... do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing ...

Matthew 6:3-4
... so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

It is offensive and crass when individuals call out other individuals on their giving. If the idea of stewardship is that each gives according to what they can; it is beyond any one person to say another isn't giving enough or should give more. Anyone who espouses that they have a belief in the Orthodox understanding on stewardship wouldn't "call out" their brethren about their giving, because, as we Orthodox believe, stewardship is between the one who gives and God.

(Incidentally, wasn't this the basis of the "reasoning" that the Benevolent Funds could not possibly be examined?)

When things were fair and open, most current PC members have given, gave, and always will give, generously. When they could not, in conscience, give to appointed and/or culled parish councils, who deliberately vilified long-standing stewards and long-established structures and traditions of our Church in the worst possible ways, still-generous stewards gave to other Orthodox entities.

Since the restoration of assemblies and elections (something the splitters, these priests and the Metropolitan fought AGAINST tooth-and-nail) most on the Parish Council, have upped their stewardship by a factor of thousands, not to mention underwriting events to help the operating income bottom line. Can we consider also the time and talent of a group of diverse professionals, not to mention sleepless nights wondering how to get through the next payroll period? If the "average" is supplied to the erstwhile Mr. Souvall, we would also like to "average-in" the combined stewardship pledges of the clergy and their former toadies - after all, aren't THEY "leadership"?

What can one say about men, supposedly with a spiritual calling, and the splitters who blindly continue to support them? Apparently, according to them, the clergy should be so exempt that blackmail, economic malfeasance and lying are now part of the apostolic calling? Who, besides the priests, have a "UNION BOSS" to demand that they NOT WORK for over THREE WEEKS, denying the faithful a sacramental life, (though, as was pointed out by their supporters, they still did so for a select few!) and still get back pay? Would this behavior be accepted in any other job, profession, or calling?

Sadly, the priests, the former appointed councils, and the Metropolitan have destroyed trust in hierarchy and clergy for a long time to come. People have spoken and are speaking through the one voice they have left - through their stewardship, despite George Pappas' Herculean efforts. Too many who see through the sham and lies in these past dismal years have been cast away as "heretics and robbers". (one might well ask what effect THIS has had on stewardship?) It is asking a lot of jaded and disheartened parishioners to support such a clergy and hierarchy until they are held accountable for their destructive tactics. And finally, remember, OUR YOUTH ARE WATCHING!

Request for Publication: William P. Souvall

Aug. 25, 2013

To our Esteemed Parish Council,

This letter is directed to the Council, but I also want as many parishioners as possible to read it. I am not a regular reader or commentator of the blog, but my guess is that more people in our parish take a look at this blog on a regular basis than any other method of communication. Thus, it is an efficient vehicle for me to air my thoughts to you and the parish as a whole.

I wanted to thank you for your hard work in preparing for the Special General Assembly today. My extremely capable cousin, Harry Souvall, also deserves a hearty pat on the back for doing an excellent job as chairman and running an orderly meeting in what could have been a difficult situation. He was a superb choice for this difficult job. Chris Sakellariou also did a fine job being the principal presenter of the financial reports and answering the majority of questions from parishioners.

Many viewpoints were presented today and I believe an effective compromise was reached, although by the closest of margins. The subtlety of the motion created an interesting end result. I noticed good people who I would’ve expected to vote either for or against the motion doing exactly the opposite. That indicated to me that an acceptable compromise had been reached because no one really got everything they wanted.

The only point of virtually universal agreement that we heard today is that we need to increase stewardship. I made a suggestion at the meeting today that I would like to reiterate because I believe it is crucial to effectively reach that goal.

We as parishioners need to know that our Lay leadership, the Parish Council, is sincere, committed, and proactive—that this Council is completely willing to do exactly what they are asking of us. We need to know this Council will lead by example by increasing your individual stewardship pledges at this very critical moment in time, especially because you are more acutely aware of our needs as you must deal with it on a daily or weekly basis.

Without exception, the most effective leadership is leading by example. Numerous times today we heard the spokesmen for the Council beseech us to dig a little deeper. As I promised today, my lovely bride and I are more than willing to do so on top of our current pledge, but we want to know that our leaders, as a group, are not only supportive of this effort but are willing lead the charge. Based on what I saw and heard today, a very significant number of others in our parish are willing to do the same.

The specifics of my “challenge” to the Parish Council are as follows:

1—President Tsagaris, or any other officer or member of the Council for that matter, sends a private email to each Council member asking them for 2 specific pieces of information.

2--First, what their pledge was at the start of the year when they placed their hand on the Bible in Church, verbally gave their Affirmation to serve, and signed the accompanying written Affirmation.

3—Secondly, what their new pledge for the year will be after this Special General Assembly. I would expect to see a significant increase from our leaders.

4—The initiator of this private email will then calculate the Average Council member pledge at the start of the year by adding the total pledges and dividing it by 14 (or whatever is the correct number of council members).

5—The same person will then calculate the new and revised Average Council member pledge after this Special General Assembly using the method described above.

