“Haunted” Most Holy Trinity?

“Haunted” Trinity?

Most Holy Trinity Church has found its way onto several Internet sites that tell of haunted places in New York City.  As Roman Catholic Christians, we certainly do not believe that we are "haunted."   This page is therefore posted solely for entertainment purposes, and in order to respond to the many who have written to us inquiring about these legends of a haunted Trinity.  Enjoy!

The present building housing Most Holy Trinity Church (the third church) was built between 1882 and 1885; the school building, built in 1887, is located on a site that had been a cemetery from 1841 until 1853.  Legend has it that not all of the bodies were removed from the cemetery and that the souls of those who remain continue to inhabit the site. The lights in the school gym have been known to go on and off without any reasonable explanation. At night, it is said that voices, and the sounds of people walking back and forth, can be heard in the school building.

The church's first two pastors, Fr. John Stephen Raffeiner and Msgr. Michael May, priests who had been Vicar Generals of the Brooklyn Diocese, are buried in a crypt under the narthex of the church.

There are mysterious passageways on the triforium level of the church where it is said that only priests are able to enter. The church property covers an entire city block; it is said that there are false closets leading to tunnels throughout the church and convent. Mysterious sub-basements and bricked-up doorways suggest concealed passageways. It is said that run-away slaves from the South used these areas to hide when escaping to the North in the "underground railroad."

The church’s second pastor, Monsignor Michael May, built the church’s rectory in 1872; he died in the building while sleeping in his second-floor room in 1895; the same room is used as a guest room by the priests who live in the building today. No-one wishes to take up permanent residence in the room in which the priest died. Guests have claimed to have heard strange noises and the sounds of someone walking back and forth while staying in the room. 

It is said that loud footsteps can be heard up and down the four floors of the rectory stairs at late hours of the night.  Allegedly, it always feels like other people are in the building, even when someone is alone there.  Dogs, who were once kept as pets in the rectory, had been known to stare, as if in trances, at the stairs leading to the basement and into the dining room when it was very cold in the house.

George Stelz, a parish sexton and bell ringer, was murdered in the vestibule of the church in August of 1897; while there was a prime suspect in the crime (a man who had been a parishioner of Trinity, and who was eventually executed for a different murder), no-one was ever convicted of the Stelz murder. The blood of Mr. Stelz, as well as the bloody hand-print of the murderer, are said to be still on the wall in a stairway leading to the bell tower. It is said that the spirit of Mr. Stelz roams the building and will do so until the crime is solved. 

The name of Mr. Stelz appears in a stained glass window he had donated to the church twelve years before his murder. The bells to the church are said to ring sometimes without explanation; it is believed that the ghost of Mr. Stelz rings the bells in order that people will not forget him, now after more than one-hundred years since his murder. 

Allegedly, a number of people have mysteriously died while praying in the church since its doors first opened in 1885. The souls of some of these people are said to roam throughout the church building.

Funeral Homily for Sister Mary Jane Fulton, OP (June 26, 2007)

 

+Sister Mary Jane Fulton, OP
She entered eternal life on June 22, 2007

My Sisters and Brothers:

     Today we are here, not in sadness, but rather to celebrate a life.

     We celebrate the life of Sr. Mary Jane Fulton who gave sixty-seven of her eighty five years to the service of other human beings.

     As I sat doing the math the other day, I recalled that I first met Mary Jane fifteen years ago when she was already seventy-one years old. By that age, many people, like my own parents, have already retired from their jobs, moved into a retirement community and settled in to a sedentary life characterized by community recreational and social activities, relaxing by the pool and of taking bus trips to Atlantic City, New Jersey or Mohegan Sun, Connecticut, or even traveling to exotic destinations around the world or to Carribean Islands on cruise ships. Not Mary Jane!

     I met Mary Jane in 1992 when she was seventy-one years old and I was only thirty, and a newly ordained priest. The juncture point of our meeting was at Most Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York. She had arrived there six years earlier in 1986 at the very young age of sixty-five years old.

      In that year Mary Jane had already given forty-seven years of her life in service to others: as an elementary school teacher at Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Leonard, as a high school teacher at Dominican Commercial High School (for twenty-one years), as principal of Holy Spirit School in New Hyde Park (for fifteen years) again as an elementary school teacher at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary School.

     No doubt when Mary Jane arrived at 157 Graham Avenue to serve as the director of the Most Holy Trinity SRO, she came with a wealth of experience as a servant to others, especially those who were most in need.

