Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Lee Iacocca recently wrote a book entitled Where Have All the Leaders Gone?. In his book he describes the true characteristics of leaders and leadership. In reading some passages from the book, I found some interesting parallels between the events taking place currently in our Greek Orthodox community in Salt Lake City within the larger issues Mr. Iacocca addresses.

Mr. Iacocca is eloquent in describing the characteristics of leadership in great detail. I would like to offer a synopsis of these. He calls these characteristics the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They are clear, obvious qualities that every true leader ought to exemplify. Here is Mr. Iacocca’s “C” list of Nine, along with some thoughts on how they might relate to some of the issues in our community:

A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. … If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. …

Our leadership seems quite content to cling to the status quo, to be afraid to step out of the box, terrified of upsetting the apple cart, and afraid to ‘go out on a limb’. All too many of them are content to hide behind the screed “we are a hierarchical church”. This phrase ends the discussion for them. This is not leadership. If this is really true, then they are not needed at all. Let the clergy make the decisions. Let them govern as they will. If our elected council members are content to be but ministers to a clerical hierarchy, and not to stand up for the wishes of their constituents, then why have parish council elections at all? Let the clergy appoint its minions and forget the pretense of a having a representative body.

A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different…think outside the box. …

When leading members of our community formulate a highly workable, highly creative plan to better our community, a plan that will ensure that badly needed repairs, maintenance and upgrades will be made and paid for, a plan that will provide for new avenues with which to generate revenues, a plan that 72% of those present at the special general assembly supported, our leadership decided to acquiesce to the veto by the Archdiocese who claimed the plan violated “the spirit” of the Uniform Parish Regulations. That kind of “creativity” we don’t need!

A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. … Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful. …

Our hierarchs have, sadly, failed in this category over and over again. Whether it is covering up sexual improprieties, transferring priests with known problems to other unsuspecting communities, or simply saying one thing, doing another, communication of the sort that Mr. Iacocca is describing has been sorely lacking.

A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power." …

Lord Acton said it best, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” A strong laity is a much needed check to curb excesses from an unfettered hierarchy, just as a strong clergy ought to provide a clear, consistent moral compass to the laity. Each has its role to play. One ought not totally dominate the other. Each needs to “have the guts to do the right thing” no matter the consequences.

A leader must have COURAGE…. Tough talk isn't courage. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk. If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when there is a cost.

Our leaders say one thing in their public appearances and refrain from answering the hard questions. Those who dare ask these questions are threatened with excommunication. When the clergy can remove OUR elected member off a board, because he pointed out inconsistencies and dared to ask the tough questions, we ALL have a problem. When our board is cowed by the threat of removal, and by the threat of excommunication, I submit that the system is deeply flawed, and/or, that we have elected the wrong people. I’m convinced that no one, clergyman or not, would have gotten away with treating our grandparents or parents in this manner when they were the community’s leaders.

To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION, a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done.

I will grant that those who serve in the clergy and those who serve on the Parish Council have this trait. I do not believe that anyone is doing this work without having conviction. I submit that what is not being demonstrated is the courage of those convictions, even if it means displeasing those ostensibly in power. It means standing up for what is right, rather than what is easy.

A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him.

Who wants to follow leadership that dismisses the will of 72% of an assembled gathering’s expressed wishes? What kind of leadership thwarts the will of its constituency? Charisma comes from the Greek word “charis” (grace). Is it gracious to find “alternative” solutions, i.e., a “violation of the spirit” of the UPR when one’s viewpoint is clearly in the minority? Is it gracious to boot off a board member because he points out the duplicitous nature of the “alternative” solution? Is it gracious to attempt to cow your flock by threatening any dissent with excommunication?

A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing, and you defer to their expertise to complement your own.

It is difficult to live up to this leadership component when the hierarchy and clergy seem to be more interested in wielding a draconian power, rather than in competent church governance. Parish councils are comprised mostly of educators, business and professional persons, who ought to complement the clergy’s work in spiritual matters by handling the more secular duties of daily operations, along with the church’s growth and outreach programs. This is the system that used to be in place. It did not always work perfectly; nothing does in this imperfect world. But it was a just, reasonable and practical division of expertise and function that led to reasonable and competent governance.

You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE.

Common sense dictates that in addition to a deep yearning for the spiritual, human beings respond favorably to governance that is reasonable, fair and just. Common sense dictates that leveraging your assets in the most efficient way will provide better facilities and revenues for more opportunities. Common sense further dictates that people do not like being threatened, and do not respond well to a system of “pay, pray and obey”.

The Biggest C is CRISIS. Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis.

We clearly have a crisis in our church. Our clergy is displaying an unprecedented contempt for its flock when it resorts to threats, expulsions and excommunication. The Body and Blood of the Savior should NOT be used as a weapon. That it is being used as such is not only appalling, it is tragic. It is outrageous, but more, it is sad – sad that our clergy have sunk so low, sad that our leadership does not stand to a man and say, “whatever our differences, this is NOT acceptable.”

