Αφιερωμένο στον …σεπτό «ιεράρχη» Σωτήριο, επ΄ ευκαιρία της σημερινής του γιορτής…

 

Με την ευκαιρία της σημερινής «εορταστικής» ημέρας της πρωταπριλιάς  και της κατ’ επάγγελμα… γιορτής του Αρχιεπισκόπου και …πατρός υμών κ.κ. Σωτηρίου, του αφιερώνουμε -μαζί με τις ευχές μας- το παρακάτω άρθρο, φίλου αναγνώστη μας, ο οποίος μας έκανε την τιμή να μας μεταφέρει τις γνώσεις του γύρω από την Καναδική Εκκλησία και την ηγεσία της, και να εκφράσει τις απόψεις του για τα, σ’ αυτή, Τεκτενόμενα, αφού έχουν σχέση και με αρχι -Τέκτονες.!

Τουτο το άρθρο, συνδέεται και μάλλον επικουρεί το προηγουμένως δημοσιευθέν, σχετικό με το θέμα, δίνοντάς μας λεπτομερέστερες πληροφορίες, ώστε να μάθουμε -ως λαός της Εκκλησίας- ποιοι …εργάζονται για να μας οδηγήσουν στην αιώνια Βασιλεία του Θεού.!!!

Διαβάστε, όμως, πρώτα το σχόλιο και μετά έχουμε καιρό να τα πούμε και -γιατί όχι- να κάνουμε και κάποιον εποικοδομητικό διάλογο, για τη συμπεριφορά της θρησκευτικής ηγεσίας και την προσπάθεια των φιλοπτώχων μας.:

 

It is true the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) is investigating the Archdiocese and National Pholoptchos. The Archdiocesan Coucil was informed last month on their Zoom meeting Chaired by Archbishop Sotirios. Irregularies were reported to CRA and 2 specific years of the books are being investigated.

It was not disclosed how much money the Archdiocese has spent to date for outside counsel with the review of the books, not were any documents of financials provided or shown. Archbishop Sotirios only said that whatever the CRA tells him to do we will do and fix since none of it was done with malicious intent but out of honest mistakes, how many “honest mistakes” were made is unclear, minimal information was provided.

As for Quebec, an Archon from Montreal also raised the serious concern of lack of priests in Quebec on that same Archdiocesan Council Zoom meeting last month. Bishop Iakovos had nothing to say as Regional Bishop and Archbishop Sotirios dismissed the serious concerns brought foward saying if need be he will go and serve as a simple priest.

The Archdiocese is struggling to find priests, they are losing more priests than are being hired because the situation in Quebec under the Regional Bishop is untenable for the priests. There have been reports from almost every priest across the province to the Archdiocese and the Archbishop about bullying, verbal abuse, screaming etc. from that Bishop. Yes, it is true he went on vacation to Europe during the first half of Lent leaving his priests to scramble during the busiest season of the year.

The best model for the Archbishop to do is go back to the old model where priests reported directly to the Archdiocese. As for St. Nicholas Church, Archbishop Sotirios did announce that Fr. Spiros has formally requested a transfer in writing. The problem however is that no priest wants to go to that church because of the President Tasia and her Archon son Evangelos control that church with an extremely heavy handed authoritarian approach and the priest has very little power to do anything.

It was reported by the current and previous priests to the Archbishop and the Ontario Regional Bishop that they are withholding the priests tips from them. So if a funeral is performs by the priest the automatic line item for his pay of $300 from the funeral goes directly to the President Tasia, like all tips and envelopes for the priest, with no documentation as to where that cash is going. That is the only church in Ontario where that is happening since that is unofficially the cathedral so the church is closely run with Archbishop Sotirios because of the other building on the property that provide him revenue.

As for the National Philoptochos, the only update they provided at the Archdiocesan Council meeting was that they sold masks during the pandemic. No update was provided as to what was done with that money or of any philanthropic work they did during the entire pandemic. No financial update was provided as to how much was raised or what has been distributed. This is also concerning since it is not clear what is happening with the money being raised. There is most definitely cause for concern but nothing will change until the leadership of the church changes and those mentioned are removed from their positions. It's extremely dangerous that so much power lies in the hands of so few people who frankly have no professional experience in any of this