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The National Herald - December 20-26, 2025

Selected Editorials from Our Greek-Language Edition

Advisor to the Publisher, Antonis H. Diamataris

The Sale of the School’s Land Is End of an Era

Some events in the life of an organization are so significant that they leave a lasting mark on it.

One such event —highly revealing of the course of our Archdiocese— is its recent decision to sell part of the land of our Theological School in Boston.

It exposes a dead end; it reveals —without any possibility of embellishment— the downward spiral into which it has fallen.

It is the visible end of an era.

When the land was purchased in the late 1940s and the School was founded, it was a time of hope, optimism and grand visions for the future of Hellenism in the United States. The sale of the land, by contrast, signifies contraction, pessimism, and the failure of the leadership of our Archdiocese.

It should be considered certain that this decision is not unrelated to the attempt to convert a school building into an apartment building in Astoria. There, the Archdiocese simply came face to face with popular outrage and backed down.

The problem with the School’s finances did not arise yesterday; it has been an issue for years.

Without a clear vision, an academically mediocre school is bound to attract few students and few donations, resulting in years of financial hemorrhaging.

The financial injections made into the School were mostly money wasted, because they were not accompanied by a bold strategy, nor was there leadership capable and experienced enough to implement one.

Today, nearly seven years after Elpidophoros was chosen as Archbishop, the situation has reached an impasse.

Easy solutions no longer exist. The money needed is significant. The problem cannot be patched up.

And so the Archdiocese was forced to resort to selling a piece of property —property that another Archbishop and later Patriarch, Athenagoras, inspired our people, those humble yet soulful and faithful individuals, to purchase.

Today, both Athenagoras and those good members of the diaspora who, from their own hardship, bought this jewel of land —in a very fine area, on a hill in Boston— would be mourning from heaven.

One would hope that these tens of millions of dollars would be used for a worthy purpose.

Unfortunately, that does not appear likely.

From the half-words being spoken and from the lack of a full explanation by the Archbishop —something he should have felt obliged to provide on such an important matter— this does not seem forthcoming.

The money will simply be spent.

And then they will have to find something else to sell. And then something else.

Until radical solutions are finally sought.

[ The National Herald - December 20-26, 2025 - p. 20 ]

[ The National Herald
  https://www.thenationalherald.com/the-sale-of-the-schools-land-is-end-of-an-era/
  December 14, 2025 ]