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Published by the
Los Angeles
Times,
April 2, 2005
Hoping a New
Leader Will Soothe Internal Conflicts
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A new Greek Orthodox
metropolitan bishop for seven states takes office
today. One issue is how independent the U.S.
church should be.
By Larry B. Stammer,
Times Staff Writer
OAKLAND (Los
Angeles Times, April 2, 2005)
When the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America today enthrones
His Eminence Gerasimos Michaleas as its new
metropolitan bishop for California and six other
Western states, it will install a leader many hope
will work for common ground in a church that has
been beset by internal divisions.
Austere-looking as a desert monk, introspective
and, in the view of some, a little too informal
for a prelate, Gerasimos becomes chief shepherd of
the church's Western region, whose membership has
doubled in the last 25 years to as many as 200,000
believers. It has 65 parishes, three monasteries
and 80 priests. It reaches to
Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon,
Washington, Arizona and Nevada.
Though a long-running controversy over how
independent the U.S. church should be from the
international mother church has subsided, tensions
remain. The American church is a province of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, which
is led by the patriarch His All Holiness
Bartholomew.
Part of Gerasimos' task will be to balance his
allegiance to Bartholomew and to the Phanar the
Orthodox Vatican in Istanbul while leading an
increasingly Americanized church. In 1999,
internal struggles forced the resignation of the
church's then-U.S. Archbishop Spyridon, whose
autocratic style grated on a church that had grown
beyond its immigrant roots.
Gerasimos apparently is off to a good start in his
new position, formally known as the Metropolitan
of San Francisco.
Priests and laymen say they view him as accessible
and a good listener. Some in the church, Gerasimos
said, even think his comparative informality in
little things such as avoiding references to his
high office in imparting a blessing, or calling
himself "Bishop Jerry" are unbecoming.
In an interview this week at Ascension Cathedral
in Oakland, where he will be enthroned in an
ancient ceremony, Gerasimos said his leadership
style would vary from that of Metropolitan
Anthony, who died in December after leading the
region for 25 years.
"I'm different, I think, than Metropolitan
Anthony, of blessed memory, who was very
spontaneous, a very in-your-face person,"
Gerasimos said. "That was his great gift of
captivating people, and at the same time, his
great downfall of making people alienated
altogether. I don't have that kind of zest.
"I'm much more a person who gets to know people
from where they're at and build relationships from
there. I'm passionate about what I believe and
what I want to do. And I intend to do whatever I
intend to do."
Others, such as layman Peter Haikalis, said he
would reserve judgment until he saw whether
Gerasimos followed through. Haikalis is a member
of the national board and is immediate past
president of Orthodox Christian Laity, which
campaigned for a more autonomous church in
America.
"I hope he becomes a really good listener and
tries to interact with as many people as possible
before he sets a course," Haikalis said.
Gerasimos, 59, was born in Kalamata, Greece, to
Nicholas and Anastasia Michaleas. In 1970, he
enrolled at Hellenic College in Brookline, Mass.,
where he received a bachelor's degree with honors
in 1973.
He was ordained to the diaconate in 1979 and
served as archdeacon to His Eminence Archbishop
Iakovos, the then-prelate of America. During the
same period he was dean of students at his former
alma mater in Brookline. He earned a master's
degree in counseling and school psychology at
Boston College in 1984, and his doctorate in
counseling and school psychology in 1993. He was
elected a bishop in 2001.
Now, as he faces the daunting task of running his
sprawling territory, he says he has wondered
whether he would have to be even more disciplined
in maintaining a spiritual life.
"You ask me about my spiritual life. It's on a
good road, but I think I'm going to have a hell of
a fight from now on," he said, smiling. He said he
took hope in the lives of the church's desert
fathers: late 3rd and early 4th century monastics
in the Egyptian desert beloved for their spiritual
guidance.
"Many times there is a huge desert in our lives,
and I try to water my desert with their wisdom as
much as possible," Gerasimos said. "If I don't do
that, I would literally become withered
spiritually and I am not able to be happy."
In a wide-ranging interview, Gerasimos spoke of
such things as the TV show "Desperate Housewives,"
gay marriage, the war in Iraq and the
politicization of the Terri Schiavo case.
He admitted he is an unabashed fan of "Desperate
Housewives." Said Gerasimos: "That little bit
sultry TV program has so many truths in it. I'm
watching it every time it's on." He said the show
is popular because it depicts what goes on in many
families and connects with viewers.
"What I'm saying to the church is, can we do
that?"
One of his first plans, to be unveiled at his
enthronement today, is to launch an institute to
serve families and educate priests on family
issues.
At the moment, Gerasimos said, many priests merely
bless a troubled couple and they go about their
business. "But what is your business? If Christ is
not involved in your business, I'm missing
something. I'm not doing my job," Gerasimos said.
He also spoke of moral issues that have straddled
religious and political thinking.
On the war in Iraq, he criticized President Bush's
policy: "Was it a preemptive war? We did start it,
but it was very much premeditated
. 'Preemptive'
means you're going to try to prevent something.
What war did we prevent? The politics have their
own place. They have their own culture. They have
their principles. But when they try to get them
sanctified by God and by faith, that's when I get
very angry."
Asked if same-sex unions were a threat to the
traditional family, he said, "Absolutely not. I
don't see that at all
. I would say God bless you,
but I will not sanctify a marriage. But at the
same time I will not tell them that you're
condemned to die, that you're going to hell."
The Greek Orthodox church does not have any set
rules on the kind of end-of-life issues raised by
the Schiavo case, according to Father Paul
Schroeder, chancellor of the metropolis.
Metropolitan Gerasimos questioned the intervention
by Congress and the White House in efforts to
reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube.
"This family has an inherent responsibility to
choose and decide for their own," he said a day
before Schiavo died. "So here comes the government
and says, 'No! I'm going to become something over
you. I'm going to tell you this is wrong, this is
a sin.'
"This is the way we're politicizing issues, like
abortion, like same-sex marriages. We politicize
them to the point that you divide the nation, you
divide neighbors, you divide everybody face to
face, black and white. It's not a black-and-white
issue here."
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