The
Red Hook StarªRevue
MARCH 2017
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FREE
Confrontation at Visitation Church by Emily Kluver
A
ccording to Diana Ortiz, a long-time Red Hook resident and active volunteer with Visitation Church, Father Claudio Antecini announced on Sunday, January 29 that the archdiocese had given him a second six-year assignment at the Red Hook church.
firm that any dialogue about Fr. Claudio took place or that any resolutions were reached.
However, a group of unhappy parishioners tells a different story.
As for Fr. Claudio, he claims that he is not aware of any conflicts with the community and added, “If someone feels not comfortable talking to me - maybe because I am Italian - they can speak with a sister or a priest or a brother. I am happy to share the contribution of everyone.”
“I haven’t heard if he was offered another six years,” explained Michael Arteta, a community member disillusioned with Fr. Claudio and by extension, Visitation Church. “Those are rumors. I also heard [Fr. Claudio and other church leaders] were given one year to get their affairs in order and that he was looking at property in [Pennsylvania].”
Action
To voice and address their concerns, a group of select parish members and exmembers have been meeting in private to discuss issues they have with the church. Arteta estimated that the unhappy group is made up of around 20 people, but he believes that the number of members who have left the church due to problems with Fr. Claudio is closer to 75. However, Fr. Claudio claims that the parish community was dwindling when he first arrived, but has grown considerably in recent years. Unfortunately, neither of these accounts could be verified. On January 7, when Bishop Neil Tiedemann came to visit his former parish, community members planned to bring their concerns to him. However, no community sources were able to con-
When asked directly about the concerns laid out by parishioners, the archdiocese promised to look into it and respond as soon as they could. As of press time, they had not responded.
Frustrated members of the church voiced skepticism, noting the recent removal of community member and former volunteer at Visitation, Robert Berrios.
Conflict
It seems that nearly every time a community member talks about Visitation Church, there is someone else saying the exact opposite - regardless of how seemingly small the issue may be. Even the church fresco, a recently restored mural the Red Hook Star-Revue covered in December, has stirred up divisive feelings. “There was no crack down the middle, nothing was falling and it looks the same to me and you can ask anyone at the church,” explained Mary Deconde, a member of the church community who reached out to Star-Revue staff in December. “Those women that were supposed to fix it, [church leaders] knew them from their Koinonia Community and all [the women] did was touch it up. [Fr. Claudio] mentioned that it would take a year to fix it. All of a sudden, it was done in time for the [celebrity] wedding. More lies on top of lies.” Arteta expressed a similar sentiment and said, “The fresco wasn’t falling apart. It looks the same, just brighter and cleaner.” A group of anonymous churchgoers disagreed. One member said, “[The fresco] was peeling, that’s for sure.” Similarly, Ortiz noted that while “the top of the fresco looked fine, the bottom was falling apart.” Division over the former state of a church fresco is only the start of the contention.
Father Claudio in a recent picture taken in front of the Visitation Church. (photo by George Fiala)
Red Hook Star-Revue
CELEBRITY WEDDING
In December, the Red Hook
Star-Revue published an article about a celebrity wedding, which took place at Visitation Church in October. A number of community members were upset by the Halloweenthemed wedding, in particular that people wore costumes deemed “inappropriate” for church. Leaders in the church responded asking people to refrain from judgement. In the wake of the article, a number of parishioners had a lot to say.
Robert Berrios gives a thumbs up at the 2014 Visitation Church Carnival (Star-Revue file photo)
Deconde, angry about the wedding and frustrated by the article, explained, “I was outside that day and there was nothing respectful about it. People were outraged and disgusted with what happened. I was part of a group saying the rosary that day only to be cursed at and laughed at by those who attended that wedding.” Others echoed Deconde’s concerns, noting direct conflicts between wedding guests and locals church members. On the other hand, Henrietta Perkins posted a comment online urging others to settle down. She said, “[The wedding guests] all looked beautiful to me, big extravaganza for a Halloween wedding, I thought. Sister Rosanna is very right, ‘Stop Judging.’ ”
Church Sacristan
Church-goers recall Robert Berrios as a central member of Visitation Parish. According to members of the community, he was always there grilling hot dogs at the annual church carnival. They remember him as someone keeping the parish active through gatherings and yearly traditions. And notably, for the past six years, he acted as sacristan of the church. This role involves looking after important items in the church, preparing them for special events, and generally keeping order within the (continued on page 3)
As for Ortiz, she feels that “Jesus brought in those 800 people for a reason.” She believes that the church should be welcoming of everyone in the community. However, Deconde and Arteta both wanted to be clear that the wedding was simply the breaking point in a long history of grievances. “The pastor thinks it was the wedding we were upset about,” Deconde explained. “It was more than that. The wedding was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was years and years of his nonsense.” The nonsense, as Deconde puts it, comes in varied forms.
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March 2017, Page 1