c. 1998 Religion News Service

ROSEMONT, Ill. _ More than 400 Greek Orthodox lay members have called for the resignation or reassignment of Archbishop Spyridon, the head of the 1.5 million-member Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, if he does not respond to their concerns by May 1.

The church dissidents are affiliated with Greek Orthodox American Leaders (GOAL), which maintains Spyridon has ignored the traditional role of the laity in Greek Orthodox governance and has made inappropriate unilateral decisions since his appointment in 1996.

Spyridon was appointed archbishop by Patriarch Batholomew of Istanbul, the worldwide head of the Greek Orthodox Church, which is organized on a strict hierarchical basis.

Only about a half dozen of those gathered in this Chicago suburb for a two-day meeting that ended Saturday (March 21) opposed the resolution calling for Spyridon’s departure if he does not respond to GOAL’s concerns.

Among the group’s concerns are:

_ What members considered the improper firing of three priests at the Hellenic College/Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, Mass. Group members consider the firings a whitewash of a sexual harassment incident.

_ The archbishop’s removal of lay oversight of archdiocesan finances.

_ What group members call threats to remove priests or take over churches whose parishioners are not making sufficient financial contributions.

_ The reassignment of priests who question diocesan decisions.

_ The possible sale of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Seminary and St. Basil Academy, an orphanage and day-care center in Garrison, N.Y.

The group also called on Spyridon to reinstitute a movement toward unity among various ethnic Orthodox churches in the United States that was supported by his predecessor, Archbishop Iakovos.

On Monday (March 23), the Rev. Mark Arey, communications director for the New York-based archdiocese, dismissed the dissidents as a small group of malcontents within a church that largely supports Spyridon.”It’s easy for any group to get together and say `we demand,'”Arey said in an interview.”But a few hundred compared to 1.5 million church members? … In any organization there will be people who disagree with any decisions.” Arey said it was too soon to say how or if Spyridon would respond to GOAL’s concerns. However, in statements issued prior to the weekend meeting, Spyridon urged unity within the church.

In a February statement issued by Spyridon and the church’s five bishops, GOAL and other such groups were implicitly criticized for”attempting to establish themselves as separate and self-proclaiming arbiters of church governance.” In Rosemont, John Collis, a GOAL leader from Cleveland who gave the keynote address, described his investigation of the firing of the priests at Hellenic College/Holy Cross Seminary, where he was a trustee.

Collis said that when trustees tried to have the priests reinstated, Spyridon appointed additional board members who met secretly early one morning and voted to support the firings.”That crystallized my thinking about what we were up against,”Collis said.

Valerie Karrass, a group member who was teaching at Holy Cross at the time of the firings, said lay involvement in church governance has a long history that Spyridon is trying to ignore.

Greek Orthodox, she said, do not usually wash their dirty linen in public.”But now going public may be all that saves the church,”Karrass said.

Another group member, Peter Economou of Corona, N.Y., described how his priest left suddenly only to be replaced months later by another priest selected by Spyridon.

In addition, Spyridon made claims of financial malfeasance against the church, demanding the deed to the church and took over remaining church finances, Economou said. The elected board was also replaced by outsiders appointed by Spyridon, he said.

Harry Coin, a Boston industrial software designer who started a Web site about the seminary firings, said:”I thought the archbishop would see it and say, `Oops,’ and things would correct themselves. Now I’m fighting for my children to have a church they will recognize.” Dempsey Prappas of Houston predicted the archbishop would not give up without a fight.”There will be blood on the floor,”he said.

MJP END FRENCH