Author: Alex. C. Popescu<\/p>\n\n\n\n
October 20, 2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Joint Dialogue Commission (JDC) produced a Communiqu\u00e9 after their August 12, 2008 meeting in Detroit. It is available on the roeanews.info website under ROEA Documents.\u00a0 On closer scrutiny, certain statements need addressing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1- Statement:<\/strong> \u201c\u2026the Commission met to continue its work on the proposal [\u2026 including \u2026] the refinement of the Proposal text.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1- Comment: <\/strong>Since that time nothing has been published concerning the \u201crefinement of the Proposal text\u201d. In spite of numerous negative comments concerning many of the proposed 20 points and suggestions made to improve the Proposal Document made since July, the JDC apparently refuses to disclose its \u201crefinements\u201d to the Council nor, more importantly, to the membership at large. What will become of those points which have drawn the most criticism? The JDC refuses to speak!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, \u201crefinement of the Proposal text\u201d and its 20 points in more final format must await completion of the Due Diligence process. It seems that there exists a list of many pages of Due Diligence questions and nothing has yet happened with them.\u00a0 Will Bucharest\/Chicago i.e. the Romanian Patriarchate and\/or its subservient Diocese – the ROAA, ever respond in full to these many pages of questions?\u00a0 If they fail to respond to those questions, there cannot be a proposal to present for a vote of any kind on this issue.\u00a0 Or, are they so sure that this is a done deal and therefore, no response is required?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2- Statement<\/strong> \u201cThe JDC members noted that both Congresses took an historic step by approving the proposal as a basis for continued dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2- Comment:<\/strong> It is important to be very clear on this point and for this reason it is best to specifically quote the 2008 ROEA Congress Resolution on this topic. \u201cBe it also resolved that the Episcopate Council recommends to the Episcopate Congress, in keeping with due diligence, that the Joint Dialogue Commission\u2019s efforts to establish the Metropolitanate can continue, that the Archbishop\u2026 establish special Committees, namely, a \u201cConstitution and By-Laws Committee\u201d, \u201cJurisprudence\u201d, \u201cFinance Committee\u201d and any other committees that may be necessary\u2026 And be it further resolved that said committees be established as soon as possible, and that their work be reported to the Episcopate Council\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, \u201ccontinued dialogue\u201d is approved but only inasmuch as ROEA due diligence Committees are set up and their reports presented to the Episcopate Council which will then finalize the information that will be distributed to the entire membership, including Episcopate Congress delegates.\u00a0 \u201cContinued dialogue\u201d was also approved so that numerous due diligence questions relative to the actions of the Romanian Patriarchate, particularly inasmuch as they impact the faithful outside Romania during the past 60+ years, can finally be asked, and then answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we have not been told in the JDC August 12, 2008 communiqu\u00e9 is that the above quote is language of limitation regarding Unity, preferred by the members of our ROEA Episcopate Council over the \u201cwe endorse the 20 points\u2026\u201d, which was the resolution language presented by our JDC members to our Episcopate Council and which the Council rejected. It seems that the JDC members had prepared a resolution which completely endorsed the 20 point Proposal, and if their resolution had not been blocked by our Episcopate Council, today we could have already been under the Romanian Patriarchate\u2019s thumb! The JDC\u2019s actions are clearly those of a pro-unity under Bucharest team, and this latest \u201cCommuniqu\u00e9\u201d is a continuation of their partisan propaganda and full of misinformation, both of commission and omission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3- Statement:<\/strong> \u201cThe Commission regrets the hasty pronouncements of various officials and the media immediately after our Congresses.\u00a0 These misrepresented our Congresses\u2019 decisions as being final decisions on unity\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3- Comment:<\/strong> This is a strange comment indeed since both ROEA Vicar Bishop Irineu and ROAA Archbishop Nicolae proclaimed this Unity publicly, albeit not finally, on July 6, 2008 in Chicago, the day after the July 5, 2008 ROEA Congress resolution quoted above was made.\u00a0 Their recordings are on the \u201croeanews.info\u201d website for all to hear and interpret.\u00a0 They were quoted in several mass media outlets, and their feeble references to the remaining steps to be made before Unity is finally attained were not even registered by the media.\u00a0 The declaration of Unity was made and anything else became such a minor irritant it wasn\u2019t even quoted!