BEFORE YOU DONATE TO SAVE SHADELAND— READ THIS FIRST

A note to everyone who loves Shadeland Camp

There is something genuinely moving about watching people who love a place fight to save it.

The stories are real. The memories are real. The children who found their faith at a campfire, who sang in that chapel, who made friendships that lasted decades — they are real. And the impulse to preserve all of that for the next generation is not just admirable. It is sacred.

So when we say what we are about to say, please understand that we say it with the deepest respect for everyone who has ever loved Shadeland — and precisely because we love it too.

Before you donate. Before you sign up for $10 a month. Before your parish organizes a luncheon, a festival, or a giving campaign —

Please ask the question that nobody seems to be asking -

Where is the money that was already there?

THE DOCUMENTS DON'T LIE

We are not speculating. We are not repeating rumors. What follows is drawn entirely from the Diocese's own financial records — documents that bear the Diocese's own letterhead, its own account numbers, and in one case, a formal property transaction summary that leaves nothing to interpretation.

In 2016/2017, the Diocese's total operating and special funds stood at $3,474,175.99.

By 2025, that figure had fallen to $880,102.22.

$2,594,073 — gone in eight years.

Here is how it happened.

THE PROPERTY TRANSACTION — IN THE DIOCESE'S OWN WORDS

The Diocese's own financial records contain a property transaction summary that reads as follows:

7015 — Sale of Property

Diocesan Residence @ 9 Friar Tuck Ct, Warren, NJ 07059

Sale Price: $880,738.83

8015 — Purchase of Property

Diocesan Residence @ 65 Overlook Drive, New Rochelle, NY 10804

Loan from Raymond James:  $1,500,000.00

Transfer from Shadeland:  $450,114.43

TOTAL:  $1,950,114.43

Paid off as of Dec 31, 2017:  $880,738.83

Let us be precise about what this document confirms:

1. $450,114.43 was transferred from Shadeland Monastery to purchase the Bishop's personal residence in New Rochelle, New York.

2. $1,500,000 was borrowed from Raymond James Financial — the same institution holding the Diocese's charitable endowment — to finance the same purchase.

3. The Warren, NJ property sale proceeds of $880,738 were used to pay off that loan.

4. $100,879.53 was paid in real estate commission — to the Bishop's kumsvo, his close personal associate.

5. $2,070,656.34 was withdrawn from the Diocesan Endowment for the Future during this period.

This is not an accusation. This is not an interpretation. This is what the Diocese's own financial summary document states.

THE TIMBER SALE — AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY

In 2017, Shadeland Monastery received a one-time windfall of $651,000 from a timber sale on its own property. The monastery's ordinary annual income that year was $8,264.45 — the timber sale represented approximately 79 times its normal annual revenue.

It was a generational gift — decades of natural growth on Pennsylvania charitable property, irreplaceable by definition.

Of that $651,000:

$450,114.43 — transferred to the Diocese the same year. Destination: the Bishop's New Rochelle residence. Source: the Diocese's own property transaction document.

$80,000 — recorded as "Other Income" with no categorization, no explanation, no disclosure of source or destination.

The monastery kept approximately $54,000 after covering its $146,537 operating deficit — roughly 8% of its own windfall.

The trees that generations of campers played beneath were cut down. Sixty-nine percent of the proceeds left the monastery the same year, bound for the Bishop's personal residence.

Consider what might have been. Had the $651,000 been invested in 2017 — as fiduciary duty required — at a modest 7% annual return, it would be worth over $1,100,000 today, generating approximately $78,000 annually. Combined with camp fees and royalties, Shadeland would be financially self-sustaining for generations to come. No fundraisers. No tamburitza festivals. No appeals for $10 a month. No $413 bank balance. Just a thriving camp, a functioning monastery, and a future secured by the very land that generations of campers loved.

Instead, it bought a house in New Rochelle.

THE SHADELAND ACCOUNT — SYSTEMATICALLY DRAINED

In 2016/2017, Shadeland's checking account held $162,169.40.

By 2025, it held $11,649.86.

$150,519.54 — gone from Shadeland's own account.

And by December 31, 2023 — the year the faithful were being asked to support Diocesan projects — Shadeland's bank balance stood at:

$413.18

Four hundred and thirteen dollars. That is what remained in the account of a monastery that had received $651,000 from a single timber sale just six years earlier.

THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED — CHRONIC DEFICIT

After the timber transaction, Shadeland's financial records tell a story of accelerating collapse:

2018: Net loss of $102,790

2019: Net loss of $150,227 — year-end bank balance: $7,137

2022: Net income of $17,820

2023: Net loss of $20,783 — year-end bank balance: $413.18

2024: Net loss of $156,482

2025: Net loss of $136,445 — confirmed in the Diocese's own March 2026 Assembly Booklet

Shadeland has not sustained itself from legitimate income in years. The monastery operates at a chronic deficit — a deficit that Bishop Irinej, as the canonical overseer responsible for the financial health of all monasteries under his authority, is obligated to cover. That he covers it through transfers from Diocesan accounts is not generosity. It is the minimum requirement of his office. The question is not where the transfers come from — the question is why, after receiving $651,000 from a single timber sale, Shadeland requires transfers at all. Meanwhile, the Diocesan Endowment for the Future — which stood at $2,232,425 in 2016 — saw $140,775 withdrawn in 2025 alone, leaving a balance of $41,682. The endowment that was meant to secure the Diocese's future has been reduced to a rounding error.

THE ELECTRICITY BILL — A QUESTION THAT DEMANDS AN ANSWER

Shadeland's electricity bills across the years on record:

2017:  $17,171

2019:  $20,808

2022:  $21,507

2023:  $17,649

2024:  $70,631.24  ← 31x state average

2025:  $30,870.80  ← 13x state average

The average Pennsylvania household paid approximately $2,280 for electricity in 2024. Shadeland's 2024 electricity bill was 31 times that amount. In 2025, it dropped to $30,870 — still 13 times the state average. The summer camp operated in every one of those prior years when the bill never exceeded $21,507. What changed in 2024 to cause a sudden 230% increase — and what changed in 2025 to bring it back down? The financial records do not say. One is left to wonder whether an electricity bill that is 31 times the state average serves purposes beyond keeping the lights on — and whether inflated utility expenses might serve as a convenient mechanism for covering other costs that would be more difficult to explain if itemized separately. We would be delighted to be proven wrong. Perhaps the Bishop would care to share the actual electricity invoices for 2024 — all $70,631 worth. We will publish them in full, issue a correction, and personally lead the fundraising campaign for Shadeland.

Perhaps the summer camp explains some of it. But the camp operated in every one of those prior years — and the bill never exceeded $21,507. What changed in 2024 to cause a sudden 230% increase? And what changed again in 2025 to bring it back down?

The records do not say. Nobody has been asked to explain.

THE OIL AND GAS ROYALTIES — AND WHERE THEY WENT

Shadeland's property sits on oil and gas deposits. For decades, those wells generated royalties — sometimes hundreds of dollars a month, sometimes, in better years, over $100,000 annually. The faithful who loved Shadeland did so on land that was quietly generating income year after year.

Those royalties flowed into Shadeland's account — the account controlled by Bishop Irinej himself.

The wells are no longer active.

We do not know the full history of what those royalties generated over the decades. We do not know where all of that money went. What we know is that Shadeland sat on income-generating land for years — and by December 2023 the account those royalties flowed into held $413.18.

No accounting of those royalties has ever been provided to the faithful.

THE HUNTING PRIVILEGES — ONE MAN, UNKNOWN PRICE, UNKNOWN DESTINATION

For years, hunting privileges on Shadeland's property generated recurring income — $1,550 in 2024, $3,340 in 2025.

In 2026, those privileges were not discontinued. They were sold — exclusively — to a single individual. That individual resells access to other hunters. The financial terms of that arrangement are not publicly known. Whether the proceeds reach Shadeland's account, the Diocese, or somewhere else entirely — nobody has said.

One man. Exclusive rights. Unknown price. Unknown destination. Sound familiar?

THE CAMP — A TRUST PROBLEM

Not long ago, parents stayed up through the night to secure a spot for their child at Shadeland Camp the moment registration opened. The demand was that great. The love for Shadeland was that real. At $400 per child per week, a fully booked camp represents significant revenue for the property.

This year, the first week is filled. The fourth week is doing reasonably well.

The second and third weeks? Nearly empty.

The love for Shadeland has not changed. But confidence has eroded. Questions are being asked quietly that nobody is answering publicly. When a camp that parents once fought to get into starts running half-empty, that is not a fundraising problem.

That is a trust problem.

Trust is not repaired by a festival or a monthly giving campaign. It is repaired by transparency. By accountability. By answers.

It is also worth noting that the Diocese's own 2025 operating expenses include $31,405 in immigration and legal fees. One is left to wonder: who exactly is this money being paid for — and why? This Diocese has no shortage of qualified local clergy. If priests must be imported from Serbia at Diocesan expense, the question is straightforward: if the clergy is reimbursing the Diocese for those fees, why does the Diocese record them as an expense at all? Recording reimbursed expenses as costs while simultaneously collecting the reimbursement would raise serious questions under standard accounting practices — the kind of questions that tend to attract the attention of auditors. And if they are not reimbursing the Diocese — why are the faithful of this Diocese subsidizing the immigration costs of clergy they never requested, while simultaneously being asked to save Shadeland?

