The official “Assembly of Bishops” statement ended with this gem-
The Assembly decided that it was prudent for itself to be incorporated as a legal entity, as this would bring the Assembly a number of benefits and would further its ability to act as a body. It therefore authorized the proper agents to move ahead with the work of incorporation. In addition, the Assembly reaffirmed its petition of last year to the mother churches, for the partition of the Assembly, by establishing Canada as a separate region, and joining Mexico and Central America to the region of South America. This represents also the desire of the Canadian, Mexican and Central American bishops. Lastly, the Assembly drafted and approved an official message to be issued in its name to the all Orthodox Christian faithful living within the region.
If you split off Canada and Mexico, that ‘region’ the bishops are alluding to is none other than the United States of America. Sorry I had to point that out but you almost would miss that from the statement.
I am digressing to this matter because it has a direct connection to the matters we are covering here on this blog. It has to do with underlying assumptions which bubble up in public communications. I am sifting through the public communications of various figures in the OCA to demonstrate their underlying motives.
What this hesitancy in saying “USA” should tell us is that the Assembly is a farce when it comes to any genuine interest for the people in this country. It has everything to do with the bishops’ interests in thumb-wrestling each other for who has to go home and who gets to lick the spatula.
This assembly is being defined by what Mexicans and Canadians want, but the biggest community, the Americans, are not even mentioned. When it comes to our desires or needs, there is silence. Not that I think it is a bad idea to see these regions go their separate ways. But what I am pointing out is that the Assembly cannot bring itself to saying that it is becoming an assembly for the United States of America.
We know that this is problem for them because of several reasons. The first is that with the exception of the Romanians perhaps almost every Orthodox country has a popular culture that hates America even while its individual citizens scramble to get a work visa here. This cannot be understated. So, the bishops who sit in the Mother Churches will have to work doubly hard to overcome this popular inclination before making decisions effecting Americans… if we let them.
The second problem is that by acknowledging the United States of America it is pointing out the obvious direction of independence for the churches here. The OCA has never been seen as a profound threat to the status quo because it has remained nationalistically weak by stretching across the entire continent. The Tomos perhaps on accident guaranteed this.
But now, the bishops are being forced to acknowledge that a continental approach will not work. But this also sets the groundwork for an “American Orthodox” community as well as a “Mexican Orthodox” and “Canadian Orthodox” community.
Watch for forthcoming choking while the bishops struggle to explain what they are becoming while not saying the words “American” and “Orthodox” next to each other.
This process is about these other overseas churches. The fact that they have to make a second request to “approve” the partitioning of the region should tell us a great deal. Our concerns are secondary to theirs. They can even leave ‘their own’ bishops hanging for a year to make a decision that should be obvious that the whole system is not geared for being either timely or responsive which makes it in the end a useless enterprise when it comes to pastoral matters.
Again, their failure to use the name of the United States of America tells us a great deal. This tied to the “mother churches” unwillingness to reapportion the territory of the assembly indicates that Americans are more of a problem for them than the churches are willing to say publicly.
Another notable feature of the announcement was how the Serbian absence was mentioned not once but three times, each time excusing then for essentially the same reason. This recitation of the same excuse may very well indicate that the Serbs are indeed not planning to go along with the Assembly. Then again, if the “Mother Churches” refuse a second time to approve the partition, the game will be over. The territory is simply too big and too diverse to hold together.
In the end, the only thing the Assembly may succeed in is the destruction of SCOBA.
Can you provide a link to the statement you read, because the official statement does not contain the quoted paragraph. http://www.assemblyofbishops.org/news/documents/assembly-message-2011
ReplyDeleteNever mind. http://www.assemblyofbishops.org/news/releases/2011-meeting
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, North America does not consist of only 3 countries. English speaking countries, off our coasts, such as the Bahamas, and Jamaica, would be a more natural fit for our slice of the pie than Canada or central America.
ReplyDeleteFather John, the English speaking countries you mention are, like Canada, part of the British Commonwealth. Perhaps in that way they may have more in common with Canada, though they are geographically more distant.
ReplyDeleteIs there very much Orthodox activity in the Caribbean, do you know? I have heard about a church or churches in Haiti (not one of the Commonwealth countries, but like Canada with French as an official language)-- a now-departed member of our parish in her later years went there on her own initiative to live and simply be of assistance to some of the needy people who belonged to the church. She died there some years ago now, Memory Eternal to her.
ROCOR has several parishes in Haiti, and I think because of their dependence on US help for those parishes, they fit better with us than with Central America.
ReplyDeleteThe real answer would be to ask them. Assigning them here or there is just more of the same.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the destruction of SCOBA is exactly what the "Mother Churches" want most of this exercise in nonsense and futility that the Episcopal Assembly is becoming? If SCOBA is destroyed, rather than replaced, what happens to the various agencies it created and oversaw? Don't they become vulnerable to being co-opted by the Ecumenical Patriarch via the Greek Archdiocese, which would lessen the support from the other jurisdictions on this continent? The faltering or failure of these "pan-Orthodox" efforts would strengthen the claims of the "Mother Churches" that the Orthodox in North America, not just the USA, are not "mature enough" for autocephaly or autonomy. Without OCMC, IOCC, and OCPM as rally points for a unified Orthodox presence in the USA or North America, think how much harder the efforts to create an autocephalous American Orthodox Church will be.
ReplyDelete