Author: Administrator
February 12, 2012
ROEA/OCA Due Diligence Questions sent to ROAA/BOR are without satisfactory responses 2 years later, yet ROAA still desires a concrete answer in the near future as to whether or not we want fusion/merger with them under BOR!
Find below a few decisions taken at the Jan. 30, 2012 Eparchial Council meeting of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas (ROAA) under the chairmanship of Archbishop Nicolae. Source: www.romarch.org
We cite from the decisions by ROAA’s Eparchial Council (italics) and our Comment follows: 1-“… the Eparchial Council [ROAA/BOR] will request the Parish Councils to update the movable and immovable inventory of the parish…”
Isn’t this request somehow linked to the necessity of refinancing their Cathedral mortgage in Chicago? ROAA/BOR Parishes with paid up buildings and money in the bank should be very careful… 2-“… The 2011 Financial Report of the Holy Archdiocese was considered along with the draft budget for 2012…”
For at least two years our ROEA/OCA “Due Diligence” Committee has been asking for these types of reports and it has yet to receive audited statements by an exterior accounting auditor. Why would that be? 3-“… A topic of interest was the discussion on the Dialogue with the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America. It was underlined the desire of a concrete answer on the development of this dialogue in the near future.
ROAA/BOR has not even satisfactorily answered the ROEA/OCA Due Diligence
questions asked more than two years ago, but it wants “a concrete answer” in the “near future” regarding merger/unity under BOR? What impudence! What insolence? Do they really not understand that the ROEA/OCA, as a legal entity, must ask those types of questions and that they should answer, and that if they do not in a satisfactory manner, they alone are guilty of stopping the dialogue? 4-“… It was set the time and place for the coming Archdiocesan Congress [ROAA/BOR]. This year the Congress will be hosted by St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Montreal, QC on June 28-July 1, 2012…”
It seems that the “near future” in which the ROAA/BOR wants “a concrete answer” from the ROEA/OCA regarding merger/unity under BOR, might mean before their Congress, that is this summer. But, without satisfactory answers to our “Due Diligence” and other questions, it will be very difficult to progress the dialogue with them. At our 2011 ROEA/OCA Congress a report was presented regarding where we are at with the ‘Due Diligence’ activity. (You can read about this report in the Sep.-Oct. 2011 Solia or excerpts presented on this website under the title ‘ROEA 2011 Congress’.) “Psa./Attorney Mary Lynn Pac-Urar summarized the activity of the Due Diligence Committees (DDC). She explained that the Congress voted to have these committees because the Proposal seeks the legal merger of two corporations, and the Episcopate has a fiduciary duty to engage in Due Diligence. The DDC does not deal with ecclesiastical or policy issues. The DDC has received some responses from the Archdiocese [ROAA/BOR]. The DDC needs to analyze what was received and what needs to be done…” It should be noted that these questions and others, have been asked before, but we have never received complete and satisfactory answers from the ROAA/BOR. Our 2010 Cleveland Congress showed its unrelenting desire for ROEA Due Diligence to be satisfactorily completed before any merger/unity decision is taken in this resolution passed: “That the Congress hereby supports the efforts of the Due Diligence committee in requesting information from the ROAA and urges the ROAA to provide such information in a timely manner, but not to exceed 90 days from the date of the request and this resolution will be included in the due diligence requests. If any further information is requested of the ROEA, please make such request and it will be provided in a timely manner by our Due Diligence committee.” This statement underlines ROEA frustration with the lack of ROAA compliance with our Due Diligence requests. The Solia report on the ROEA 2011 Congress clearly states that until now: “The DDC has received some responses from the Archdiocese.” At least two years have passed and nothing more definitive from the ROAA-BOR. They don’t want to fully answer? Why not? Can we proceed without these complete answers? NO! That would be irrational – totally unacceptable – legally, morally. After they do not respond to our questions, the ROAA dares ask for “a concrete answer” in the “near future” regarding merger/unity under BOR? The only possible ROEA response is, given that after more than two years we remain without satisfactory answers to our “Due Diligence” questions, among others, it is impossible to progress the dialogue with the ROAA, let alone the necessary internal dialogue, release from the OCA and the complex voting procedures that would follow… let alone the fact that our past is represented by BOR from there, but that our present and future is OCA from here, most especially for our children born here … and the fault is their’s alone.