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The National Herald - November 5, 2004
OCL Appeals NYS Supreme Court Ruling
By Theodore Kalmoukos
BOSTON - A group of 34 Greek Orthodox individuals, which initiated a lawsuit
against the Greek Orthodox Church in America and its prelate His Eminence
Archbishop Demetrios of America because of dissatisfaction with the new
Church Charter, and whose law suit was dismissed on August 6 by the New
York State Supreme Court, have filed another motion.
The group’s
recent action is challenging the court’s decision, which the group calls
"erroneous," and blaming the court for denying them civil rights "as
members of a New York State Corporation," namely the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese.
Most of the
plaintiffs are officials, members or sympathizers of the Orthodox
Christian Laity, more commonly known as OCL.
Among them
are President Peter Haikalis and its vice president Andrew Kartalis. The
Metropolises of San Francisco and Pittsburgh did not allow the two
above-mentioned individuals to represent their respective parishes of the
Ascension Church in Oakland, CA and Sts. Constantine & Helen of
Cleveland, OH at the 37th biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in New York this
past July. Among other things, the OCL motion states that the order issued
by the NYS Supreme Court in August fails to grasp their civil rights and
completely misinterprets the issue. The plaintiffs also claim that the
Court’s order fails to distinguish between the organizational structure of
the Orthodox Church and the Archdiocese.
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Former
members of the Archdiocesan Council and its executive committee during the
era of Archbishop Iakovos, formerly of North & South America, as well
as former members of various Archdiocesan committees who were not
appointed to ecclesiastical and organizational posts and committees by the
current Archdiocese administration.
Some of the
plaintiffs are also members of the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle -
Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
In a written
statement, Evan Chriss of Baltimore, one of the plaintiffs and a longtime
member of the Archdiocesan Council, said that the action is justified
"because the Court’s decision denied our civil rights as members of the
Archdiocese, a New York Corporation."
In addition
to the failure of the Court to abide by the Court’s own rules on filings
made by litigants, Mr. Chriss explained, "by its reading and reliance upon
the Defendant’s reply, the Court failed to consider the true issue in the
case, which is the Archdiocese’s failure to follow the requisite procedure
for revision of its 1977 Charter, misapplied to applicable law, and made
erroneous findings of material facts."
It was
announced at the Clergy-Laity Congress this past summer that this legal
action taken against the Church and the Archbishop had already cost more
than $300,000.
[ Orthodox Truth - www.orthodox-truth.bugs3.com/art_72.html - November 5, 2004 ]
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