\u00a0 End of story. Therefore, the JDC has no one to blame but its own ROEA and ROAA Hierarchs for having \u201cmisrepresented our Congresses\u2019 decisions as being final decisions on unity\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4- Statement:<\/strong> \u201cThe Commission regrets the hasty pronouncements of various officials and the media immediately after our Congresses\u2026 Recent speculation and public commentary by individuals outside of our eparchies have only complicated the delicate nature of this process\u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4- Comment:<\/strong> This is another interesting comment in that the Patriarchal news agency announced the \u201cUnion of the ROEA and ROAA under the Orthodox Church of Romania\u201d as of July 6, 2008, and the Romanian Patriarch himself announced the Unity event at the Holy Synod of July 7-9, 2008.\u00a0 Reference to these is made on the roeanews.info website.\u00a0 Romanian and international news agencies broadcast this \u201cnews\u201d and now millions of people believe that this Unity under Bucharest actually took place.\u00a0 Also, we should not overlook Metropolitan Streza\u2019s July 5, 2008 \u201cUnity\u201d remarks in Chicago.\u00a0 It must be noted that the latter was the Romanian Patriarchate\u2019s official representative at the Chicago events and is far from being an \u201coutsider\u201d. Does the JDC mention any of this? Language of omission…<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5- Statement:<\/strong> \u201cThe Commission members insist that the process of discussion and possible union is in the competence of our two eparchies alone \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5- Comment:<\/strong> This is another curious statement in that the unofficial unity Proposal prepared by the JDC itself refers to the need of Romanian Patriarchate approval: \u201cWe propose that, together, we ask the Romanian Orthodox Church to recognize a maximally autonomous, united, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of the Americas made up of the present Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, and the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas, with the following properties:\u2026\u201d Therefore, having Patriarchal envoys and representatives such as Metropolitan Streza commenting and even leading Unity discussions makes perfect sense. They alone should know what is acceptable to the Romanian Patriarchate and what is not. That some JDC members give the impression they may or may not like what the Patriarchate has to say through its envoys is another issue, one that some should get used to if they go under the Romanian Patriarchate. More misinformation…<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6- Statement:<\/strong> \u201cIn our first meeting in 1993 the Commission said: \u2018We are cognizant of the fact that the reconciliation and normalization of relations between our respective dioceses is part of the larger process of bringing the various Orthodox jurisdictions together in the great work of an administratively united Orthodox Church on the American continent.\u2019\u00a0 The Commission would ask that our continuing efforts be understood within this larger context.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6- Comment:<\/strong> This is a \u201chow is that again\u201d statement in that it seems so patently contradictory; and yet we are asked to not only accept it as logical argumentation but also be convinced by it.\u00a0 Somehow, \u201cROEA\/ROAA unity under the Romanian Patriarchate is a move towards Orthodox unity in North America\u201d?\u00a0 This would sound so much more believable if we would instead say: \u201cROEA\/ROAA unity under the OCA is a move towards Orthodox unity in North America\u201d.\u00a0 That sounds better doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It also sounds eminently more logical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A simple analogy would be, if you live in Detroit would you drive through Boston on your way to Los Angeles?\u00a0 Of course not.\u00a0 Then why leave the American Orthodox Church to join the Romanian Orthodox Church only to later rejoin American Orthodox Church?\u00a0 Why would the OCA even consider taking you back once you\u2019ve left them? The logic is simply not there…<\/p>\n\n\n\n As well, if this statement would be at all credible the JDC would have to answer why no meeting has been held amongst all the parties – the ROEA, the agents of Bucharest\/ Chicago and the OCA?\u00a0 Who has blocked such a meeting, which, if successful, could bring us closer to Orthodox unity in America? Is this Unity issue under Bucharest not simply an ethnic issue driven by political neo-colonialism?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t the above statement regarding Orthodox unity in America written only on paper but not written in the hearts of those who write it?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t this their way of paying lip service to our real goal, while they get us to sign the opposite on the proverbial dotted line? Willful omission\/ commission…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, this statement makes no sense, since we should all know enough about the Romanian Patriarchate and its controlling State apparatus to be convinced that once they have us under their control, they will never let us go.