6—The same person will then calculate the Average percentage increase of the revised Council pledges over the original pledges.

7—This Average percentage increase will be reported to the Parish at the soonest possible time by email blast, weekly bulletins, or any other effective means of communication as a “challenge” to our parish to do their best to follow our Parish Council’s lead and increase their pledges.

This process will maintain individual privacy for each Council member, but also be indicative of your collective willingness to set a standard for the parish to follow. Although there is certainly no requirement for the Parish Council to do this, I am absolutely positive this action will be highly welcomed, deeply appreciated, and most importantly, emulated.

This process will require very little time or effort by the Parish Council—perhaps two or three rounds of emails over the next day or two. I believe it can result in a large windfall in stewardship in a very short amount of time.

Chris Sakellariou told us near the end of today’s meeting that quite a few people already stepped forward to add to their stewardship, including at least two Council members (I apologize if that number is incorrect). I commend those people and I fully expect to see that number grow considerably when the full Parish Council takes the initiative to lead the way. As I said today, I will match the Parish Council percentage increase over my current pledge and pay in full within 3 days of receiving notice of this information.

God Bless each of you, your families, and our beloved Parish.

William P. Souvall

220 - 215 VOTE TO REQUEST RETURN OF PRIESTS

In a highly attended meeting at Prophet Elias, the member-attendees present voted narrowly to request that Metropolitan Isaiah allow the priests to return to our churches and resume a normal sacramental and liturgical life.

The motion as amended and passed was:

Reinstate full clergy salaries with back-pay and request reassignment of one priest immediately [amended to as soon as possible] (this reduces clergy to 2 priests).

SIMPLISTIC ARGUMENTS, COMPLEX REALITIES

• The actions of the Parish Council are in complete disregard of the Uniform Parish Regulations and the Affirmation of Office which Council members took to uphold.

The UPRs are seriously flawed. As currently written, and selectively enforced by clergy and hierarchy, they literally demand a laity that is unquestioning, and parish councils that are unthinking. Dynamic and transparent governance under them is impossible. The regulations allow no meaningful laity input, forgetting that it is the LAITY who PAYS THE BILLS. Is it surprising then that the laity resorts to the only powerful input they do have?



• The financial justification used by the Council, which in truth is based on a critical and long-standing problem, has been exaggerated to provide an excuse to cut clergy salary.



No one would ever want to see the old situation where priests were easily dispatched, where they were underpaid, and where they had few benefits and poor pensions in their old age.

However, it is equally nonsensical, in hard economic times, when our parishioners have faced pay and benefit cuts, and downsizing, that the clergy must be so totally exempt from these realities. And, to the detriment of all other church and community needs. Especially when the decrease, in this instance, still provides highly generous salaries.

• These actions appear to be a political experiment to test the reaction and patience of the Metropolis and Archdiocese.



This is not an exercise in power politics. At some point it must be acknowledged that this church cannot sustain three priests at these salary levels, unless it completely suspends nearly all other outreach and community activity. All logical evidence regarding this fact has fallen on deaf ears.

• The cessation of Church services and suspension of our sacramental life is the immediate result of the Council’s experiment and is a loss that all parishioners have had to bear regardless of their political persuasion.



"Politics" aside, it is the Metropolitan and his priests who have ceased to serve (so much for their sense of calling), and THEY ALONE have suspended the sacramental life in this community. They won’t serve, with still generous salaries, though they have made a few notable, predictable, exceptions. They don't serve with the parish; they work above it, and solely on their own terms.

• The potential end result of this political game is significant. The possibility of a “separatist” result will have nothing to do with two independent parishes, but rather, a separation from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the other 500 parishes that comprise the Archdiocese.



Notice the “two independent parishes” statement getting slipped into the conversation – again! (This has been decided, over and over again!) Further, if the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is so weak that it cannot enforce its own will and rulings on a Metropolitan, then clearly there is a problem with the entire structure. Obviously a Metropolitan can trump an Archbishop and a Synod? What a system, and we are its hapless pawns!

• The decision to investigate and publish benevolence giving was strictly an overt attempt to discredit the clergy without regard to the permanent harm caused to individuals and to those who might in the future benefit from this charitable source.



When only ONE person, with human failings, is given this much discretionary power over secret funds, with no oversight, the result is inevitable. With clear evidence of inappropriate use of such funds, we are told to "kill the messenger!", and we hear that it is the investigation that’s inappropriate?!

The Greek saying is, “ο καθαρός ουρανός αστραπές δεν φοβάτε!” (clear skies do not fear lightning!) These funds should not be under the sole purview of any one HUMAN being. In other churches, priests and ministers have a couple of trusted members who work with clergy to assess the needs of those seeking, or in need of, such funds. It is hypocritical that the outrage is directed toward the investigation rather than at what it has uncovered.

• We should not be pawns in a political trial regarding the governing of the Archdiocese. It is crucial that we reverse the decision and avert the possibility of further actions that will harm everyone, young and old.

