BLAME THE VICTIM

You already know what happened to Dorothy Winovich. An 80-year-old woman with a walker, a member of this cathedral since her youth. Her car was about to be towed from the church parking lot — while a man was still inside it, lifted into the air.

We told that story. The community read it.

Here is what happened after.

THE COMPLAINT

A parishioner, Nikola Primetica, wrote publicly on Facebook, calling the parish leadership heartless for sending a tow truck after the car of a disabled woman who has given her life — and her generosity — to this parish.

THE RESPONSE

Two responses came back. Neither was an apology.

The first came from Drasko Tolimir, replying directly to Nikola Primetica's complaint. His argument: since Dorothy is “incapable,” she shouldn't have gone to the protest at all. Church parking isn't for protesters, he wrote — telling Nikola to “understand that once and for all,” calling him arrogant for not accepting it, and informing him that anyone who insists on parking there should pay for towing “like everyone else.”

An 80-year-old woman with a walker was blamed for having shown up at all.

The second response came from the official page of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral. It did not ask how Dorothy was doing. It did not express regret that a man had been lifted into the air in his own car, in a church parking lot, on a feast day. Instead, it posted a citation of a street address, and a reminder that unauthorized vehicles may be towed at the owner's expense.

A man who spoke up for an elderly, disabled parishioner was told the victim shouldn't have come. A woman who gave decades of her life to this community was answered with a parking regulation.

WHO LIKED IT

Five people liked Drasko Tolimir's comment blaming Dorothy for being “incapable.” One of them was the official page of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral itself.

Vladanka Mihajlović — Popadija, wife of Fr. Dragan Vuković. Her sister, Veselinka Đorđević, liked it too. Dragica Sretenović also liked it. And Bojana Karanović — who attends church two or three times a year. At Bojana's own daughter's birthday party, guests recall Monk Nektarije of Lorain being openly promoted as the man who should replace Fr. Dragoslav.

This is not strangers agreeing with a parking policy.

This is the institution itself — liking a comment that blamed an 80-year-old woman for being at her own church.

“WE WERE BLESSED WITH 70”

Separately, on Instagram, a commenter mocked the nearly empty cathedral in a photo posted from Vidovdan — the same Vidovdan when Bishop Irinej arrived to find roughly twenty people waiting for him, in a cathedral built for hundreds. The official account did not dispute the photo.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/d105ac_0d362333d53d4c2f976789c5d7ef2404/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

It replied, proudly:

“We were blessed with 70 parishioners during His Grace's visit!”

The picture posted was of an empty cathedral. The caption claimed seventy people.

Perhaps they meant the seventy-plus of us standing outside. That would certainly explain the empty cathedral in the photo.

The same commenter asked the obvious follow-up: what about the 200 parishioners driven out of their own church?

That number is not an exaggeration. At a recent meeting he himself requested, Bishop Irinej admitted that his office sent at least 200 cease-and-desist letters to every parishioner in Parma in November 2025 — confirmed by at least 15 parishioners who received the same letter.

There was no answer to the commenter's question. There is still no answer.

A QUESTION WE ARE STILL WAITING TO HAVE ANSWERED

Is this what care for an elderly parishioner looks like? Is this what accountability looks like, when a man is lifted into the air in a car on holy ground?

Dorothy Winovich is still here. Still with her walker. Still dignified.

And we are still watching.