And, with all due respect to Mr. Iacocca, I would like to add my two “C’s” worth. Let’s add to this list that leaders should be CONSISTENT and COMPASSIONATE.

Archbishop Isaiah recently sent out a letter and asked that we, Greek Orthodox Christians, embrace compassion and forgive a heretofore respected clergyman of many years who, it was discovered, had engaged in acts of pedophilia with an altar boy. We are asked to look past the victim’s enduring pain, past our revulsion at the act, past our fears for our children, grandchildren, godchildren, nieces, nephews, the children of our friends, and to show COMPASSION.

Yet I ask, not only in the name of COMPASSION, but for the sake of CONSISTENCY, where is the same compassion, where is the consistency in our hierarch’s actions toward our fellow parishioner who, for reasons that are trifling in comparison to those of the clergyman, was removed from the Parish Council and was excommunicated for five years, including being denied the right to Orthodox Christian burial? At the same time, the hierarchy will not defrock this clergyman so that when he dies, he will be buried with the full honors due a priest.

Mr. Iacocca asks: "Where have all the leaders gone? Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense?” To which I would add, where are the charismatic, compassionate, consistent and, yet another “C”, Christian ones?

- Barbara Billinis Colessides

Disseminating Information - The Church Family

Much has been said of late regarding the dissemination of information to parishioners. Letters have been received from the"higher ups" regarding the several issues being discussed by members of our parish. Most of the referenced letters from the "higher ups" have not been made public to the parish at large but have been reserved for the eyes of those we elected as our voice. To be fair, some letters from the "higher ups" have been published for the parish at large to read and be informed.

Just as keeping secrets within our personal families erodes trust, so does keeping secrets within our church family. Half truths and innuendo take the place of factual information and division takes the place of unity. How could we possibly move forward as a parish if we are all moving in different directions having only partial information available? Why would we want to keep valuable information from each other if we are all working toward the same goal? Could it be that we are not all working toward the same goal?

The only way we can all be on the same page is if we all have the same information. Not just some of the information available but ALL the information available. Transparency and dissemination of information are essential elements to the health and well being of our parish. Secrecy and clandestine behavior only cause confusion and breed division. Let's publish all correspondence from the "higher ups" so we can all have the same information and discuss the issues openly as a church family.

Where the Mind Is Without Fear...

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Rabindranath Tagore– 1913

To that last line, and with all due respect to a Nobel Prize-winning poet, I would add “let my country and my church awake.”

When did it happen, and where is it written, that we Greek Orthodox MUST now suspend logic and reason at the entrance of the narthex when we enter our churches? When did discourse become sin? When did our priests suddenly become all-knowing, all-wise and all-powerful, entitled to treat their flocks as callow children in need of a “father’s” discipline and stricture, without any question of his actions? When did it become dogma that our elected representatives work FOR the priest, and not WITH him, for the good of the community? No one is questioning the priests on ecclesiastical issues, but they, like the rest of us, are certainly not infallible, and most especially in the non-ecclesiastical realm.

“Because I said so, that’s why…” is a phrase that is demonstrably ineffective in good child-rearing; it certainly does not belong in the sphere of mature adult relationships. When did we all start getting browbeaten into the notion that to question the priest or the bishop jeopardizes our standing in our Church? When and why did we jump BACKWARD more than three centuries? Does the example of Galileo, condemned as a heretic because he asserted that the earth revolved around the sun (contrary to Biblical teaching, but something the ancient Greeks knew), not come to mind? Why are our clerics resorting to such tactics at a critical time in our history where a strong, open and transparent Church has so vital a role to play in our moral, physical, emotional and spiritual health in this century?

I recently sent our elected representatives a query – one that has been clearly treated as a “rhetorical question.” I assuredly did not intend that the question be merely rhetorical. It is a question that deserves serious thought by every Greek Orthodox adherent and an honest and reflective answer by the clergy and hierarchy. The current thinking among the hierarchy of this church condones a glaring double standard. This mindset is quick to condemn and excommunicate a layperson for relatively trifling offenses (that might have been resolved with open communication and an admonition). At the same time it allows a cleric, whom the hierarchy itself ACKNOWLEDGES as having committed sexual offenses with CHILDREN, to remain a priest, albeit inactive, and to be buried in the church upon his demise with the full honors due a clergyman. That this discrepancy is not addressed is nothing short of outrageous. It is but a further manifestation of an ongoing, ever-growing clerical and hierarchical arrogance, with the complicity of a cowed laity, fearful of a hierarchy that wields the withholding of the Church’s sacraments – including the right to be buried in the Church – as a highly effective weapon, a weapon wielded, apparently, only against the laity, but not against the clergy, no matter the offense.

I’m further perplexed by the recent communications that were sent out. Apparently, our Parish Council president, a peer and contemporary whom I know, like and respect, objects to e-mails being used as a format for discussion of these issues. He contends he doesn’t like e-mails for “reasons of efficiency and confidentiality”. Along with this mindset, reports have circulated that Parish Council members have been asked to sign confidentiality agreements. I certainly hope that this has not occurred, or if it has, then my question is WHAT among all the things going on in this community, particularly with regard to these recent issues, NEEDS to be kept CONFIDENTIAL? Why the secrecy, gentlemen?