This community has NEVER shirked from being a leader in this nation insofar as our commitment to our church. It has also had leaders in the past – GIANTS – who knew that human beings, including priests, are fallible.

Those forebears of ours had the vision to understand that it was in this church community’s best interest to hold its assets in its own name, and to have its two churches under one community. In fact, those leaders invited a bishop at an earlier time to take his priests and leave if this was unacceptable.

This community is unique. The parish council has gone through all channels to try to appeal for a more equitable and reasonable approach to relations between clergy and laity, between this community and the hierarchy.

And it is our community, our seniors, our youth, those in need within our church and throughout this valley, who continue suffer because of this lopsided, uncompassionate, ridiculously absurd system.

Parish Council Provides Financials and Receives Positive Feedback from Charles Karpakis and Phill Floor

Moderator's Note: The original letter from our Parish Council may be viewed here.

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August 23, 2013

Dear Parishioners,

In preparation for the Special Parish Assembly this coming Sunday, August 25th and 12:00pm at Prophet Elias, we want to provide you with some additional information.

On August 16, 2013 the Parish Council President received a request from Chuck Karpakis and Phillip Floor to inspect and copy records of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake including all bank statements, bank reconciliation records, general ledgers, check registers, statements of accrued liabilities and accounts payable, financial statements, and disbursement records for fiscal years 2012 and 2013.

The Parish Council President honored the request of Mr. Karpakis and Mr. Floor and the inspection of the records occurred August 22, 2013. At the conclusion of the inspection Mr. Floor stated that he came expecting to find things is disarray, but was pleased that everything was in order. In a follow up note to those who assisted with the inspection, Mr. Karpakis stated:

“I thank you for the opportunity to sit down with all of you in our effort to gain an understanding of our Church financial condition. I can tell you have all been working diligently to improve financial accounting and reporting. I think you have made great strides in this since the Spring General Assembly and am particularly happy that you are now keeping records on an accrual basis. This really helps in understanding our year-to- date costs of operations (regardless of the timing of cash payments) and our understanding of working capital in terms of current assets and liabilities.”

In His Name and Service

Your Parish Council

WHY WE MUST ATTEND, AND KEEP ATTENDING, THESE ASSEMBLIES

They made pretenses to very superior sanctity when they had a mind to disturb everything. - St. Augustine of Hippo

WE MUST keep attending ALL MEETINGS until the nonsense STOPS!

The Uniform Parish Regulations, as they have been written and passed, and as they are enforced by what passes for “Christ-centered" lay "leadership”, clergy and hierarchy, is STILL stacked against reasonable, compassionate and logical Orthodox Christians.

Yes, we finally had an open General Assembly early last year. Yes, we had free and fair elections, and YES, sensible people were elected. 

But the minority, the clergy and our hierarch in Denver, despite our Parish Council’s sincere efforts to work WITH them, did not cease in their ongoing provocative actions to split our community.

It is clear our “spiritual fathers” and their “Christ-centered” followers do not care if the people who clean our facilities, mow the lawns, weed the gardens, keep the books, manage rents, etc., have to take pay cut after pay cut and reductions in benefits.

It is clear our “spiritual fathers” and their “Christ-centered” followers do not care if we cut programs for our youth, our seniors, our outreach, in order to pay the ultra-generous clergy salaries that may NEVER be questioned or reduced, even if their own flock is suffering in bad economic times.

It is clear that our “spiritual fathers” and their “Christ-centered” followers are more outraged that our Audit Committee investigated the expenses in the Benevolent Funds than in the outrageous expenditures that were found there!  

If this nonsense is what passes for "Christ-centered" behavior, may God have mercy on us all!

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ΓΙΑΤΙ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΠΑΡΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΟΥΜΕ ΚΑΙ ΝΑ ΕΞΑΚΟΛΟΥΘOYΜΕ ΝΑ ΠΑΡΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΟΥΜΕ ΑΥΤΕΣ ΤΙΣ ΣΥΝΕΛΕΥΣΕΙΣ

Παρουσίασαν προσχήματα στην ανωτάτη αρχή ιερότητας διότι είχαν υπ’οψει των να διαταράζουν τά πάντα. – Αγίου Αυγουστίνου τού Ιππου.

Πρέπει να εξακολουθούμε να παρακολουθούμε όλες τις Συνελεύσεις μέχρις ότου σταματήσουν όλες αυτές οι ανοησίες.

Οι κανονισμοί της Αρχιεπισκοπής (UPRs), όπως έχουν γραφτεί και εγκριθεί, και επιβάλλοντας στίς διάφορες κοινότητες από τούς θρησκόληπτους εκείνους κληρικοὐς, λαικοὐς και γενικά από την ιεραρχία της εκκλησἰας εκτελούν μιά σειρά απαρἀδεκτων κανονισμών που στρέφονται εναντίον όλων εκείνων τής εκκλησίας μας πού σκέπτονται λογικά και συγκαταβατικά γιά την άνευ διαταραχών διαβίωση των εδώ στήν Αμερική.

