|
|
Reverend Michael Golob, First Pastor of Holy Cross, 1913-1950 The Reverend Michael Golob was born in Sostanj, Yugoslavia on September 22, 1879. He studied at the seminary of Maribor in the Diocese of Levant (with the See in Maribor), and was ordained on July 25, 1905. He came to the United States in 1911 and served as a curate at St. Nicholas German Catholic Church in New York City. Father Golob was sent to Bridgeport on January 26, 1913 to organize a church for the Slovenian families living there. This was completed on June 13, 1913 and Holy Cross was born. He also organized the St. Joseph�s Fraternal Society (KSKJ) in 1913. Father Golob died at 11:25 on the night of February 6, 1950 of a cerebral hemorrhage in the church rectory. His former assistant, the Rev. Stephen G. Vitka, was appointed as a temporary administrator of the parish. |
|
|
Reverend Andrew Farkas, second pastor of Holy Cross, 1951-1967 The Reverend Andrew Farkas was born in the Province of Maribor, Yugoslavia in 1909. During the early 1930�s he earned his Doctorate of Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the State University of Ljubljana. He received a PhD in political science from the University of Padua, Italy, in 1947. At that time he was a professor at the Pontifical Salesian University of Turin. He came to this country in 1947 and taught in schools run by the Salesian Order � a religious order engaged specifically in teaching. Father Farkas became pastor of Holy Cross on October 20, 1950. He was appointed to the post of being one of the six synodal judges in the matrimonial tribunal of the Diocese of Bridgeport in 1961. Father Farkas died in a head-on collision on Chopsy Hill Road on January 20, 1967. He died at the scene from a fracture of the spine, crushed chest, fractured left leg and other injuries. |
|
|
Reverend Aloysius Hribsek, third pastor of Holy Cross, 1969-1992 The Reverend Aloysius Hribsek was born in the province of Ljubljana in Yugoslavia in 1921. He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical Salesian Seminary in Turin, Italy, and Salesian College in Aptos, California. He came to the United States in 1947. Father Hribsek was ordained on June 29, 1949 in California. He served as an assistant at St. Mary�s and St. Michael�s in Greenwich, CT, and at Sacred Heart Church in Byram, CT while at the same time teaching in St. Mary�s High School in Greenwich. He earned a Masters of Science in mathematics from Fordham University in 1952. Father Hribsek was appointed administrator of Holy Cross on January 29, 1967 and pastor in 1969 by the Most Rev. Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of Bridgeport. As pastor of Holy Cross, Father Hribsek oversaw the relocation of the parish to Fairfield. In 1992, he asked for permission from the bishop to retire and it was granted. |