when they hosted the Aroy Convention in Bridgeport, “the future is ours.”

Even though we purchased and paid off the land and are building our new church, your Parish Council recently agreed that we should look into purchasing the adjacent 6 acres of land to our current property. These are positive steps and avail us 14 acres of land for future expansion and religious and cultural activities. The Parish Council appointed Atty. Robert Nicola and Andrei Colimitra to pursue this acquisition in the near future if it is available and to apprise the community in future bulletins as to where we stand.

Pictures taken by Kristin Fatsy & Gale Papageorge

Pictures of May 7^th Foundation Blessing

The Construction has Begun!!

How it all Began:

A fire destroyed our church at 150 Lee Avenue in Bridgeport in 1960. We then immediately assembled a Building fund Committee, which engaged an architect firm from New York to build a new St. Dimitrie Church on 579 Clinton Ave in Bridgeport. After 40 years at this location, the church area had changed and it was felt that we should give some thought to the future.

At a General Assembly Meeting held in 2000, Peter Costulas made motion that we should elect a committee to search for land. This motion was unanimously passed an A Land Search Committee was selected by President George Fatsy. The committee consisted of Peter Costulas and Andre Colimitra (later joined by Father George Coca). After many attempts to purchase land in Fairfield, the Committee found it necessary to reach out further into Easton. The committee found a piece of property at 500 Sport Hill Rd, owned by Gordon Tree Farm The General Assembly approved its purchase for $420,000. And now we are in the process of building our New Church with the efforts of many dedicated people.

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