A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 19 - Tuesday, May 11th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Outraged at Holy Cross To the Editor, As I was reading The National Herald dated April 24-25, two very unpleasant articles dominated the front page of this paper. One was an article about voting against the reunification of Cyprus, and the second was about the financial problems that Hellenic College/Holy Cross is facing . This article about Hellenic College/Holy Cross prompted me to write this letter. [See http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/117/The deficit at Holy Cross.htm]. For over fifty years I have been a member of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Lancaster, Pa. and for at least twenty years a member of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Jeffersonville, Pa. I support these churches because they are Greek Orthodox, and a fair amount of Greek is used in our liturgy. Most of us go to Greek Orthodox churches to hear those beautiful hymns in Greek, to worship together, and afterwards to greet our brothers and sisters and our young with love, agape, and to perpetuate our Cultural Greek Heritage. On the second page of this newspaper I read with much anger and disappointment that the president of Holy Cross, Fr. Nicholas C. Triatafilou, wants to terminate or eliminate the Greek and Classic Departments to save money.
Of all the
departments that the Holy Cross has, none are more
IMPORTANT than those two you want to eliminate.
How Philhellenic is that? All I can say is SHAME
ON YOU. The Very Reverend Demetrios Katsavelos, chancellor of the Metropolis of Chicago, visited Hellenic College/Holy Cross School this past March. He was very much disappointed with the school’s lack of Greek language teaching, and with the discrimination the professors and students have towards those students who speak Greek. Hard for any of us to believe it, but is true. Rev. Katsavelos writes in the March 17 Ethnikos Khryx that at this very minute, an open war exists in the Holy Cross School against those students who speak Greek or are asking for more Greek to be used in the school and in the chapel. Rev. Demetrios Katsavelos writes in much detail how the school is really trying to remove the Greek language from the school. Can you imagine conducting services in the chapel of Holy Cross, not in Greek, not in English, but for heavens sake in Spanish? And you, Rev. Triantafilou have the guts to ask us and our Greek churches for money? Have you no shame? The Bible was first written in Greek, and many of the priests who graduate from your school cannot read it. How proud are you of that? And how can you ask any of us to support an institution that produces such a product? If the school was a corporation and produced such a bad product it would close down immediately. I am asking all of those who will read my letter to read Rev. Katsavelos’ article that was published in the Ethnikos Kyrix on March 17 of this year on the Holy Cross administration. Thank God for priests like Fr. Katsavelos. Fr. Triantafilou, I don’t have to tell you how upset I am with you and your administration, my letter speaks for itself.
Thomas Patukas |
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