Shares

Published by The National Herald, December 31, 2004

George Behrakis Shares his Vision for the New Year

By Theodore Kalmoukos
Special to The National Herald

LOWELL, Mass. – George Behrakis, one of the most prominent Greek American businessmen and philanthropists today, is a down-to-earth person who has never forgotten his roots and origins.

He is not wealthy only the material sense, but more importantly, in his heart because he dares to share his wealth with the Church and community at-large.

For years now, almost every Tuesday morning, he meets other Greek Americans from the Lowell area in a particular restaurant on Route 110. They have breakfast together and discuss matters pertinent to the community, and fondly recall their youthful years.

When he walks into the place, they all get up to greet him, calling him by his first name.

"I know all of them, and I respect them," he told the National Herald in an exclusive interview. The fact that he is a very wealth man does not play any role in his friendship with them.

The waitress knows his breakfast preference, "a Greek omelet and coffee. Other patrons who recognize him come up and greet him warmly, thanking him for supporting programs and activities of their local community.

Mr. Behrakis wakes up at 5:30 each morning and reads the newspapers, including the National Herald. By 7:30, he is on the road.

In a fascinating interview, he spelled out his vision for the New Year, and his love and respect for Orthodoxy and Hellenism are clearly expressed.

"Our Church and Community are ready to really come forward with new ideas and new initiatives in 2005. One is basically the new formation of the new Faith Endowment, and we are looking to raise $50 million initially and hopefully reach $100 million, eventually. I think we can do in three to four years, if we do it right," he said.

Mr. Behrakis is Chairman of the Archdiocese of America’s new Faith Endowment Fund, which was recently granted tax-exempt status, which reportedly has $20 million in pledges since last year.

He also spoke of the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Endowment Fund, of which he is a member:

"On the other side, we have Leadership 100 which has $50 million in the Bank. We have almost 600 members, close to 300 fulfilled members, the criterion of which is a $10 thousand per year for ten years, which is $100 thousand. Leadership 100 has given a $10 million commitment, a million dollars a year, to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology to help pay tuition for young men wanting to enter the clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church in America," Mr. Behrakis said.

"I want to be clear that we are paying tuition for the Greek Orthodox students, not for everybody. The program is for the Greek Orthodox students who seek ordination in the Greek Orthodox Church. As you well know, we need priests, but we also need well-rounded priests because times have changed. We live in a very complex society today," he added.

The issue of interfaith marriages is of great concern, he said: "We should concentrate on mixed marriages if we want to capture the youth of the Greek American community because, once a young man or woman marries a person outside his or her faith, we are faced with reality that a percentage of them might not stay within the Orthodox sphere. This is the challenge for everyone, including the Archdiocese, the regional Metropolises, and also the local communities. It has to be up to the local priest, who must reach out to these young people, to do innovative and creative things: invite them out, go to a restaurant, talk to them, and explain to them what Orthodoxy is all about. We need to recapture our youth. We do have the financial resources. What we need are more people to come forward."

The Archdiocese deficit is also of great concern, he said, adding that drastic measures are needed to correct the problem: "The latest deficit of $7 million has to be addressed, and the way to address it is to do certain things, such as cost-cutting. We have to evaluate the areas in which we are overspending. We have to require people in the Departments to stay within the budget. We can not go over-budget. If we are raising $14 million, then we should look at our budget. The goal of the Archdiocese, in my opinion, is to go between $2025 million in revenue and possibly spent $17-18 million. Once we accomplish that, we will be on the right track to fund a lot of programs with the help of Leadership 100 and the new Faith Fund. I think we will be in an excellent position."

