Holy Ghost excommunicates woman

By G.E. LAWRENCE, The Phoenix correspondent
09/22/2008

PHOENIXVILLE — The difficulty began on April 15.

It was on that evening that the proposal for an 81-unit, $10 million HUD-funded elderly housing project at Bridge and Starr Streets was presented to Borough Council from Father James Evans and the Church Housing Corporation of Phoenixville.

The proposal was predicated on the sale of just under two acres of the 22 on which is situated Holy Ghost Church and its Social Center.

The evening of April 15 was also when some members of Holy Ghost Church got themselves in trouble. Not with public authorities, but with spiritual ones. Because they opposed the sale, and said so to Council.

They had said so in a congregational meeting on March 30, though by a 43-38 majority vote of the 226-member congregation the sale was approved.

But they said so also in Council chambers April 15. Helen Langner said so. Susan Flavin, then a member of the parish Board, said so. Joan Detweiler, another Board member, said so. They also raised questions about that the circumstances under which the congregational vote had been taken.

They all said so with such effect that Evans, who had earlier been relying on "[the church's] congregational method, their system which is that the majority makes the decision," withdrew the proposal from Council's consideration. "I simply do not want to be a part of contributing to that kind of division of a church's life in this way," he said.

But the project went back on the table the following week. "The leadership of the Church said to me that my decision had not respected the strong support of the majority in that vote," Evans reported later, in an interview July 31. The proposed sale would move ahead.

That had no bearing, however, on what happened to those in Holy Ghost Church who opposed the sale and were present at Council's April 15 meeting.

They received on May 13 a letter from Metropolitan Nicholas, head of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., Holy Ghost's ruling judicatory.

"The issue involves your participation in a recent session of Phoenixville Borough Council, the Metropolitan wrote, "[where] your dissenting opinion brought an internal church matter with which you disagree into the public eye. At the very least, this provided an unfavorable, unnecessary image of internal dissent to the community.

"This posturing to reverse a [church] decision is unacceptable," read the letter. "For these reasons, this Office takes offense at your activity [I]f this type of activity continues, further action may be necessary."

In May, Board member Flavin had been suspended. In June, two other Board members had resigned. Another resigned in August.

On June 10, an agreement of sale was signed by both Holy Ghost Church and the Church Housing Corporation for $500,000, according to a Church summary of events. The Church intends to use the proceeds to build a new Social Center, a facility included on Evans's project sketch plan.

But there was a hitch: the Holy Ghost American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church of the Eastern Rite, as a legal entity, may not hold title to the property its Board wants to sell. It was a separate legal entity, The Saint Nicholas Brotherhood of Phoenixville, that purchased the property from members of the Reeves family for $31,500 on December 7, 1938, according to the property deed. The Brotherhood then leased the property to the Church.

The Church's constitution and by-laws indicate that "[a]ll real property of the parish, including the Church proper, house, lots and other real estate is the property of the St. Nicholas Brotherhood . All properties are listed and registered in the name of St. Nicholas Brotherhood and administered by the Church Board ."

The Brotherhood, however, again according to the constitution and by-laws, "is comprised of the members in good standing" of the Church.

So the Church Board, representing one legal entity, filed suit August 9 against the Brotherhood as another. In PA Civil Action No. 08-08049, the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County has been asked to declare that the Church "be authorized and empowered by the Court to be the only entity to act on behalf of the St. Nicholas Brotherhood."

Reached for comment last week, Holy Ghost pastor Very Reverend Protopresbyter John Fedornock responded, "I have nothing to say. I can't give out information. The judge has not set up a hearing date. Everything [on the project] is at a complete standstill."

"I am unable to say anything," said Diocesan Chancellor Very Rev. Protopresbyter Frank P. Miloro, on Friday, from his offices in Johnstown. "This is a matter internal to the parish, and it would be inappropriate for me to make any statement."

But also last week, what "further action" the Metropolitan might take was made clear to Nancy Dempsey. She is a member of the parish who was present at that April 15 meeting, though she did not speak.

By letter of September 3, Dempsey was excommunicated. Fedornock read out the letter to the Holy Ghost congregation, absent Dempsey, at worship yesterday.

"You have been identified as a participant in a dissenting group waging a malicious campaign of lies and innuendos," read the letter. "You have refused conformity to the discipline of the Church" and "organized a society which is plotting against [it]."

"Others who have been involved in disruptive activities with you," the Metropolitan concluded, "must desist immediately. Should they not, a like pronouncement will be made against them."

Dempsey can no longer receive sacraments at Holy Ghost Church, nor receive a church burial. "I don't know how I can be punished so severely," she said Sunday. "I've just been trying to honor the founders' lease, and preserve the property."

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