Posted by Al
on 6/10/2009, 5:14 am, in reply to "Re: Pre-Conciliar Consultation "
Message modified by user Al 6/10/2009, 5:16 am
Father-
While there is dysfunction in many parishes, a fair deal of it is a result of the history and circumstances of Orthodoxy's entrance into, and existance within, the US.
The Church did not come to the US to evangelize or "grow", but to minister to the spiritual needs of immigrant Orthodox. Most parishes were established as ethnic ghetto parishes simply because they were in ethnic ghettos. While there were indeed some multi-ethnic parishes in the early days, as the local Orthodox populations grew, the resulting new parishes arising from these multi-ethnic parishes became mono-ethnic.
Additionally, the Church came to the US and found itself in a situation it had never really dealt with before. The bulk of the population was already heterodox Christians. No need to spread the Gospel. It had already been done, even if incorrectly. Besides, no one in the first century of Orthodoxy in the US was properly trained nor interested in evangelizing the continent, no less provided the slightest of resources to do so.
This "purpose" remained the same until 1970, when the OCA became "The American Church" and suddenly, a couple of hundred insular ethnic parishes were sort of expected to become the future of a new Church. But all that had really changed was that the Metropolia became autocephalous in name with the same clergy, laity and episcopate that brought you one of our insular, ethnic churches. There were no growth and evangelization resources in place, nor was there the in-house talent to generate same. (I was there)
Unlike the "Old Countries", parishes in the US had to become corporations to own land, do "business" and the like. Each parish became responsible for its own economic survival, adding another insular experience to their lives.
Now, with strong roots and history of insular behavior, we tend to reinforce this insular nature by our parish life itself. We come together to worship, but we do not tend to engage, as a parish, in the life of the community around us. Ethnic bazaars to raise money are not engaging the community. We tend to be more visible as brick and mortar at a given address than as a community of believers involving itself in the general well being of the community on a regular basis. Now, part of this, I am sure, is because many of our parishes are not "neighborhood" parishes, but rather "commuter" parishes. Thus, a Whidbey Islander has no automatic connection to the people of Arlington, some 50 miles away.
And, of course, combining jurisdictionalism with "commuter parishes" leads us to drive past one parish to be a member of another parish based on selective reasons. We even get to pick our islands. Have you run across any bishop or priest who tells the laity to only worship at the geographically closest parish to their home, regardless of jurisdiction? Jurisdictional competition adds to the insular nature of Orthodoxy.
In short, our parishes still tend to focus on what "works for them", by their definition of the term. Whether it is healthy or not for the parish or the Church Universal in the long run is secondary.
Where are the bishops who offer direction for spreading the faith? Do they find ways to train and fund real missionaries or just encourage "mission" parishes, which are typically a core of local Orthodox who are open to inquirers, but do not really reach out and evangelize? And, of course, as the new parish struggles to raise money to buy or build a church building, their energy is quickly diverted to insular concerns.
So, if the Church was insular to begin with and remained insular over time, is it not easy to understand how, in terms of evangelism, we have not won any gold medals?
If you want to be a true Christian that worhips and loves God and expresses love of neighbor as one's self, the Orthodox Church in the US generally offers only the worship. Each of us is on his own for fulfilling the Second Greatest Commandment and the Sermon of the Last Judgment. We just haven't incorporated Christian engagement in the community into our collective life. A priest once said that all too many of us go to Church to hide from God. It took me a long while to understand what he meant. If we, the Orthodox community of the parish, hide from the needs of the least of those in our neighborhood, we are hiding from the very God that is within all of His created peoples. It is similar to the words of the rector of the Catholic Church in the village of my youth, "If you walk by and look away from that beggar while you are on the way to the mailbox to send your check to Catholic Charities, what have you really accomplished as a Christian?
The Church in the US has been both victim and perpetuator of insularity. Until that is changed, it will be business as usual. And no jurisdiction or "foreign bishop" has a copyright on that. It's not a polity issue. If polity alone would solve the problem, the OCA would be spreading the faith by leaps and bounds, rather than continuously shrinking. We need to begin "touching" people, and not just those who are Orthodox.
Al
Paros Island, Greece
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