A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
|
|
|
| Volume 7 Number 10 - Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
|
Search Engine
The Orthodox Christian Laity
|
The Orthodox Christian News Service |
|||
To the Editor: In your February 19 issue, Theodore Kalmoukos reports of a $10 million deficit at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a shortfall so severe that its payroll obligations could not be met last month ("Chicago Bails Out Archdiocese"). According to Mr. Kalmoukos, Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago was enlisted to raise funds from the faithful in the Metropolis of Chicago. Though $300,000 was needed to meet the immediate need, the Metropolis of Chicago raised $650,000 within two weeks. Conversely, the Archdiocese Finance Office was unable to collect even $100,000 from New Yorks Archdiocesan District. One can speculate that savvy New Yorkers, who have deep pockets, are certainly more aware of the wasteful fiscal mismanagement prevailing within the institutions of Saint Basils Academy and Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Despite sparse enrollments and minimal maintenance, their rising operations costs are puffed up by excessive salaried positions and a Byzantine bureaucracy fostered by diplomatic cronyism. Prominent Greek American businessmen have consistently rendered funding to the Archdiocese to relieve shortfalls, but this largesse does not address the root cause for this untenable condition. Fortune 500 corporations can not run on deficit balances without answering to their shareholders. When was the last time the Greek Orthodox laity in America received a balance sheet of the budgets and expenditures of the Archdiocese Finance Office? We, the laity, are the ekklesia, and we have the right, and the obligation, to be apprised of the governance of our Church because we invest our time, talent and treasure for its perpetuity and glory. The Greek American laity, though highly educated and affluent as a whole, is a sleeping giant who is too submissive and apathetic to insist on accountability and disclosure of Archdiocesan finances for the future of our Church and for the sake of the generations to come. How many times can the Archdiocese go to the well and cry for help? Respectfully submitted,
|
|
Home Archives Search Submissions Support Us |
||
|
Orthodox News, PO BOX 6954 |