     The obituary printed for Mary Jane states the following: “If we were allowed just one word to describe Sister Mary Jane, that word would be dedication. She had ministered to the People of God in a number of capacities, but always with the same selflessness and devotion.” This is certainly the Mary Jane I knew. She was a woman who had tremendous faith in the God who loved her and she lived out that faith through dedicated service to others. She truly put her faith into action and she did so with great “selflessness and devotion.” And so today we are here, not in sadness, but rather to celebrate her life.

     Some time ago, Mary Jane chose the Scripture readings that we have heard in today’s Mass. I imagine she chose these readings with a great spirit of prayer and devotion. And so through these readings she has given us one more opportunity to experience the manner in which she, during her life, gave testimony to her faith. We might say that through these Scriptures she has continued to minister to us, even today.

     Mary Jane was always very dedicated to the marginalized people of our society. We heard in the first reading from Isaiah today the following words: “God gives strength to the fainting; for the weak God makes vigor abound . . . they that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” Mary Jane knew that she had the ability to do God’s work of uplifting those who were considered to be the weak of our society. She served others with the knowledge that she could make a difference in their lives.

     I recall being introduced by Mary Jane to a young man who had been a resident of the Trinity SRO. This young man had a serious addiction problem and probably was considered by most people to be useless and “good-for-nothing.” But Mary Jane treated that young man with tremendous dignity. She spoke to him, and about him, with great affection. When he would arrive at the doors of the Trinity Human Service Center, Mary Jane would receive him as if he were a dear friend. Sometimes she asked him to do odd jobs around the Center, such as unloading the van of boxes of donated food or cleaning the yard. She made it known to him that such work was a great help to the mission of the Center and was greatly appreciated.

     As such she instilled a great sense of self-worth and dignity in the life of not just this one man, but in the lives of many people who came to her door. Mary Jane always treated others in this manner– She desired to do God’s work of giving strength to the fainting, for making vigor abound for the weak; and for lifting up, as on eagles wings, the otherwise downtrodden of this world.

     We heard in the second reading from Philippians today the following words of St. Paul: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Mary Jane knew her good works in service to others were nothing less than a response to the Gospel call to serve others, especially those most in need. She knew there was a lot of work to be done, and she also knew that God would someday bring it to completion.

     And so through these readings we have heard today, Mary Jane encourages and challenges us to continue this work in service to others. I love that Mary Jane has chosen the words to the Magnificat for our Gospel reading today.

      Mary Jane, along with Mary, our mother in faith, speaks to us and says: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior . . . God has shown might with his arm, has dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. God has thrown down the rulers from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. The hungry God has filled with good things; the rich God has sent away empty.”

     Today we are here, not in sadness, but rather to celebrate a life.
  
Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

     Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo

 

My Summer in Honduras (July-August, 2002)

My Summer in Honduras (July-August, 2002)

Friar Timothy P. Dore, OFM Conv.

The following was written for the August, 2002 Newsletter of Helping Hands for Honduras.

See: http://www.handsforhonduras.org

As a Conventual Franciscan Friar and Roman Catholic priest I have had the opportunity to travel to and to live in many different places.  As such, I have had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful country of Honduras a number of times during the past eight years.  It is easy to be overwhelmed by the incredible material poverty evident everywhere in Honduras. 

I am from a relatively large middle class family, and grew up in a typical home in Baltimore, Maryland.  As a child, I never imagined there could be people in the world who live without all the comforts of home I would have considered to be "normal." Even today in Honduras there are many people for whom running water, electricity, gas stoves, televisions, telephones and computers are simply not part of everyday life.  For these people something as simple as getting routine medical attention is also an extraordinary event.

During my most recent visit to the Honduras I was able to go with Ron Roll, Chairman of Helping Hands for Honduras, to La Paz, Soledad, El Paraíso, a very small rural village in the southern Honduras, not far from the Nicaraguan border.  The trip from the capital city of Tegucigalpa to La Paz involves a fifty four mile, three hour journey over mostly dirt and gravel mountainous roads.  It is not possible to travel the complete distance without a four wheel drive vehicle. 

Time seems to have stood still in La Paz.  Ox carts are used to carry goods over deeply rutted dirt roads.  Visiting the bathroom involves a trip to a rustic and not so pleasant outdoor latrine. People bathe with cold, spring fed water taken by buckets from mountain caves.  Women labor over wood fired adobe stoves in order to cook tortillas, rice, eggs and beans for their families.  Men work long and hard hours in the beating sun, cultivating crops and tending to livestock on rock strewn mountainside fields.  For many children, completion of the sixth grade marks the end of formal education.  Without electricity, people begin and end their days with the rising and the setting of the sun.