I can understand that in some business activities confidentiality is at times necessary and vital. What does it have to do with what we are trying to accomplish for our church and community? What, in this entire process, has needed to be CONFIDENTIAL? I submit that “confidentiality” is quickly becoming a big part of our problem. The community spoke loudly and clearly; it was the clergy and certain members who did not care for the outcome of that vote who acted in secrecy and who subverted the process in concert with the clergy, who saw that outcome as a threat to their complete domination and control over all aspects of the community.

I can understand part of the assertion, and would agree, that face-to-face communication is almost always preferable, but it isn’t always practical. I disagree with the assertion that e-mail isn’t efficient. To the contrary, the problem may be that it is perhaps too efficient in that it easily distributes a variety of opinions and thought to a wider audience in the face of numerous inconsistencies and injustices. That might get people to start thinking and REASONING independently. Seemingly that has now become a virtue that good Christians are no longer encouraged to practice.

- Barbara Billinis Colessides

The Root of Our Problems

The years following the "resignation" of the late Archbishop Iakovos, Archbishop of North and South America, who was essentially fired by his godson, the Patriarch Bartholomew, will not and should not be remembered kindly. Following this departure of a strong and widely influential leader, who had the ear of numerous Presidents, and other influential politicians, our Patriarch sent Archbishop Spyridon, a native son, to be leader of the Archdiocese that now only consisted of the United States.

It should have been an excellent appointment. But Spyridon for all his talents, a fluent speaker in multiple languages, proved to be a highly divisive leader who quickly managed to make enemies everywhere, among both clergy and laity, Greek and non-Greek speaking faithful. With the recommendation of the regional diocesan bishops to an initially reluctant Patriarch, he was finally reassigned. The bishops were then elevated as Metropolitans, Archbishops in their own regions. The Archdiocese of the United States, ostensibly under the leadership of newly appointed Archbishop Demetrios, was thus further divided and decentralized.

The consequences for the laity under this new arrangement were drastic. Along with the initial division of the former Archdiocese of North and South America, into Canada, the U.S. and Latin America, Patriarch Bartholomew, conscious of efforts by the faithful at greater autonomy, or autocephaly, or a union of all Orthodox in the United States, practiced the classic tactic of "divide and conquer". Although Demetrios was named Archbishop over all the U.S., by naming the bishops as Metropolitans and assigning them as Archbishops over their respective regional archdioceses, he watered down Demetrios' potential influence and strength and provided the Metropolitians their own de facto fiefdoms over which to rule, further dividing Greek Orthodoxy in the United States.

As if these divisions weren't disastrous enough, our Patriarch gave the faithful in this country a new charter, ratified by the Clergy-Laity Congress where dissenting voices were ignored or stifled. New Uniform Parish Regulations were imposed, with stiff penalties for those communities not paying their "fair share" of monies and unquestioning obeisance to their Metropolitans, who advised their parish priests to assert a more draconian authority as well.

Those who dissented began to pay dearly. Entire boards were dismissed in cities in every Metropolis throughout the country. Individuals who objected too strenuously were threatened with excommunication. The clergy at every level adopted a more authoritarian approach and demanded control over every facet of parish life, not contenting themselves as before, with focusing on ministering to their flock's spiritual needs.

The hierarchy began to assert that all properties of individual communities now belonged to the Archdiocese, rather than to the faithful who built them. "Pay, pray and obey" became the order of the day.

In the midst of this struggle, further turmoil is currently brewing with the discovery that the church has paid nearly ten million dollars to settle and/or cover-up cases involving sexual misconduct by the clergy. Particularly distressing are those cases involving our children.

In view of this increasingly untenable situation, the purpose of this blog site is simply to provide a forum for those who want to TAKE OUR CHURCH BACK. The site will allow the expression of diverse opinions - even those in disagreement with our purpose.

Take Our Church Back!

We are currently witnessing a situation that grows more intolerable by the day. Our Priests and Hierarchs demand that we, members of the Greek Orthodox community of Salt Lake City, stifle our voices, suspend our reason, and simply "pay, pray and obey." In response, we have established this blog site to provide a forum for those who want to TAKE OUR CHURCH BACK.

The site will allow the expression of diverse opinions, including those who are in disagreement with our purpose. It is envisioned that the site will be a repository for previous and current opinions expressed regarding events occurring in our community.
______________________

*Note, some ground rules: It is requested that those wishing to post messages sign their name and maintain a reasonable and reasoned attitude. From time to time, in providing commentary or opinion, the moderators will post under their own names. The moderators will not edit anyone's posting, including to correct spelling or grammatical errors. The moderators of this blog reserve the right to delete posts that are not signed or that appear to be signed with a ficitious name. We further reserve the right to remove any posting that is deemed malicious, threatening or profane.

For those unfamiliar with "blogging", please feel free to e-mail us at tocbslc@gmail.com. We will post your comments for you on the blog.

Christos Anesti, to all!