Epiphany Cathedral — Attraction in Venice

We were brand new to Epiphany cathedral so I had enrolled my daughter in the faith formation classes. last night was the third meeting. Just a few days before this meeting, a “MANDATORY” parent meeting was called that was to be 30 minutes long and simultaneous with the faith formation classes. The tone of the meeting was incredibly insulting and presumptuous. The men leading the meeting had no concept of what modern parenting requires. Shaming people for not attending Bible study right after many families have endured the trauma of hurricane Ian was unacceptable and actually going as far as to call the attendees HYPOCRITES 2 different times was disgusting. Shaming people in general is not OK. They also accused the parents of dropping their kids off at the program and then being disengaged from their own faith and not participating enough in their children’s faith education. No amount of force or control or shaming is going to encourage people to attend a Bible study. The Monsignor and decons represented an angry God. As a family new to this church, I was absolutely shocked and disgusted. I would never sit and listen to someone one on one call me a hypocrite and accuse me of not doing my part in my child religious education. I should have left earlier but I politely stayed for 40 minutes while these misogynistic men spoke down to the crowd which included many mothers. Their tone was so negative that one mother was in tears. The brave mother spoke out IN TEARS explaining that she alone- LIKE MANY MOTHERS- shoulders the responsibility of her children’s faith education and that it is very difficult for some families to commit to activities after work and school. What were the priest and Decons doing while this mother cried? NOT COMFORTING HER. These men continued to tell people “we know it’s hard, but find a way to attend.” They continued pushing their agenda & appeared narcissistic and selfish, not as agents of a loving God. There is no way that this type of presentation would ever encourage anyone to attend a Bible study and spend more time with these men. There is no respect for the families or family routines, as this meeting was called only a few days in advance and was advertised as mandatory. This was during dinner time for many families when I normally need to feed my other child. These men clearly have no concept of or respect for modern parenting. They were demanding, uncompromising, shaming, misogynistic, accusatory, and insulting. I would never step foot in this church again based on this experience. The real hypocrites were the men dressed as men of God standing at the front of the room pointing fingers at parents who are trying their best to instill a love for Christ in their children.

I hope you all figure out a way to make people feel welcome and I hope there is a drastic change in the leadership.

An apology is owed to everyone who attended that...

Not too disabled friendly . I’m a disabled vet corpsman. A young 64 . I’m on a walker with entire spine needing reconstruction after 2 surgeries . I have two types of cancer from military, I just had a cardiac Ablasion a month ago and just got out of hospital with a blood clot in my lung . I left church after the sex crimes scandal and started back after reading excorcist father martins book ‘Excorcist files” it’s a few priests 1% not the whole church . So I’m back . I try not to attract attention .im horribly self conscious about my disabling just started on walker a year ago until they can hipefyrepaif my spine . They put reserved for disabled but teen they put them do ushers sit there . Then put disabled seats where you will be in the way if you have a walker or wheelchair . Most churches have the back rows for disabled people . I sit on end seat near the center aisle . My side bike seats now fit a usher . A Filipino lady starts telling me to move my walker from the isle . Grabs my walker . Moves uf . Controlling . I need it to stand up and down fir service . I will move it when it’s in the way . I was raised in that culture and get the control . Maybe she was trying to be nice but I just want to be left alone . So it’s tense all mass . Then time to receive the host . Usher now wants my walker folded . Nice enough but I’m already feeling bad now everyone is looking at me so I leave . Disabled people mostly know when to move out of the way . Just leave people alone . I drink water during mass because I had vocal cord cancer surgery and it’s a medical thing . It’s allowed fyi . You never know someone’s story . Be kind but leave people alone. It would be nice to have back rows for actual REAL disabled people .its a nice church . I’ll probably go back and try again . We recently got back to Florida and have been looking around to see what church is good for us . We...

A beautuful church in Venice, Florida. This is a spectacular location that a lot of locals cherish for generations and come back here even if they moved away and visit the area occasionally. I am especially grateful because I can attend the Mass in my native language- Polish every Sunday here at 12.30 pm. This is a stunning church with wonderful pastors. This church is a unique spot- full of love and enthusiasm. It is currently ongoing renovations but even then the pastor and the priests made sure there is a way to perform the Holy Mass every weekend/ day. They are very devoted to their church and the people attending. We are forever grateful for being a part of this...