Βέβαια είχαμε τελικά μια τελείως ελεύθερη γενική συνέλευση νωρίς πέρισυ. Πράγματι είχαμε ελεύθερες εκλογές και τελικά συνηδειτά μέλη εξελέγησαν. Ομως η μειοψηφία, ο κλήρος, και ο ιεράχης μας στο Ντένβερ, παρ᾽ὀλες τις ειλικρινές προσπάθειες του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου να συνεργαστούν μαζί των, δεν έχουν παύση να εργάζονται συνεχώς γιά την διαίρεση τής Κοινότητας.

Εχει αποδειχθεί ότι οι πνευματικοί μας πατέρες, κι’ εκείνοι οι θρησκόληπτοι πού τούς ακολουθούν δέν ενδιαφέρονται εάν οι εργάτες τών εκκλησιών μας προσπαθούν να διατηρούν τα κτήρια μας καθαρά, να φροντίζουν για την διατήρηση των εξωτερικών χώρων, και τούς άλλους υπαλλήλους των γραφείων της κοινότητος που φροντίζουν για την συνεχή διατήρηση των βιβλίων της εκκλησίας., των μελών της, θα πρέπει να αποδεχθούν μείωσι των μισθών , και λοιπών επιχορηγήσεών των.

Είναι γεγονός ότι οι πνευματικοί μας πατέρες και οί ακόλουθοι τους δεν δείχνουν κανένα ενδιαφέρον για την περικοπήν των διαφόρων προγραμμάτων που αφορούν την νεολαία μας, τα ηλικιωμένα μέλη της κοινότητας μας, και εκείνα τα άπορα μέλη της κοινότητας μας που πράγματι χρειάζονται την βοήθεια μας. Το άμεσον ενδιαφέρον τους είναι οι αστρονομικοί αριθμοί των μισθών των που εξακολουθούν να εισπράτουν, ασχέτως εαν μερικά μέλη της κοινότητας μας διαπερνούν πολύ δύσκολες οικονομικἐς συνθἠκες.

Εἰναι γεγονός οτι οι πνευματικοί μας πατἐρες και οι ακολουθοἰ τους ἐχουν ενοχληθεἰ αρκετά με τα μἐλη της εξελεγκτικἠς επιτροπής της κοινὀτητας, και με τα ευρήματα της επιτροπής τα σχετιζὀμενα με τον έλεγχο των φιλανθρωπικών λογαριασμὠν που διατηροὐσαν οι δύο ιερείς και με τα τερἀστια έξοδα που ο ἐλεγχος απέδειξε οτι εἰχαν γἰνει.

Εάν αυτές οι πράξεις είναι Χριστιανικἐς, επικαλοὐμεθα την ευλογία του καλοὐ μας Θεοὐ για την διαφύλαξη μας!

Εν τω μεταξύ καθἠκον όλων μας είναι να βρεθοὐμε όλοι μας την ερχόμενη Κυριακή, στις 25 Αυγοὐστου στον Προφήτη Ηλἰα στις 12 μ.μ. Τό μέλλον της Κοινότητας μας κινδυνεύει ακόμα και μια φορά. Ας μήν αδιαφορήσουμε.

Where in the Uniform Parish Regulations ...

Does it say that a Metropolitan should align himself with a SEPARATIST group in a parish?

Recent social media activity indicates advocating a boycott of the upcoming general assembly may be premature as "by Tuesday we will have some guidance."  

One would ask from where this "guidance" is to come, and if it is to come from Denver through the Metropolitan.  If that is the case, does it say that the Metropolitan aligns himself with unelected SEPARATISTS who seek constantly to seize for themselves a highly valuable portion - in terms of the real estate - of our community's assets??? 

If this "guidance" is to come from Denver through the Metropolitan, it is more disturbing that he only offers "guidance" when it suits his own and their agenda.  

When the Metropolitan met with the Parish Council in July and was presented with the financial condition of our community he was specifically asked for "guidance" in how to move forward.  At that time, he offered little more than telling the Parish Council they should do what they think is best. 

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SPECIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOTICE TO ALL GOCGSL MEMBERS

FORMER APPOINTED OFFICIALS DEMAND FINANCIALS

Moderator's Note and UPDATE: Despite his ongoing, years-long protestations that he "never" read the blog, Mr. Karpakis noted that there were typos in this blog posting and that we had re-typed it with such. (see his comments to this article) Fact is, we used an Adobe Acrobat converter; we did not retype the letter. The converter isn't always perfect; if we missed something, apologies. Also, Mr. Karpakis wants a link to the original; it may be viewed here. 


August 16, 2013

Dimitrios Tsagaris
President
Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake
279 S. 300 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Dear Dimitri,

Pursuant to Utah Code Ann. 16-6a-1602(2), the undersigned members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake (the “Church Corporation”) hereby demand the right to inspect and copy the following records of the Church Corporation as soon as possible and no later than Friday, August 23, 2.013:

All bank statements, bank reconciliation records, general ledgers, check registers, statements of accrued liabilities and accounts payables, financial statements, and disbursement records for fiscal years 2012 and 2013.