For 2005, Mr. Behrakis recommends that the Greek American community establish an official office for Hellenic affairs in the nation’s capital: "We need an office in Washington, DC. Every other faith and denomination has an office there because Washington is the center of the universe today, and for us not to be there… we can not in any way discuss, negotiate, lobby and communicate with the authorities of America. I know we have activist groups there like the American Hellenic Institute, Manatos & Manatos, but the Church and community do not have an official presence. We need that office to work not only for us here, but also for Greece, the homeland of our parents and grandparents. What came about with the Macedonia issue, in my opinion, is that we all fell asleep. If this was going on, why didn’t we know about it? Why did (Undersecretary of State Marc) Grossman, one of the top men at the State Department, not inform us? This didn’t happen overnight. We don’t have a lobbyist who can really tell us anything. We should have known that this was going to happen."

Asked who is going to do reduce the deficit and restructure the Archdiocese in order for it run more efficiently, Mr. Behrakis said, "Everything starts from the top, naturally from the Archbishop."

The Executive Committee members of the Archdiocesan Council also have fiduciary responsibilities, he said, adding that he will speak up at the next meeting: "I’m going to address that during the next executive meeting of the new Board. I hope it will be in January, but I can tell you that I will address that, and hopefully everyone agrees."

Asked if increased funds. Though necessary, are enough to provide sufficient leadership for the Church and community, or whether something more is required, Mr. Behrakis replied, "I think every individual church has a responsibility, as does every Metropolitan and the Archbishop, in making certain that the future of the our Church remains intact."

Mr. Behrakis said he believes upgrading Hellenic education programs is essential: "We need more elementary Greek day schools from kindergarten to sixth grade. We need to set up a program from 2005 to 2010 to establish at least three day schools, from 2010 to 2015 to establish five day schools. We need a 20-year plan, not a one- or two-year plan. We need to say that in the next 20-25 years, we have at least 12-14 new Day Schools across this country. Let’s take the Metropolis right here in Boston, for example. We can have a school in Lynn, one in Arlington and one in Watertown. That’s three just in the Massachusetts area. Let’s look at Chicago or Washington, DC. This is where Leadership 100 and the Faith Fund could step in and support these Schools."

Mr. Behrakis also discussed the need to increase the availability of good books.

"It is important to have to best books about Hellenism, about our faith and tradition. We need to have a unified effort across the country about the books that are being used, and that has to come from the Director of Education at the Archdiocese. A committee should be formed. There are so many Greek educators in this country that they can interview for the Director’s job, who can also look at which books are available, or which should become available," he said.

Mr. Behrakis said he plans to raise the issue of Hellenic Education at the next Executive Committee meeting: "Absolutely. And I think the educators of our communities should be involved not only from the Greek parochial schools, but also from the public schools."

Mr. Behrakis, himself a graduate of the Holy Trinity Hellenic American School in Lowell, said he feels fortunate he received a Greek education when he was growing up.

"I’m blessed for having had the opportunity to study at the Hellenic American School. The ones that have not gone feel that their parents made a mistake. Even when you graduate from sixth grade, you know who you are. I feel blessed because we have one of the richest histories in the world. One time, a professor from Harvard told me at a dinner, ‘the only thing that I would have asked my father was I wished I was born a Greek,’ and that is coming from a Jewish professor," he said.

To those to claim that Greek Americans should only care primarily about Orthodoxy and not Hellenism, Mr. Behrakis said, "I do not listen to them. I am not shortsighted. I look at the big picture. Orthodoxy is a major role player, but Hellenism and Orthodoxy go hand in hand. We have to be honest with ourselves and use common sense."

Mr. Behrakis commended the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople’s accomplishment in procuring the recent return of the holy relics of Saints John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian from the Church of Rome, but added that he thinks the community should establish an official repository to preserve its heritage more effectively.

"They should have been taken to Greece or to America for safety and security. You know, we’re missing the boat. We should have a Greek Museum in America for our relatives who came here, for all Greeks who struggled and sacrificed everything for their children and grandchildren. We owe it to them to have a Museum. What I like most in New York is that the Onassis Foundation has all these great exhibits. My children went to New York over the holidays and were thrilled with the exhibition of Alexander the Great," he said.



Volume 7 Number 1 - Tuesday, January 4th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY