Thoughts for the New Year: If You Don't LAUGH, You'll CRY!

We've been offline a while. It was the holidays; everyone is tied up, busy, planning for family visits, holiday festivities, winter colds, and the like.

Well, well,well ... since our last posts:

- the anointed appointed put out numerous disingenuous messages regarding "lack of transparency" and such from the current Parish Council. (Note: these are the same people who "can't find" the recordings of the Parish Council meetings when they were in (appointive) "power", and whose financials were a nightmare.)

We would remind them that, a) unlike them, this Parish Council WAS fairly elected, despite their ongoing disingenuous and idiotic excuses regarding "absentee ballots" which the Metropolitan is so fond of parroting as well; b) they themselves found the accounting, after a separate investigation of such, to be to their satisfaction, though they were too disingenuous to follow up with the local media after initially claiming (and then reclaiming) "problems"! (Note: they tried mightily to curb the power of the vote, yet again, by demanding NO absentee ballots even though their vaunted and flawed UPRs allow them!)

- we were treated to a ridiculous tirade that the November General Assembly, with its nominations, was "invalid" because the priests walked out; a further ridiculous tirade was launched because the parishioners present chose NOT to elect a former "anointed appointed" to the Audit Committee (where he would have had an OBVIOUS conflict of interest);

- we were also told that the former anointed appointed were going to pay for the Proistamanos of Prophet Elias Only through a separate account established at the Metropolis.

Really? Good luck with that! (And in setting such an extraordinary precedent, nowhere mentioned in your beloved, flawed UPRs, you might find yourselves paying for far more than you bargained for! Just saying …)

- they also "objected" to the involvement in our community's problems of a nationally and internationally prominent archon, advisor to the Archbishop, in our community's issues;

Because, of course, it was and is OK for them to involve an advisor to the Metropolitan, related to some of the former anointed appointed; but, of course, it's wrong if this community's MAJORITY turns to persons who might also have an interest in the future of our community and, for that matter, for our faith in the entire country? 

- it was also evident that the majority in this community would not "buy in" to the fact that anytime a clergyman didn't like the course of the discourse, he/they could "negate" any discussion they wished not to hear simply by leaving - yeah, the majority here doesn't buy into that anymore either!

How convenient is it to have priests simply choosing to walk out when they do not care for the turn of conversation? How convenient is it for the former anointed appointed to have the priests walk out when they realize they do not have the votes? (they even whined about such in a follow-up letter to their supposed supporters!) How interesting is it that they still do not understand, no matter what, THEY ARE A MINORITY!!!???

The only reason they think they are a majority is that we, THE REAL MAJORITY, have made a serious mistake! Because many are sick and tired of the ongoing lunacy, they have decided to avoid such by driving the extra miles downtown. As such, we have abandoned OUR COMMUNITY'S CHURCH in Holladay to them. Thus, they delude themselves that they've "won"!

- being so certain of their "majority", they actually have had the nerve to confront various properly elected Parish Council members, including one of our outstanding youth, demanding to know "what are YOU doing here? WE can handle this (meaning the pangari/candle donations)!"

Again, our mistake is quite evident. 

The reply is:

NO ONE has the RIGHT to tell ANYONE that Prophet Elias is NOT their church!

The youngster who was chastised, is an elected Parish Council member and an outstanding young man in our community. How smart is it to antagonize one of our youth, since it's not that easy to keep them engaged? Our co-Treasurer is a lifelong member who has served in various capacities for over three decades, and mostly at PE. Our President, as well.

NONE of the people who are being harassed currently needed an appointment from Denver; they were fairly ELECTED, after this community's majority had been denied voting privileges allowed by those same UPRs for so long.

Stewards actually ELECTED THEM - and re-elected many of them! (If some chose not to participate, that was their choice.)

We ALL, as stewards of this community, have an ABSOLUTE RIGHT to attend either of OUR community's churches (where so many of us were baptized, married, or had parents and loved ones memorialized) whenever we wish!

No one should tell any member of our community, regardless of his or her thoughts on the problems we face, to leave, or to ask "what are YOU doing here!?"

Both churches belong TO ALL OF US - and NOT TO SOME OF US!