“Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,

and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

But it shall not be so among you:

but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,

but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28, KJV)


The word the Athenians used for their Assembly was Ekklesia, the same word used in the New Testament for Church
(and it is the greatest philological irony in all of Western history that this word,
which connoted equal participation in all deliberation by all members,
came to designate a kind of self-perpetuating, self-protective Spartan gerousia -
which would have seemed patent nonsense to Greek-speaking Christians of New Testament times,
who believed themselves to be equal members of their Assembly.)

- Thomas Cahill, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter




ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΟ: THE GREEK SECRET


Saturday, April 21, 2007

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.

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