The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-26
Accused of Making Peculiar Agreement With Con-
 tractor
CHARGED WITH HAVING
 ARRANGED COMMISSION
Resignation Not Forthcom- ing After Investigation Head of Church Is Ap- pealed to.

] The congregation of the Russian Greek Catholic Orthodox church of the Holy Ghost, (not Roman Catho- l lic,) Hallett and Jane streets, is in a state of upheava1 a result of con troversy between the pastor, the Rev.
 Alexis Boguslavsky, and the parish toners, who have twice demanded his
 resignation.
 The trouble dates back more than
 six months, when the church remod- cling began, but it came to a climax few weeks ago when the contractor made public the fact that he and the
 pastor were working under 8 commis-
 sion agreement, by which the pastor was to receive three per cent. of the cost of the work.
 The remodeHing of the church was
 neCess1tated because of the over crowding of the parish school. With
 it's limited quarters and large num-
 Der of children. the school structure
 was so filled that the parish voted to begin carrying out the final plans for the church. The church building was not completed when it was final ly roOfed in, but was left for the con gregation to get into better financial condition before final work was done. The church had no basement when the school problem became serious, and it was decided to raise the church, install the school in modern base
 ment, and conduct the school there ln cOnn6cIlOn Wlln IlG then used for school purposes This plan was carried out
 But Father Boguslavsl<y was not 1 satisfied with completing the base ment. He had embodied in the plans l the construction of ornate additions and the like until the total cost was | brought up to in the neighborhood of Considerable dissatisfaction result ed among his parishioners- But this
 was not voiced until any considerable -I7ay1 there came the disclosure of the working agreement between contrac- tor and pastor.
 Then it was found, according to members of the congrega tion. that the 1 contractor had taken the bids for the work at a figure lower than he could 1 afford to do the work. When the con 1 tractor tried to eliminate parts of l the work, the priest insisteS that he l should live up to the specifications | The contra ctor then publicly declared 1 that he couldn't do the work and pay | the priest the three per cent comrnis- 1 sion.
 | This resulted in Elder Michael J 1 Jankuras calling a meeting of the
 congregation. and notifying Archbish- 1 op Platon of New York, head of the l Diocese of North America and Aleu- 1 tn, of the situation
 Archbishop Platon sent here a dele
 gate, Rev; Father Peter Kohanick oi | the consistory of New York, who pre- 1 sided over the meeting at which the | charges were discussed involving the 1 commission arrangement between con- l tractor and pastor.
 1 The report of the episcopal delegate | was made %o Bishop Platon only a | few days when a committee repre-. 1 senting the local congregation made | it's appearance at the episcopal resi-. | dence. The committee included the | elder, Michael Robstock, Michael J 1 Jankura and John Pistey. The com | mittee reorted that the archbishop had 1 notified them to select any priest 1 they desired to supplant the present l priest.
 The committees report. made to the | local congregation has resulted in ex- l pectation of the resignation of the l present pastor. It was generally re- 1 ported throushout the congregation l that the resignation would be made | yesterday and an unusually large at. | tendance at mass resulted. But the l riest made no mention of the disturb
 ed conditions at divine services yes- | terday.
 The congregation now plans to take | the matter up with the arch oishor l asking him to send a priest of his own
 choice to supplant the present pas. l tor.
 Father Boguslavsky and his wife | live in the parochial residence, 59C | Arctic street. They have been in this 1 city about year.