THE BOOKS DON'T ADD UP

For those who examine financial records carefully, there is one more item that deserves attention.

Shadeland's 2017 Income Statement shows a Net Income of +$134,348.99 — the timber windfall year.

Shadeland's February 2018 Balance Sheet shows a Net Income of -$102,790.78 for the same period.

A discrepancy of $237,139 — unexplained.

Internal financial records that do not reconcile with each other are not a bookkeeping curiosity. They are a red flag. They are precisely the kind of discrepancy that a forensic accountant — with access to complete bank records, transfer documentation, and board authorizations — is trained to investigate.

NOW THEY ARE ASKING AGAIN

And so here we are. The faithful are being asked — again — to save Shadeland. Creative campaigns. Monthly giving. Parish competitions. Legacy funds. Children sponsoring children.

All organized by people who genuinely love Shadeland. We do not question their love. We do not question their sincerity.

We question this:

Why are the people who love Shadeland being asked to donate $10 a month to save a place whose own financial records show $2,594,073 disappearing in eight years?

Why are the children and grandchildren of those who built Shadeland with their own hands being asked to replenish what was taken from them?

Who is going to answer for the $450,114 — documented in the Diocese's own property transaction summary?

Who is going to explain the $70,631 electricity bill — in a year when the same property never exceeded $21,507 before?

Who is going to account for the decades of oil and gas royalties?

Who received the hunting privileges — and for how much?

What is the $80,000 "Other Income" that appeared in 2017 with no explanation?

Why do the 2017 Income Statement and 2018 Balance Sheet disagree by $237,139?

And why — before a single dollar of new donations is collected — has no one demanded a full, independent, forensic accounting of every dollar that has passed through Shadeland's accounts since 2016?

A WORD OF CAUTION TO THOSE WHO WISH TO DONATE

We have watched, with considerable concern, how donated funds designated for a specific purpose at another Diocesan property - monastery New Marcha- were placed into a general operating account rather than a dedicated restricted fund — and used to cover day-to-day expenses rather than the purpose for which they were given. Donors were told the money was safely held in a restricted account. The financial records told a different story. Thirty months later, not one wall has been built.

Before donating to save Shadeland, we would ask that the Diocese provide — in writing:

A dedicated, separate, restricted account for all Shadeland donations. Such an account — the "Shadeland for the Future" fund — does technically exist. It holds $20,501.79. It received $1.79 in deposits during the entire year of 2025. Its origin is unexplained. Its governance is undisclosed. And it is controlled by the same person who transferred $450,114 out of Shadeland in 2017.

Monthly transparent reporting of that account's balance, available to all donors.

Independent trustees overseeing those funds — genuinely independent, meaning elected by the faithful themselves, not handpicked by the Bishop. We have seen what Bishop-appointed trustees do. We have documented it at length.

The faithful have been generous before. That generosity was not always honored.

We ask only that this time — it will be.

A QUESTION THAT DESERVES AN ANSWER

There is a question that the faithful of this Diocese deserve to have answered — not with pastoral letters, not with appeals to unity, not with quotes from Scripture — but plainly and directly:

Does Bishop Irinej believe that the faithful exist to support his lifestyle — or does he exist to serve them?

Because the record suggests he has confused the two.

He transferred $450,114 from Shadeland's timber windfall to purchase a $1.95 million residence for himself. He withdrew over $2,000,000 from the Diocesan Endowment. He paid his personal associate $100,879 in real estate commission.

He built his house. He spent the money. He emptied the accounts.

And now he is passing the collection plate.

The faithful of this Diocese are not a revenue stream. They are not a rescue fund. They are not here to replenish what was taken from them without their knowledge or consent.

They deserve better. And they know it.

WE ARE NOT AGAINST SAVING SHADELAND

We want Shadeland saved.

We want the children of the next generation to have the same memories that the first campers carried for seventy years. We want that chapel to stay open. We want those campfires to keep burning.

But we will not ask the faithful to fill a bucket that has a hole in it — not until someone identifies the hole, names it, and fixes it.

The generation that built Shadeland deserved better.

The generation being asked to save it deserves answers first.

Donate with your eyes open. Ask the questions. Demand the accounting.

Then — if the answers are satisfactory — give generously.

Until then: Read this first.

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