The inspection of these records is requested so that we can be fully informed about the status of the Church Corporation's financial affairs in order to make a fully informed decision regarding the budgetary and other financial matters that will be discussed and voted upon at the Special General Assembly currently scheduled to be held at Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church at noon on Sunday, August 25, 2013.

Please contact us at your earliest possible convenience to confirm the Church Corporation's intent to honor this request, and to arrange the exact time and location for the demanded inspection.

Sincerely,

Phillip Floor

Charles C. Karpakis, CPA

cc: George Kourianos

Further note: We stand by our appellation of both Mr. Floor and Mr. Karpakis as appointees, since for nearly 3 years we had NO elections and suspended general assemblies. Their "tenure" during those dismal years was clearly appointive!

JOHN SALTAS RESPONDS TO FR. UHL and METROPOLITAN ISAIAH

Dear Fr. Luke

I don't know why I am in receipt of this email and wish to be stricken from your list. I have had it up to my ears with the blame game communications from our Metropolitan and I wish them to stop.

I am sick of the malarkey that is contained in all of his writings.

To wit: Tomorrow my daughter returns home from two months as a Camp Counselor at Ionian Village, where she attended as a camper in 2008. My youngest son spent 3 weeks in that camp this summer, visiting as you know many relic and holy sites. My oldest son, Pete, is a 23 year old member of the Parish Council that Metropolitan Isaiah so despises. Combined they have also attended Camp Emmanuel at least three times and Crossroad twice.

Given that once more, the Metropolitan laces our community with a letter of accusation and even factual errors, and mocks our faith, tell me, in God's name, what is the use in investing treasure, time or talent in a Church in which its leaders are so wantonly callous and arrogant? I assure you, Fr. Luke, my three kids want little to do with Metropolitan Isaiah's brand of Christianity. And the same goes for many of their friends and parents.

In his letter, why does the Metropolitan defend how money was spent in the Benevolent Fund when there are Orthodox in true need walking the streets of Salt Lake City? Someone's priorities are out of snit here. Can there be any wonder at all as to why people are slow to give? When their money ends up spent in fashions that upset their sense of "benevolence?"

We have asked the Metropolitan to help for many years, but our answers only come in the form of derision and finger-pointing. When my son was elected to our PC, the Metropolitan wanted to ban him and four others from taking their positions (including one who was replaced and one who never was confirmed)--yet he wonders why unity has not happened? He upsets the cart at every turn. He changed the rules in an effort to benefit him and his cause (whatever it is). Please, please do not let Metropolitan Isaiah speak to us of unity!

When will an apology come from the Metropolitan for starting the clarion call that some of our most charitable members were "robbers and thieves" and that $2 million dollars was stolen from our Church? The $2Million was never missing. Those men and women are not thieves. That lie has been repeated for years now, most recently vocally at Camp Emmanuel this summer--and if you want to ask me offline, I will happily give you the details. On the other hand, I certainly do give credit to the Metropolitan for using the term "Witch Hunt" because he has been expert at applying it.

Tomorrow I will visit my cousin, the Greek Orthodox Monk, Fr. Makarios, who as you know at 70 years old and with cancer, serves 3 distant parishes of the Denver Metropolis. You know what he is paid and you know it isn't much--the parishes pay him what they can afford, I believe. You also know there is a petition circulating about protecting the pay of our local priests, blah, blah, blah, so I'm going to ask Fr. Makarios when the last time was that one of those concerned petitioners dropped by with a Ten Spot to give him some gas money to Craig, Colorado and to also see if any among them were so benevolent to drop by so much as a pat of butter to my Aunt Mary (98), with whom Fr. Makarios lives.

I don't need letters from Denver to determine what is right or wrong, moral and otherwise, ethical or sleazy.

Thank you for removing my name from this email list.

John Saltas

PS That's an intriguing list of names you have there.

PPS Perhaps we'll meet someday. Fr. Makarios tells me yours is a very interesting story.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DENVER METROPOLIS SENDS A MESSAGE TO SOME PARISHIONERS AND OTHERS

Moderators' Note: The following e-mail, along with an attachment below it (the original may be viewed here) was sent to Mr. Tsagaris, President of the Parish Council, along with several dozen other parishioners via e-mail in the late evening of August 12. (Note: the Metropolitan's letter is dated August 8)

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Dear Mr. Tsagaris,

May God bless you, and your loved ones!

Metropolitan Isaiah asked me to communicate the following to you.

If the Parish Council wishes to hold a Special General Assembly, it must do so in accordance with the Uniform Parish Regulations.

The notice must be sent out at least ten days ahead of the scheduled date, as the UPRs indicate.

The notice must contain the agenda of the single item to be discussed. A special assembly may have only one item to be discussed.

Due to the fact that the confidential information regarding the Benevolent Fund has been printed in the National Herald, the information is no longer "confidential." Therefore, His Eminence's letter to you and the Parish Council, attached in this email, regarding the Benevolent Funds is to be reproduced and is to be e-mailed and mailed to every household and all parishioners, along with the Notice of the Special General Assembly and the Agenda.

