Division Deepens Among Greek Orthodox

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 9—The oldest American diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church has voted in favor of the removal of Archbishop Spyridon, leader of the U.S. church, the wire service said. Ministers and layworkers from 63 New England parishes voted 58-51 to call for Spyridon's removal. According to AP, “Critics say Spyridon is too traditional and can't relate to American expressions of Greek Orthodoxy.” Dean Popps of the Greek Orthodox American Leaders, Inc., an anti-Spyridon group, said “He's chased anyone with money and credentials out of the church.” More than 10 U.S. churches are withholding funds from the archdiocese because they don't like Spyridon's policies. His defenders say the complaints stem from wealthy members who have a personal grudge against the archbishop, reported AP.

Homosexual Power In Scotland

BRITISH BROADCASTING CORP., June 4—The Bank of Scotland plans to end a proposed deal with evangelical Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson because of televised comments in which Robertson called Scotland a “dark land” for its tolerance of homosexual behavior, a BBC web site reported.

Citing an unidentified source, BBC said the Bank of Scotland would cancel a planned launch of a U.S. telephone banking service in cooperation with the evangelist's financial services company. Robertson, who founded the Christian Coalition, was reported to be paying $50 million for a 25% stake in the venture.

In an editorial, The New York Times approved of the Scots' decision to pull out of the deal, disapproved of Robertson's remarks, and expressed worry that the evangelist may have gained enough information to put together a similar arrangement with another institution.

Ireland Awaits the Little Flower

THE IRISH TIMES, June 7—Reporter Patsy McGarry reports that Ireland is looking forward to a visit to the Emerald Isle by Carmelite sisters who will bear the remains of St. Thérèse of Lisieux during a tour of the country in May and June 2001.

Declared a doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II, Thérèse's extraordinary passage from death to such esteem is attributed primarily to the only book she wrote, The Story of a Soul. “In it she taught that holiness is for all and that it is lived through the ups and downs of life rather than by extraordinary methods and measures,” said McGarry.

Irish experts on the life and virtues of the saint told McGarry that St. Thérèse affirmed the place of the body and of sentiment in spiritual life, serving as a further antidote to the austere Jansenism dominant at the time. One of her leading proponents in Ireland, Carmelite Father Linus Ryan, said: “She felt more than she reasoned,” and she pioneered a return to a simple and wholesome living of the Gospel.

Theologian and Carmelite Father Christopher O'Donnell said the correct veneration of relics looks “to the inspiration of the saint's life and to God's good pleasure in confirming the virtue of the saint by signs and cures.”