Greek Orthodox Stewards of America - August 1, 1999

NEWS

VOITHIA'S EXECUTIVE EDITOR RESPONDS TO MR. KRITICOS,
BUT FAILS TO ELIMINATE ODOR

Note from editor of Stewards' Website: Reprinted below is Voithia's response to an article written by Mr. Kriticos and posted on the Stewards' Website dealing with the OCA and GOAL. The response is interesting for what it says and then fails to say. For example, Voithia (and more specifically Mr. Angelides) says "whatever may be the OCA's position on Orthodox church organization in America, it plays no part in our relationship with Mr. King." Voithia attempts to give the impression that the OCA is totally disassociated from GOAL and that Mr. King is a mere employee. That may or may not be true. What is clear is that Voithia's Network Solutions domain registration statement available on the internet lists as Voithia's administrative contact "King, Douglas G. (DGK3) dking@Stmichael.org." In other words, GOAL is telling the world that for administrative problems related to Voithia, it can be contacted through St. Michael, an OCA Church. If St. Michael and the OCA have nothing to do with GOAL, why does GOAL tell people to contact it at a St. Michael e-mail address? To say the least, Voithia's explanation sounds and smells "fishy". The smell becomes pungent once one realizes that GOAL has been blatantly pushing OCA Metropolitan Theodosius on its website. Does GOAL want Metropolitan Theodosius, rather than one of the current Greek Orthodox hierarchs presiding in America, to lead a unified American Orthodox Church? Voithia's past explanations about the "OCA connection" cited in the response printed below just do not "cut it." Logically, there is no need for official Voithia correspondence to go through a St. Michael e-mail address, unless of course there is a connection between that church and GOAL. At a bare minimum, use of the St. Michael e-mail address gives the appearance of a connection.

Mr. Stavros Kriticos
c/o Gostewards.org website

Dear Mr. Kriticos:

I am writing to answer the questions you pose in your article posted July 16, 1999 on the Gostewards.org website.

Mr. Doug King is Voithia's Production Manager. He is a highly skilled computer programmer who is in the business of providing Internet technical services. He is also an Orthodox Christian, and a member of the OCA.

Mr. King has been involved with the technical aspects of Voithia since early in its history. This has never been a secret. Indeed, several of the questions you pose were answered by both Harry Coin, Voithia's founding editor and Doug King, many months ago on Voithia. As Mr. Coin explained then, Mr. King became involved in Voithia due to his technical expertise, not his jurisdictional affiliation. It is for that reason that he became the technical contact on Voithia's Internet registration when it was initiated, and has continued in that capacity ever since. Mr. King also worked on a few special technical projects for Voithia, for pay, while Mr. Coin was editor.

When Mr. Coin resigned as Voithia's editor after 16 months of service, Dr. George Stevens, who co-founded Voithia with Mr. Coin, was appointed Managing Editor, and I, who had been a longtime Voithia reporter, was appointed Executive Editor. However, neither Dr. Stevens nor I had the technical expertise that Mr. Coin did, so it was necessary to fill the technical void left by his resignation on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, on the recommendation of Mr. Coin, we asked Mr. King to be Voithia's Production Manager, to handle the technical aspects of the website, for pay, and he has done so since December 5, 1998. He does this work because this is his business, because we asked him to do so, and because we pay him.

Mr. King also served as the Production Manager for the January, 1999 issue of "The Leader." As you may be aware, many of the articles in "The Leader" are reprinted from Voithia. Fortunately, Mr. King has both the technical expertise to handle the website, as well as a newspaper production background and the skills to handle newspaper layout software. We felt it would be most efficient to have one person doing the production work for both our electronic and printed publications, so we asked Mr. King to do so. You may also note that not just the Production Manager, but the entire editorial staff of Voithia, was identical to the editorial staff of "The Leader." Again, this was natural and efficient.

You should be aware that Mr. King is the only member of Voithia's editorial staff who is being paid. The rest of the editorial staff are all volunteers. Again, this should make it clear that Mr. King's participation in Voithia is bona fide economic arrangement, and nothing else. Whatever may be the OCA's position on Orthodox Church organization in America, it plays no part in our relationship with Mr. King.

To answer your other questions, GOAL pays Mr. King for his services on an arms-length basis. GOAL receives no funding from the OCA. GOAL does not consult with leaders of the OCA with respect to strategic planing. Our strategic planning is done by our National Conferences, and implemented by our Board of Directors. The Directors of GOAL are all members of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Neither Mr. King nor any other member of the OCA is actively involved in GOAL. Mr. King works for GOAL; he is not involved in GOAL. The OCA is not behind GOAL's statements about the Ecumenical Patriarchate; GOAL's statements are its own. Mr. King's work as the paid Production Manager for our website and our newsletter does not constitute an intrusion into our Church affairs. The "G" and "O" in GOAL really do stand for "Greek Orthodox."

In the future, if you ever have any other questions, or if you ever need any help finding anything in the Voithia Archive, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

Yours in Christ,
Stephen P. Angelides
Voithia Executive Editor

[ Greek Orthodox Stewards of America
www.gostewards.org/news/n99080101.html
August 1, 1999 ]