Open Letter to the Leadership of the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America
TO: Michael Gregory, Lay Vice Chairman
CC: Fr. Nikodhim Preston, Chancellor, Fr. Mark Doku, Ilir Danga, Franklin Zdruli, Mark Dionis
Dear Michael,
As a person who is originally from Worcester, you know how hard our Community has worked to maintain a vibrant, growing Albanian Orthodox Christian Community in Central Massachusetts.
We constantly look towards the future, but we do so while honoring our past. Metropolitan Noli stated , “That while Boston maybe the head of the Archdiocese, Worcester is it’s heart!” Many of us here believe that we are currently at a cross road in our history. It appears that we have history repeating itself with the passing of Bishop Nikon. When Metropolit an Noli died, it left a void. That void eventually created a terrible rift in our community. We absolutely do not want to have a rift again. The best way to prevent that is to have an open, self examination of the future direction of our Archdiocese. This should be a pre-requisite before voting on any candidate for Bishop. This really should have been done soon after Bishop Nikon’s passing, but it wasn’t. So, now is our opportunity to examine which road we should go down for the future of our Archdiocese.
Since 1971, we have been part of a self governing Archdiocese within the Orthodox Church in America. This came about due to the leadership vacuum after Metropolitan Noli’s death in1965, the infighting that followed as to who should be our legitimate Bishop, and the destruction of the Orthodox Church of Albania in 1967. We no longer had new families or clergy coming to America. Our joining the OCA was out of necessity; it was actually for both sides. It gave Bishop Stephen Lasko legitimacy. It gave added legitimacy to the OCA in their quest to lead an “American” Orthodox Church. This partnership is now over 50 years old. The circumstances of today are not as they were in 1971. Both organizations are facing new and different challenges . The OCA has not become the over arching leader of the Church in America and unlike in 1971, there are now tens of thousands of Albanians living in America, more than at any time in our history. Our parish council is completely made up of men and women who immigrated here from Albania since the fall of communism. We are very fortunate as these people have breathed new life into our Church, and let’s not forget that they and their children are now Americans too! Conversely, we have many parishes that are shrinking as they are located in small, more rural areas with no major immigration boosts. What do we do to promote growth? How can we help our smaller struggling parishes?
In theory, our parishes in cities like NYC, Philadelphia, Detroit , Boston should also be seeing an influx of new Americans from Albania and growing. Are they? If not, why? We know that there are other regions with recent arrivals that have expressed an interest in exploring opening Albanian Orthodox missions. Places like in Waterbury, Toronto, Montreal and Florida. Are we looking at expanding, if not, why? Anecdotally, these people don’t appear to be joining the local OCA parishes in their cities, why? These are just but a few of the hard questions that need to be asked.
Some people probably question, why do we care so much about an Albanian Orthodox Church : we live in America, right? The answer is because we stayed true to our faith in the face of wars, occupation, communism and immigration. Our ancestors defended Christianity and stopped the Turks from completely taking over Christendom. Now, 550 years later, there are still Albanian Eastern Rite Eparchies in Italy and Sicily. In late 19th and early 20th century, after keeping our faith under 500 years of Islamic rule, we were told by other Orthodox people that we weren’t Christians because we were Albanian. In our ancestral homeland we couldn’t even use Albanian in the liturgy. Several priests from our own Archdiocese were murdered there because they dared to use Albanian in the liturgy. Then many of us, alive today, were faced with the utter calamity of Albania becoming the world’s first atheistic state. Many of our parishioners, our friends and family members were persecuted by the Communists because they believed in Our Savior Jesus Christ. Thankfully, the Church there has just celebrated the 30th anniversary of it’s resurrection! This is why we fight tenaciously to preserve what we have. We are not just an “ethnic club”, we are Eastern Orthodox Christians who happen to be Albanian by ethnicity and American by choice or birth. Our culture of “Besa” requires us to welcome people to our home, and we have welcomed many non-Albanians to our fold. It is clear that our focus on the Albanian part of our identity is not just nostalgia for the past, but a central part of reinforcing and supporting our Orthodox faith in the future.
We are only asking for the same respect shown to the larger Orthodox groups . We have been part of the mosaic of American Orthodoxy for close to 120 years. As the Church in America faces great changes in societal norms, demographics, the lack of religiosity in young people, along with the terrible impact Covid has had on many parishes across the country, we just want to be making our own decisions for our future, whatever that may be. The time has come for that self examination. As the Lay- Vice Chairman, you should consider establishing a “blue ribbon commission” whose task would be to meet with our various communities to better understand their needs, research various options regarding our organizational structure, and eventually come back to the Parishes with a plan that makes sense for our future. As part of any overall future plan, we ask that you open a dialogue with our brothers and sisters of the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America in order to find a way to reunite them with our Archdiocese. This tragic family split has gone on much too long. Only through a thoughtful examination of all ideas and options, and asking for the Lord’s assistance, can we choose the right path for all of us.
Sincerely the past Chairpersons of St. Mary’s Assumption Albanian Parish Council,
Mary Baker
Mark Johns
Valerie Kerxhalli
John Lito
Paul Proko
Gregory Steffon
Tomi Stefani
Ilia Terova
Krijoni Kontakt