With Love in Christ,

+Reverend Luke Uhl Chancellor

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GREEK ORTHODOX METROPOLIS of DENVER

August 8, 2013

Mr. Dimitrios Tsagaris, Parish Council President
Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake
279 South 300 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Dear Mr. Tsagaris,

I thank you for your letter and the enclosures regarding the benevolent funds at the Holy Trinity Cathedral and at Prophet Elias Church.

Allow me first to say that the audit committee of a parish which is elected by the general assembly is assigned to examine the income and expenses of the parish in relation to the approved budget for the previous calendar year. From the photocopies which you sent to me, I realize that the audit committee has overstepped its bounds in two areas;

1. It included the funds of the benevolent fund which is never a part of the annual budget of a parish, due to the fact that it is considered a confidential fund to help those in need, and
2. It included cancelled checks and payment information for the years 2009, 2010, and 2011.

On the basis of this information, I would say that this is nothing more than a witch-hunt to embarrass your priests. Does the current audit committee not have any sense of morals. What is its purpose regarding this procedure? And if these funds are confidential, since they have only one signatory on the checks, are not the Zions Bank and the Chase Bank of Salt Lake City liable for divulging confidential information? Can this happen to other people who do business with these banks?

Now in regard to the information sent to me, I diligently inquired of both priests holding the benevolent funds about the items listed. With the benevolent fund of Prophet Elias Church I received concise information from the priest of the drastic situation the recipient was in due to serious problems which had arisen.

Having reflected on the information I had received, I can say most definitely that the assistance given to this individual was truly of a benevolent nature.

I still cannot understand how the audit committee, which is responsible for the 2012 budget of the parish has information from the Zions Bank for the years 2009, and 2010. If this is not a witch-hunt, what is it?

Secondly, in regard to the information I have of the benevolent fund of Holy Trinity Cathedral, I spoke extensively with the priest since the expenditures include members of his family. I saw that six expenditures are related to a professor of our Holy Cross School of Theology and seminarians studying for the holy priesthood. I know for a fact that all seminarians at our school of theology, as well as students at all colleges have unexpected needs that reqlli.re financial assistance. As to the other five expenditures, they had to do with worship services involving visiting clergy and chanting. Again, I recognize such expenditures as normal, as in all of our parishes in the Archdiocese.

Finally, I really cannot understand your logic in this investigation of your two priests, regarding confidential benevolent assistance, a period covering three years and pertaining to about twenty-five thousand dollars, when your parish did not give its annual commitment to the Archdiocese for 2011 in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars which the other parishes of this Metropolis paid. Your payment for 2012 is delinquent as well as this year's.

It appears that for the past fifteen months the parish council has done little or nothing to bring unity and increased income to the parish. You are one of the wealthiest parishes in the Archdiocese with two million dollars in separate accounts and you are crying poverty. It appears that the time is coming to the point when the Archbishop can declare canonical disorder with the removal of the current council and assuming the administration of the parish until it conforms to the Uniform Parish Regulations of the Archdiocese (Article 16).

I am hopeful that you will not allow this to occur. As members of Christ's Church you have accepted a sacred obligation to serve the Lord and His people. It is not too late to do this. Please know that our loving God oversees the welfare of all His people, including His faithful servants who serve Him as His deacons, priests and bishops. A word to the wise is sufficient.

With deep paternal concern,

/s/ +Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver

cc: Rev. Michael Kouremetis
Rev. Matthew Gilbert
Rev. Elias Koucos
Esteemed Parish Council
The Audit Committee

Memorandum from the Audit Committee

Moderators' Note: The following Memorandum from the Audit Committee was sent out to the community by the Parish Council on August 12, 2013 via e-mail. The original may be viewed here.

Memorandum To: The Parish Council of The Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake

From: The Audit Committee of The Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake

Date: August 11, 2013

Subject: Preliminary Report - Audit of Church Related Accounts - Benevolent Funds

This report summarizes the findings that were presented to the Parish Council at the Audit Committee's meeting of July 15, 2013. The information herein is provided to the Parish Council for use at its discretion.

Summary of Findings

Benevolent fund accounts are established to give our priests the ability to help those in need,through acts of charity/benevolence. It is the priests' responsibility to ensure that parishioner funds donated to these accounts are used appropriately and with discretion. The preliminary conclusions of this audit are that the parish's benevolent accounts are being used in ways that are questionable and appear to be inappropriate. The findings thus far are disturbing and complicated, and could result in a number of issues for the parish including, but not limited to tax reporting and tax payment problems.

It is important to note that neither of the benevolent funds accounts that we reviewed still exists. The Holy Trinity account was closed in May of 2013 and re-established at a different financial institution, with the account statements redirected to the priest's residence. The Prophet Elias account was closed in November 2012 and re-established under the tax identification number of the Philoptochos Society of Prophet Elias Church. Transactions in the new accounts are not part of the findings for this audit. However, thus far, the clergy has been uncooperative in the audit process making it difficult to perform the audit appropriately.

