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Published by
The National Herald,
January 21, 2005
Small Parishes
Should Form Pan-Orthodox Alliances |
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I was pleased
to see the opinion piece by Theodore Kalmoukos in
your December 11 issue ("Church Leadership Should
Modify its Policies"), which zeroes-in on one of
the real problems facing the Greek Orthodox Church
in America: namely, recognizing that there are a
large number of small parishes in America and
offering his ideas for their preservation. The
number of parishes in peril keeps growing as
populations move from one part of the country to
another, as well as from other causes. I agree
with his lament that the Church leadership is not
spending time on this and other very real problems
of the Church.
To realize the extent of the problem, one only has
to look at the Pittsburgh Metropolis, the heart of
the Rust Belt (so named as a result of losses in
the steel industry). Our parishes have atrophied,
along with the flight of the businesses and jobs
from the area. I am sure that the names of these
cities and towns are familiar to many of your
readers:
Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Altoona, Johnstown, New
Kensington, Oakmont, McKeesport, Erie, New Castle,
Morgantown, Youngstown (two churches), Canton (two
churches), Massillon, Lorain and Mansfield.
What do they all have in common? They all have a
parish which was once large and vibrant, but which
today is small, getting smaller, and is
financially on-edge. Out of 52 parishes in the
Pittsburgh Metropolis in 2000, when I was on the
then-Diocesan Council, 22 of these parishes, which
include the ones I just mentioned (40 percent)
paid less than $5,000 as their Archdiocese
commitment, and ten of these parishes (17 percent)
gave nothing, zero. Imagine trying to run a parish
which has only 20 or 30 families, as some of these
parishes are trying to do in order to survive.
Mr. Kalmoukos lists four excellent recommendations
for righting the problem. I do not know how viable
they are, however, judging from past history. Let
me offer a fifth recommendation, one which is
viable and possible to accomplish. Your newspaper
alludes to the solution on page 2 of the same
December 11 issue. In the article of how a
faith-based school was established in Portland,
Oregon by a joint effort of several Orthodox
parishes of different jurisdictions. Because one
parish by itself could not afford to build and
operate such a school, several parishes did it
together. I applaud this success and those
individuals who made it possible. For those who
would criticize this Pan-Orthodox school, my
response is, "Is this not better than not having
an Orthodox school, at all?"
I grew up in a little town (Farrell,
Pennsylvania), one of those once-vibrant
communities which is now struggling to survive.
There are three other Orthodox parishes in this
town of 10,000, all struggling to make it. Would
it not make sense to combine these parishes into
one large and financially stable Orthodox parish
which can survive?
I think so, and I believe it will eventually
happen naturally, in spite of the unfortunate lack
of leadership from our Archdiocese. But just think
how much better it would be for all concerned if
our leaders pointed the way and helped make it
happen. I suggest that the Standing Conference of
Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America should
consider this matter and develop a plan for its
implementation. But even if SCOBA fails to do so,
the laos' need for the Church to help establish
places to worship in these small towns will make
it happen in the end, regardless.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Kartalis
Cleveland, Ohio
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