Photo of the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in Somerville, Mass.
NOTE: We received the following note from one of our readers…
The Dormition of the Virgin Mary Church in Somerville, Massachusetts was started by early immigrants to the Boston area originally from Mikrasia in the early 1900’s. My maternal grandparents were founding members.
EDITOR’S COMMENT: We are wondering whether other priests and hierarchs will follow his example… The priest’s name is Father Anthony Tandilyan.
In relation to this, we learned that AB Elpidophoros called for donations for a COVID-19 fund, intended for those hardest hit by the pandemic, and we are relieved to hear that Fr.Karloutsos will not be in charge of this (or is he? – the announcement was not very clear…) Bishop Apostolos of Medea will be heading the committee to identify those in need… As the new fund is shrouded in secrecy (who gave the first half million?) and lacks – once again – transparency procedures, we cannot be happy in the news of its formation… Bishop Apostolos will have a chance to leave his very questionable past behind if he acts in a way which promotes transparency – which means accounting for every dollar and informing the faithful… And making sure that nobody has received “commission” on the donations and that no COVID-19 money suddenly “flew” to Istanbul… I am not holding my breath…
The same transparency demand holds true for the PPP funds that, as “Kalami” reported, run in the millions, and were eagerly received from the Archdiocese and all its related institutions, probably through ALMA Bank. We have already raised our concerns regarding this issue in a recent piece… Will AB Elpidophoros decide at some point to bring just a little glimmer of hope to this Church? Will he account of how these funds were spent? This is how our previous comment, last Monday, ended very appropriately:
“What will we find when we open our books? It’s fair and appropriate to ask. And if the answers are sketchy or non-existent, then it’s appropriate to stop all financial support.”
BELOW YOU CAN SEE THE PRIEST’S LETTER with the $5 dollar bill attached….
