“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

Sunday, November 4, 2012

UNIFORM PARISH STRANGULATION

MODERATOR'S NOTE: The original of this protocol, issued by Metropolitan Isaiah, may be viewed here. It was also published, as demanded by the Metropolitan, in the recent issue of "Theologia", our community's newsletter.


October 10, 2012

Protocol 12–16

The Esteemed Parish Council Members, and
The Faithful Laity of the Metropolis of Denver

Beloved in the Lord,

In response to several questions recently received from the parishes of this Metropolis regarding clergy salaries, please allow me to call your attention to the following provisions of the Uniform Parish Regulations.

According to Article 29, Section 1, Subparagraph E, of the UPR, it is a duty of the Parish Council to "Provide for the Priest's remuneration and benefits in accordance with the Clergy Compensation Plan of the Archdiocese."

This means that the Parish Council members are obligated, as a fiduciary responsibility to the parish, to do everything that they can to develop and implement a stewardship program to afford the proper compensation for their assigned priest(s).

It also means that they are also accountable for providing that the priest's compensation is paid in regularly, in full, and on time.

According to Article 17, Section 8, of the UPR, "The Archdiocesan Council and the Archdiocesan Benefits Committee will establish remunerative standards for the Clergy."

Further, according to Subsection A of this same Section 8, it is the Hierarch of each Metropolis who reviews and approves the specific remuneration package for each individual priest he assigns to a parish.

It is therefore not within the capacity of a General Assembly, nor of a Parish Council, to debate or determine the priest's compensation package.

You received information regarding the individual minimum compensation package of your priest in my recent Protocol 12-13, dated September 21, 2012. This information is to be included in your 2013 budget, and is to simply be relayed to the General Assembly. It is not subject to debate or revision by the Parish Council or the General Assembly.

With Paternal Blessings,
/s/
✠ Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver

TO BE PRINTED IN ALL PARISH BULLETINS AND NEWS LETTERS

Posted by TOCB Moderator at 9:45 AM

2 comments:

Barbara Billinis Colessides said...

Only a SELF-LOATHING fool would have ever voted for such a ridiculous "regulation". Such were the hand-picked laity at previous Clergy-Laity Congresses. And it is THIS community (there will be others) now paying for such short-sightedness.

November 4, 2012 at 9:48 AM
Bill Rekouniotis said...

Let's "revise" this at the next General Assembly. What is the Metropolitan going to do? Let's find out.

November 4, 2012 at 4:15 PM

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