The way of life in La Paz definitely does not include those "normal" comforts of home that I knew as a child, and continue to enjoy as an adult, even as a Franciscan friar vowed to a life of "poverty."  In spite of their great material poverty, the people of La Paz are full of life and have great hopes for the future.

Building on the hopes and dreams of the people of La Paz, Helping Hands for Honduras is sponsoring the construction of a health center (centro de salud).  The health center will regularly serve over one thousand people, providing such basic services as medical consultations, pre natal care, a birthing room, dental work, and dispensing of general medicines.  The project will definitely improve the quality of life of the wonderful people who live in this remote and very poor part of Honduras.  I felt privileged to witness the making of the very first cement block to be used in construction of the center.

It was a great pleasure for me to spend some time visiting and working with the people of La Paz.  Along with some other volunteers from the United States, namely Joseph Peters from Chicopee, Massachusetts and William Moore from Long Island, New York, I was happy to be a small part of the very enthusiastic beginnings of the health center's construction.  If not for the generosity of the those who have backed this project of Helping Hands for Honduras, especially the people of the Rotary Club of Chicopee, Massachusetts, the site of the health center would still be just a barren rocky hilltop.  It is good to know that people from my own country care about the well being and progress of people in developing nations.  Because of what I witnessed at La Paz, I have a renewed confidence that the incredible material poverty of the Honduran people is slowly but surely fading into history.

HIV+; A Letter from my Friend: +J. Adam Pickett

David Kirby on his deathbed, Ohio, 1990.

Photo by Therese Frare, Life Magazine, November 1990

A Letter from my Friend: +J. Adam Pickett,  February 2, 2002

<<Dear Friends......

As you all know, a grouped e mailing is just way out of character for me, but as I will explain, I have to do it this way to conserve energy on my part.  I am sure many of you have noticed I have been really laying low and not terribly social for a long time now.  I tend to lay low when I am ill and also just do not feel comfortable when I think I may be imposing on someone in the slightest.  And really, the bottom line in all of this is there have been so many changes so fast I feel my head is still spinning!  

So whatever social inadequacies I have shown or whoever I simply pissed off, it was certainly not deliberate and if you think you could make more sense out of my life these last few years than I did, cool.  You just might be right!  But all I can say is there was no malice on my part and of you have felt hurt, I am sincerely sorry and ask your forgiveness.

You are all aware I discovered in 1997 I was HIV+.  For almost a whole year after learning I had HIV, I really did try to take the antiviral medications. However, to me the cure was worse than the disease as the meds left me perpetually weak, nauseated, vomiting, and other various unpleasant side effects.  I stopped taking all anti HIV medications 40 months ago.

As expected, the virus has wreaked havoc the longer it cooks in me and has fatally damaged my immune system.  Around 2 months ago I started noticing some chest pain which turned out to be an AIDS pericarditis.  That means there is so much HIV in my body that it has even gotten into the spaces around the heart causing much inflammation.  This pericarditis became severe enough in early January to land me in the hospital for 4 days.  With no immune system to speak of, I can expect the chest pain will probably always be there.

In addition to the chest pain which over the last 2 weeks has gotten to be much more severe, I have been chasing one infection after another after another.  It became clear to me at this time that unless I start taking antiviral medications again, the constant doctor visits and diagnostic tests are essentially futile.  

After weighing all my options with Ray and my doctor, and after considerable prayer, I have decided to receive hospice care at this time.  It is simple; the quality of life on the antivirals was terrible.  Certainly, the last few months in particular have been very trying for myself, and for Ray; he tries so hard to make things better for me all the time.  I love him dearly.

Ray is working so hard to take care of me mentally, physically, emotionally; he is all things a partner in life should be.  We have discussed this decision lots, and we both feel this is the time to get hospice involved.  I do not want to be in pain anymore, and I do not want Ray spending all his free time at home with the vacuum cleaner instead of us enjoying our time together!

Over the last week or so, we have already felt a great sense of relief now that hospice is here. Time may be running short, the quality of life has increased dramatically with the help of hospice care. 

There is no way to predict "how long" I have now.  What IS certain is that I am in end stage AIDS (although my outsides still appear as stunning as ever) and it is only a matter of time before a nasty infection does me in.  Statistically, 80% of AIDS deaths are caused by pneumonia.  That kind of  death can be mercifully fast.

