“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

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Parish Council Meeting Nugget

Let's see if together we can reconcile this latest nugget from the September 17 parish council meeting. The treasurer proudly reports that stewardship is ahead of last year by some $60,000. Fr. Matthew reports that the annual GOYA retreat at Camp Tuttle will be held on a Friday and Saturday this year instead of the regular Saturday and Sunday. The reason for the change of date? The community can't afford to pay for a priest to fill in so one of the assigned clergy can celebrate liturgy with the kids at the retreat.

As it appears, the community can afford to pay for a replacement to cover assigned clergy vacations (this proistameno is currently away for 3 weeks and has far exceeded his 5 week yearly allotment) but $350 is too much to spend for our children. Now let's chew on that for a while and see if it makes sense.

Posted by TOCB Moderator at 12:31 PM

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This financial nonsense is getting a little old! As I understand it, we haven't paid the Denver Diocese any money towards our annual obligation yet, stewardship is up $60,000. We can't afford another priest but His Eminence says that money doesn't determine the assignment of a priest but, it is assessed on the community's spiritual needs. Our poistameno did agree to write a letter to His Eminence requesting the assignment of another experienced priest. Our preference is of course, Father Mario. But why did this proistameno mention our financial picture since this isn't the basis of an assignment? In addition, at a recent Parish Council meeting that I attended, our Treasurer Phil Floor, said that we didn't have the finances for another priest but based on this anonymous post, it seeems that he has painted a rather rosy picture of stewardship. Are we bi-polar or what?

And can someone answer this for me? I know I'm about to walk on hallowed ground that no man has dared to step on previously but, when one of our priest's goes to do a funeral or liturgy elsewhere, I know they get compensated nicely from that parish for services and expenses but, are we compensating them too? Or are they taking a sick day, vacation day or serving there in leiu of their day off that specific week? If we are compensating them as well as the other community too, why? Is this a sound and common practice that we don't know about? I am not opposed for us to foot the bill if that community is financially strapped. In fact, that would be the right thing to do but, if we are paying them as well, why? Does anyone know or care?

Joseph Kalodimos

September 20, 2007 at 9:26 PM

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