Many Felt Left out by Merger, by Stephen P. Clark, The Advocate, May 4, 2008

Many Felt Left out by Merger

By Stephen P. Clark
The Advocate
May 4, 2008

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_9147563?source=most_emailed

STAMFORD - For about 50 years, there were three Hispanic Pentecostal churches in Stamford and one Hispanic Catholic parish: Our Lady of Montserrat Church.

Montserrat was founded in 1962, when 50 families saved money to build a church. It grew to more than 1,500 parishioners in the 1990s, which led to a space crunch at its Hope Street address and a long, bitter struggle with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport over a church expansion.

A rosary service the day after the festival of St. Benedict-Our Lady of Montserrat Church in Stamford.
Photo by Chris Preovolos

In 2000, the diocese merged Montserrat with St. Benedict's Church at its building in the Cove neighborhood and converted the Hope Street site into the Haitian-American Catholic Center of Stamford, sparking an outcry in the Hispanic community.

At the same time, the number of Pentecostal churches in the Hispanic community soared.

Today, about 15 Pentecostal churches and two Catholic parishes - St. Mary's Church on Elm Street, which is a block from the other, St. Benedict-Our Lady of Montserrat Church in the Cove area - serve the Hispanic community.

After the merger, some Montserrat parishioners joined St. Mary's, some went to the growing Pentecostal movement and others stopped attending church.

"They really divided our community as far as religions are concerned," said Galdino Velasco, 59, owner of Tacos Guadalajara at 217 Atlantic St., and a former member of Montserrat. Velasco, whose older brother was a founding member, and Eva Padilla, also a former longtime member of Montserrat who is now inactive, blames the Catholic

church for driving them away and not trying to bring them back.

"I dedicated the best years of my life to build up that church," said Padilla, who was once active in fundraising and outreach for the Montserrat. "No one has even called to see if I'm alive."

Joseph McAleer, a spokesman for the Bridgeport diocese, said the Catholic Church did not divide the Hispanic community or turn its back on them.

"I'm sorry that people feel that way but the reality is that the merger has been an unqualified success," he said. "Since the merger, St. Benedict-Our Lady of Montserrat has doubled in size. In fact, it has become the largest parish in the Diocese of Bridgeport."

The parish has 12,000 to 15,000 parishioners, McAleer said. He called the parish a work in progress that continues to grow thanks in large part to the leadership of the Rev. Gustavo Falla, who has been the pastor since 2004.

During the first few decades of its existence, Montserrat parishioners were moved from building to building until they bought the site on Hope Street, which eventually became too small for them. Construction plans for a larger church collapsed after the diocese withdrew its offer to finance a loan because the price tag increased from $1.2 million to $1.4 million and the church raised $300,000 of a $500,000 goal.

The diocese then announced it would move Montserrat to St. Benedict's, which was built at the turn of the 20th century by the Slovak community.

Velasco said the Pentecostal faith is more appealing because members have more ownership in their building. "We lost everything," he said.

Mauricio Ahumada, a former choir director at Montserrat who was involved with the failed expansion, stopped attending church a couple years after the merger.

"Through the construction project, I was exposed to the politics of the church and I got disappointed," he said. Ahumada tried a fresh start at St. Mary's, but that didn't work, either.

"It's so hard to explain," he said. "I guess I felt betrayed. I felt that the church is supposed to be in favor of those who need the most but was concerned about the finances."

McAleer said the success of the merger proves the diocese made the right move.

"The merger was the best thing that could have happened to Montserrat at the time," he said. "Building a church on that small property was not practical. Merging with a larger, established church in an area of Stamford where many parishioners live and complete with a catechism center made sense."

Velasco, Padilla and Ahumada didn't join the Pentecostal movement, and Padilla questioned the faith of those who did.

"Those people were Catholic by name and they don't have the faith," she said. "But if you're a real Catholic, you're Catholic. The fact that I'm not attending St. Mary's or St. Benedict's doesn't mean I'm not Catholic. I'll die Catholic."