Please understand that all the statistics, etc, are NOT important.  What IS important is that I have made a fully informed decision to not re start anti HIV medications.  I am not alone in refusing antiviral medications. 

Between 30 and 50% of people living with HIV OR AIDS in the USA will NOT tolerate the medications for long term use.  The side effects are just too harsh for me.

Call me if you wish; I am slower getting to the phone so the machine may pick up; just call out!  If we are available,  Ray or I will pick up.  But please, this is not a call to social arms, LOL; it is just an update I thought might be of interest, that's all... so nothing morbid and I am not yet ready to be a drama queen either!  You are ALL busy with your own lives and please do not at all feel like you have to really do anything in response to this update; I am fat still, I have great love in my house and two cats that are eating me out of house and home!  If you want to do something, send cat food!

I will close in saying that if I have caused offense or pain to anyone, it was not meant to happen and I can only say I am sincerely sorry for that and ask your forgiveness. And now, back to the gorgeous day calling to me from the porch......

Peace and All Good Things,

Adam>>

Christmas Greetings 2001

Christmas Greetings 2001

Warm Christmas Greetings To All: 

I hope all is well for you, your families and those you love.  I happy to report that I am well and having a good experience teaching Spanish at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore.

I often think of the many wonderful people I met during my two years in Costa Rica.  I sure do miss being there and frequently reminisce about that beautiful country and so many people there who became so special to me.  It is hard to believe that I left Costa Rica over a year ago.

While in Costa Rica I was given the Spanish nickname “Teo” (pronounced “tay-oh”) which is really the last part of “Timoteo,” my name in Spanish.  The people there would also address me with the title “Fray” (pronounced “fry”) which is the Spanish equivalent of “Friar.”  And so I was known as “Fray Teo.”   I’ve continued to use the name as I’ve worked with Spanish people here in the States, and now that I am teaching Spanish.

When I returned from Costa Rica, I had the pleasure of spending six months working with the Spanish-speaking community of Saint Philip Benizi Parish in Jonesboro, Georgia.  I enjoyed my time there, and I often remember those people in thought and prayer.  I look forward to the day when I will be able to go back to Georgia for a visit.

I must be honest and admit that I continue to be in a “New York State of Mind.”  I’ve never quite gotten over my departure from Brooklyn–an event that happened more than three years ago!  Since September 11^th, I have really felt like a displaced New Yorker.  Given the tragedy, it has been difficult for me to see so many news reports about New York and the people there.  During this difficult time, I have often wanted to be in The City with those who are so dear to me.  Fortunately, because I’m not that far away, I have been able to go back to New York for a number of short visits.  I long for the day when I can return to live again in my “adopted home town.” 

If I have not sent it to you already, here is my current address and phone number: 

Fr. Timothy P. Dore, OFM Conv. (Fray Teo)

Immaculate Heart of Mary Friary

4220 Erdman Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland 21213‑2697

 

Email: frayteo@yahoo.com

Telephone 410‑485‑5511 (before 9:30PM)

   You may also dial 410‑485‑5000, extension 289, to be connected directly to my voice mail.

 

Have a Blessed Christmas Season, and a Very Happy New Year! 

Paz y bien,

 

A Post 9-11 Homily

 

Homily–Timothy P. Dore–October 7th, 2001

The first reading from Habakkuk and the Gospel of Luke invite us to reflect upon the meaning of faith.  What is faith?

In today’s Gospel the Apostles beg Jesus to give them more faith.  Perhaps they felt that they did not have enough, or would not be strong enough should their faith be put to the test.  They begged the Lord to give them more faith.  I am sure that many of us have had moments when we have gone before God in our prayers and like the apostles have begged for more faith–or at least for a greater ability to make sense of the world and all that has happened around us.

The first reading tells us that “the upright person will live by faithfulness.”  The reading tells us that such a person will live this way even when evils of oppression, injustice, tyranny, outrage violence, contention and discord are all around.  Habakkuk certainly means to say that a person of faith will not participate in such evils, and will be able to rise above them in his or her own life.  

I couldn’t help but to think about the recent events of September 11th as I contemplated the words of Habakkuk “why do you set injustice before me, why do you look on where there is tyranny?  Outrage and violence, this is all I see.”  

Can any of us really understand how such evil could triumph right before our ours?  Is there one among us who did not ask the question, “how could our God let this happen to us?”  And what person here today does not sit with at least a little uneasiness about events that are to come in response to those who have committed such savage acts of terror right in our back yard.