\u00a0 Our forefathers believed this and we should not be fooled into believing that power-mongering has vanished simply because 1989 became 1990.\u00a0 Change in culture, ethics values takes a whole lot longer than 1 or even 20 years, possibly many generations\u2026 In the meantime we continue to grow apart…<\/p>\n\n\n\n But hold on, they do say: \u2018We are cognizant of the fact that the reconciliation and normalization of relations between our respective dioceses is part of the larger process of bringing the various Orthodox jurisdictions together in the great work of an administratively united Orthodox Church on the American continent.\u2019\u00a0 So they really want ROEA\/ROAA Unity under the OCA, right?\u00a0 Ahh!, but possibly not today, only tomorrow, right? Or maybe\u2026 Please, enough with the misinformation. Stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When will this type of partisan, misinformation, JDC \u201cCommuniqu\u00e9\u201d end?\u00a0 We need straight-talking, complete disclosure and full cooperation if we are to obtain all the facts and information needed, prior to deciding on the Episcopate\u2019s future.\u00a0 We need the due diligence procedure to start and we need each one of those many pages of questions to be answered before any votes are taken on the issue of Unity. We must know fully what kind of Unity is envisaged before we sign on that dotted line\u2026\u00a0 If there is insufficient cooperation from the other side, or if the due diligence findings produce negative results, then this discussion of ROEA\/ROAA Unity under Bucharest should cease, and the sooner the better.\u00a0 In any event, the debate should be refocused on ROEA\/ROAA unity under the OCA, the only approach that makes any sense, particularly since this is what the Communiqu\u00e9 claims as the JDC\u2019s goal.\u00a0 Too much valuable time, energy, money and focus is being spent on issues that have nothing to do with growing our Church in North America, teaching and making our faith more palatable to our children so that they continue in the faith of our ancestors, presenting the beauties of this Church to our neighbours in the United States and Canada, and concentrating on preparing our own lives for eternal salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No unity proposal is acceptable which gives to us a religious colonialism, long ago rejected by our parents and grandparents.\u00a0 They built a church free from and independent of a State-controlled church.\u00a0 Why would we now want to go backwards rather than continuing forwards?\u00a0 Colonialism, even in the religious sense, is over, at least in the North American context. If others choose to live in the past let them do so by staying in or joining the Romanian ROAA, or whatever new eparchy the Romanian Patriarchate chooses to threaten them with, but please leave us alone!\u00a0 If there are those in the Romanian ROAA interested in sharing our North American church life in the OCA, the American ROEA door is wide open.\u00a0 We have chosen to go forward in the American ROEA, and this as part of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America. This is our path and those who see their future here are welcome to join with us in this, the newest and only non-State-controlled Orthodox Church in the world, the OCA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pray that our Episcopate leadership, Hierarchs, Chancery staff, Episcopate Council members, Dialogue Commission members, and Committee members, would share these views, because most of the rest of us, faithful and clergy alike, have already chosen to be part of the American ROEA and the OCA, instead of the Romanian ROAA and the Romanian Patriarchate.\u00a0 Let no one forget that we have had this choice since 1952 and continue to have this choice today.\u00a0 We have already chosen!\u00a0 Who dares attempt to overrule our choice?\u00a0 The JDC certainly has no mandate to even consider this.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe our leadership has already come to the same conclusion and the time has come to speak up for our Episcopate, free and independent of foreign control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alex. C. Popescu Author: Alex. C. Popescu October 20, 2008 The Joint Dialogue Commission (JDC) produced a Communiqu\u00e9 after their August 12, 2008 meeting in Detroit. It is available on the roeanews.info website under ROEA Documents.\u00a0 On closer scrutiny, certain statements need addressing: 1- Statement: \u201c\u2026the Commission met to continue its work on the proposal [\u2026 including \u2026] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241120734,"featured_media":147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3205],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/roeanews.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct-20-2008.jpg?fit=128%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfcdbO-2h","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/241120734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions\/1622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roeanews.info\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
October 20, 2008
Montreal, Canada<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"