The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-06
MAJORITY OF HIS PARISH SUPPORTS
 FATHER NEURIHER
Rector of St. Stephens De- clareS Small Band of Malc0n-
 tents is Arrayed Against Him

Meeting in Rackoczy hall, last even- ing, some of the members and former members of St. Stephens church in Spruce street voted to ask Bishop Milan to change the pastorate of the church, seeking the removal of Father Edmond F. Neuriher, who has been in charge of the parish for two years.
 Regarding the controversy Rev. Fa- tfler Neuriher made the following statement to the Farmer today:
 T believe that the majority of my parish is supporting my administra- tion, and that the report that prac- tically the entire parish is arrayed against me, is wholly untrue.
 '@The malcontents are confined to a small group of residents of the parish. These persons never set foot within the doors of the church. They are opposed to me for personal reasons, and also because I have tried to bring order into the parish and make the people observe the laws of the dio- cese as well as to respect the orders of the right reverend bishop.
 "As I said before, this is only a small group of people. They are try ing to give the impression that they comprise the whole parish. or at least a majority of it. As a matter of fact, they are mere handful, and are not the active churchgoers, Or supporters of the parish.
 "In regard to the accusation that I do not go on sick calls, I will give an instance: I was called to attend the sick bed of person one afternoon, and started to make the call, when I as- certained that the person had died that morning, before my call was re- quested. Then, naturally, I refused to make the call. It is upon this case that they are basing their charge that I neglected to make sick calls.
 Another charge is that I refused to assist at a funeral In that case I was obeying the order of the bishop, because the family had arranged for the interment of the corpse in Mountain Grove cemetery. Bishop Milan had instructed me not to off1ciate at this funeral, if the burial did not take place in St. MichaePs cemetery. The fu- neral. consequently, was held in the Greek church.
 'In regard to the expense for au- tomobile nd cabs, the parishioners Seem to forget that when I came to this parish I was a total stranger to Bridgeport, and that often I was call ed upon to make calls and visits at night. and not knowing ,. my way around, was obliged to procure the use of some sort of vehicle. Undoubt- edly the expense for this source was larger in the past than it will be in the future when I am better ac- quainted with my way around Bridge port.
 .tAs regards to the finances of the church, my reports are audited by the officials of the church, and found to be correct, and my financial reports to the bishop have received his fullest approval.
 "In conclusion I will say that the best proof that the congregation is satisfied with my service as its priest, is the fact that the church is filled to its capacity at every service St. Stephens church ordinarily seats only 450, but the average attendance every Sunday is nearly 800. That does not look as though the congregation is unanimously arrayed against me"