As I contemplate these questions, I want to say that our faith must be strong–but not misguided.  Our faith must have deep roots, but not rooted in foolishness.  We must be enthusiastic people of faith, but not fanatics.  

All of us have been faced with difficult moments in our lives.  Chances are that it was our faith that got us through the most difficult of those moments.  Our faith promises us to get us through the current national crisis.

What are some of the difficult moments that all of us have faced?

–The difficulty of watching a dearly loved one die because of a terrible disease.

–The loss of a our job or a friend who has lost a job and has had a difficult time fining another.

–The trauma of dealing with the automobile crash of a family member or friend.

–The financial ruin of people we know and love.

–The death of a child, either our own, someone in our extended family, a neighbor or even the child of someone we don’t even know.

–The knowledge that someone close to us is in a difficult marriage.

–The divorce of our parents, or a couple dear to us.

–The helplessness we feel when we have been victimized in some way–by robbery, assault, some kind of abuse, and even the torture of psychological abuse.

–The sudden loss of a loved one who has died at an early age.

I could probably go on for another hour with a hundred or so sad situations that all of us have dealt with in one way or another.

The message of our readings today is simply this: We shall endure if we have faith.  Even if we just have a little bit of faith (like the reference of Jesus to the Mustard Seed in the Gospel) we will be able to overcome the difficult moments in our lives.

Oh but it is so easy to say “just have faith.”  

As I was thinking about this I remembered that faith is not something we just take off of the shelf when we need it–kind of like a bottle of oil that is stored away until the tires on the bicycle are squeaky and need to be oiled again.  Faith must be something we visit every day and cultivate–much like the athlete who practices for hours and hours every week to perfect his sport.  Baseball great Cal Ripkin did not achieve his stature and ability overnight.  It was cultivated and developed for many years and led him to the stature and success he has today.

Let’s not run to the church only when we face crises in our lives.  It is really impossible to have faith amid the crises of our lives, if faith is not first a way of life.

The events of September 11th have called us to ask many questions, but we know that if we have and maintain our faith, then we will be like the upright person in the first reading today who lives by faithfulness.

A Post-9/11/01 Reflection

 

A Post-9/11/01 Reflection:

           Most of my family and friends know that I have a great love for the City of New York.  I spent some wonderful years there during most of the 1990's.  Even though Baltimore is my home town, I often say that New York is my “adopted home town.”  When I am in New York I truly feel like I am “home.”  On September 11^th I was in Baltimore completing my first week at my new assignment as a teacher at Archbishop Curley High School.  I was as shocked as everyone else with the events of that day.  As I watched the towers of the World Trade Center collapse on live television, I found myself gasping out loud with the words “Oh my God.”

I had already been planning to visit New York on the weekend of September 14^th, and felt even more drawn there because of the things that had transpired.  Needless to say, when I arrived on Friday afternoon I found the mood of the City to be very somber.  It was important for me to be able to be with friends who had been in New York on the previous Tuesday morning. 

On Friday evening, I went to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and joined thousands of people there for a candlelight vigil.  Gazing across the East River from Brooklyn, I was only able to get a glimpse of the destruction of lower Manhattan.  The buildings that had majestically dominated the skyline, and for which I always had a near reverence, had vanished.  In their place was a huge empty spot.  From the distance I couldn’t see “ground zero,” but I could see billowing smoke and the haunting glow in the sky which emanated from high powered spot lights shining at the WTC site.  Like everyone else, I was intensely aware that thousands of rescuers were feverishly trying to rescue thousands of others who possibly had survived as the buildings fell.  The view from the Promenade was an unbelievable, horrible and very frightening sight.

This past weekend, I returned to New York once again.  This time I was able to get much closer to the WTC site as I stood just two blocks away on Broadway near Wall Street.  I can’t describe the feelings I had as I looked down the street and saw mounds of twisted steel and concrete, black smoke, firefighters, US Army personnel, the total destruction of the WTC and the great damage to the surrounding buildings.

When I lived in New York, I was a frequent visitor to the World Trade Center.  I often took my out of town visitors to the Observation Deck at the top floor of Tower #1.   I had the pleasure of eating at the Windows on the World Restaurant at the top of Tower #2.  I frequently shopped in the mall underneath the WTC complex.  It was one of my favorite places to visit in downtown Manhattan.  Seeing the WTC totally destroyed was an incredibly emotional experience for me.