Concerning the Holy Trinity benevolent fund account, we have been able to review only a small sample of over one hundred checks written in less than one year. We have already seen where over $4,600.00 of benevolent fund contributions were directed to the priest's family members. More review and attention must be invested to analyze the activity of this account.

The Prophet Elias benevolent account activity was reviewed for a three year period. Approximately 48% (over $12,000.00) of the total contributions to the account during this time were paid to benefit only one person, an employee of the church. Most often the payments were made payable to a third party such as a landlord or utility company for the benefit of the employee. However, there were instances in which the payments were not directed to third parties but were written to "cash", with notes indicating that the payments were for the benefit of the employee. Additionally, we observed that the administrative secretary's name is listed on the account statement which generally indicates that in addition to the priest, she is a signor on the account. We further noted that although the priest prepared and signed most check payments, the administrative secretary also prepared some checks for the priest's signature,and she periodically prepared and signed the checks herself without the priest's signature.

Findings from the audit have raised a number of possible tax reporting issues. We suggest that a tax expert be consulted to help determine if reports need to be made and if payments need to be made to the IRS and Utah State Tax Commission. Because so much is still unidentified, we recommend that the parish commence a review process to determine if additional issues are discovered. It would be most helpful to everyone concerned for the parish priests to assist in gathering the needed information for accurate reporting.

Some potential church tax issues may now also become tax issues of the Philoptochos Society of Prophet Elias Church. The Philoptochos Society might want to commence its own review process to ensure that its tax exempt status is not in jeopardy from similar issues. Furthermore, it is not clear if the donations to the benevolent funds account over the previous years were receipted as donations to the Philoptochos Society of Prophet Elias Church or if these were reported back to parishioners as donations to the church. Additional donor-related issues may arise if the donations were not accurately receipted. We suggest that a tax expert be consulted.

Background Information

The Audit Committee feels it appropriate to provide some information related to the basis on which it was determined that the Audit Committee should look into accounts related to the church. Although it is known by some that a number of organizations are using the church's Federal Tax I.D. number, the extent to which the Tax I.D. number was being used and the various purposes behind the usage were not clear. The Parish Council set about a process to identify all accounts using the Tax I.D. number and as this process matured the Parish Council determined that it was in the best interest of the parish that an officer of the Parish Council be assigned to each church related account to provide some degree of supervision over the account. [This does not apply to accounts of organizations which have their own Tax I.D. numbers and are distinctively apart from the church such as the Philoptochos organizations.] The Parish Council also determined that accounts under the church Tax I.D. were properly auditable by the Audit Committee. That determination included the benevolent funds accounts.

Concurrent with these actions by the Parish Council,the Audit Committee began receiving information from parish members suggesting improprieties in the benevolent funds accounts. These reports started coming to the Audit Committee prior to the end of 2012. The Audit Committee communicated these reports to Parish Council executive officers,and communicated more limited information to the entire Parish Council prior to the end of 2012. The Audit Committee then commenced the reviews of the accounts in January of this year. As part of this process, we also communicated with His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah. In a letter dated February 25,2013, we communicated the following:

"A number of members of the parish have indicated that they have knowledge of improper usage of benevolent funds. This information is rather widespread in the community and the list of parishioners with the knowledge grows as each week passes. The energy surrounding the issue reached such a level that a Parish Council member requested that the Audit Committee look into the matter. The Audit Committee then met with the three executive officers of the Parish Council and discussed the issue which concerns the use of benevolent funds for clergy personal purposes. It is noted that some of the information being spread contained facts and descriptions which gave the stories some amount of plausibility. With all of this it was determined that an appropriate and proper course of action was for the Audit Committee to look into the benevolent funds activities and try to dispel the harmful rumors. As I am sure you can understand the stories and rumors are becoming harmful and divisive in the community. "

The audit process experienced a number of difficulties. The closing of the accounts and movement of the Prophet Elias benevolent funds account under the Philoptochos tax I.D. number complicated the review process. Moreover, the clergy has repeatedly said that they refuse to provide information and will not discuss the issues with the auditors or the Parish Council. The clergy, including the Metropolitan, have stated a number of times that the Audit Committee should not review the benevolent funds' activities. His Eminence indicated in a February 4,2013 communication to our priest, copied to all clergy of the Holy Metropolis of Denver, "... you must not keep lasting records of the good deeds which are being done with the funds you receive for this purpose" suggesting that the records associated with these accounts should be destroyed. Then in His April 2,2013,response to the auditors' letter of February 25,His Eminence stated the following:

"Again I reiterate, a parish benevolent fund does not fall under any audit committee of a parish. However, if someone knows anything about misuse of benevolent funds, he or she must come forward and disclose the information. And, if the charges appear to be legitimate, then the clergyman would certainly wish to come forward to clarify the situation and allay any possible suspicions." 

During his most recent visit to our community, the Metropolitan met with an Audit Committee member and the Parish Council president and the Metropolitan was provided information on these audit findings. At that meeting he did not restate his objection. Rather, he directed that some audit related information be sent to him in Denver for his review, and that he would be responding after he has had an opportunity to review the information more completely. Beyond suggesting that we might want to close the benevolent fund accounts as a solution to the issues, the Metropolitan did not provide any further guidance. As of the date of this letter, no further response has been received.

There is more work to be accomplished as there are significant parts of the benevolent accounts that have not yet been reviewed. Even though the Parish Council has determined that it is best for church related accounts to have some degree of supervision by the Parish Council, the priests have tried to prevent that supervision. This problem needs to be resolved.

As noted previously,the information in this report was presented to the Parish Council on Monday, July 15th, prior to the Metropolitan's visit to the parish. At that meeting,the Parish Council received more details than are disclosed herein. A number of recommendations were included in the report to the Parish Council and the Metropolitan. The Parish Council is trying to deal with the many issues surrounding these findings,while dealing with the other issues of the parish.

Audit Committee members: Tom McGrath, Jim Sakellariou, Basil Chelemes, Lee Kapos

THE CONSEQUENCES OF BYZANTINE MINDSETS

The situation now existing in our Church community is, sadly, the rational consequence of an irrational and absurd system of governance. Our Metropolitan has once again proved that Lord Acton was absolutely correct: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The Greek Orthodox flock in this community continues to suffer under a set of top-heavy, convoluted, contradictory and absurd regulations instituted by a naive and short-sighted lay "leadership" that carries the water for an arrogant clergy and hierarchy demanding unreasonable and tyrannical control.

A wise and compassionate spiritual leadership should never have demanded such of their flock. Even given such power, a truly spiritual leadership would have used their prerogatives more carefully and more thoughtfully.

As my late father often said, "ότι κάνεις λἀβεις, καρδιά μην σου πονέσει!" (Whatever you do, you receive, don't let it break your heart!"  The Biblical equivalent is "As you sow, so shall you reap.")

- Barbara Billinis Colessides

BILL PAULOS PROVIDES FOLLOW-UP COMMENTARY

There is one simple concept the Met doesn’t seem to understand. 

If you perform in a manner in which your constituents approve, they support you. 

If you do not lead in a manner which is supported by your constituents, you do not gain their support. 

The support of leadership does not come blindly.  Leadership must earn it.

Therefore, if there is little support for the Met’s decisions, he may want to try a different solution. 

His decisions haven’t worked in this community for 10+ years.  Support has dwindled to the point of not being able to make payroll.  Why don’t we try a new approach and see if that helps the situation?

BILL PAULOS COMMENTS ON RECENT EVENTS IN OUR COMMUNITY

To Whom it May Concern,

Please pass along this letter to the Parish Council and anyone else you feel may have an interest.

As a member in good standing for many years of our community, I would like to commend the Parish Council for their stand to bring our community back into financial solvency.  The decisions necessary to run our community without debt are difficult, emotional and exactly correct.  It is far past time to make the decisions which will leave our children a community without debt. 

It is my personal opinion that, if the recent Parish Council decisions hold, there will be an increase in stewardship.  I’m aware of many parishoners who have withheld funds due to lack of support of the leadership in this community and the direction it has taken for many years.  This is an opportunity to change the trajectory of our community through avoiding debt and balancing our budget.

The decisions facing our current Parish Council are not unlike the decisions which have been faced by many thousands of businesses and organizations in the past decade.  If these organizations wish to live past tough economic times, they need to make decisions which unfortunately affect the lives of their employees.  Those unwilling to make these decisions do not survive.  I support the decision to survive and thrive.

These economic decisions are far greater than any individual.  We all soon shall pass.  Our great community must survive. 

Our Parish Council did more for our priests than almost any organization facing tough economic times.  They offered them 60% of their current wage. Ask any of the millions of American workers who have been laid off of their jobs in the past decade if they would accept those terms.  My opinion is that almost all of them would take reduced salaries over being laid off.  Why do our employees feel they are any more special than any other worker who has been asked to do more for less? Or, worse yet, asked to leave their job for no pay?

As a funding member of this community, I recommend that we expect our employees to do their job for the pay we can afford to allocate to them.  It is completely their prerogative to show up to work and do their job.  If they choose not to do their job, they should not be paid a penny.  Period.

If they choose not to do their job, we must move on.  This will afford our community a fresh start.  As I understand it, these are pretty good jobs; even at 40% reduced salary. These are salaries many in our community would love to have.  This childish, petulant behavior must not be rewarded. 

Please stay strong in your decision. I, for one, support the Parish Council. 

Sincerely,

Bill Paulos

E-mails to the Greek Orthodox Community of Greater Salt Lake

These links contain correspondence between the elected Parish Council and the Metropolis of Denver:


Letters from Parish Council; sent via e-mail Friday afternoon, August 2, 2013



Letters from Parish Council; sent via e-mail Friday evening, August 2, 2013