First Meeting of the Assembly of Bishops, following the Holy and Great Council, in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct 4-6, 2016

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity

Being an Assembly of Bishops in a geographic area (USA)  where the Church is administratively managed in a state of canonical disorder, allowing parallel jurisdictions and more than one bishop in one city; and, since the Council held in Crete in June 2016 did not address these issues;   how will the Assembly proceed?  Will it address the real issues that bring about canonical order?  Will it establish clear rules of procedure and parliamentary order?  Who will replace Bishop Basil of Wichita as Chair of the Secretariat?   How will the dissenting Georgian, Russian, Antiochian and Bulgarian Bishops be involved and addressed?   Will they continue to have veto power over the needs of the Church?  Does the Assembly have a plan to address their inability to be a Synod and begin to use professionals to help them develop negotiating and consensus skills?   When will the bishops stop acting as foreign agents and come to grips with the needs of the faithful in their geographic area?   In addition to San Antonio and Oklahoma City, will they set up more pilot areas to work together as unified geographic areas?  Will they instruct the local clergy associations to  work together in unity and to invite the laity to assist them to develop unified programs for Christian education, senior citizen outreach,  mission outreach, campus ministry, etc. Many Clergy Associations do not see inter-Orthodox Unity as a priority, because the bishops have not encouraged them to work with the laity to develop this grassroots process. When will the Assembly produce the blueprint and timeline for becoming a Synod of the Orthodox Church in the USA and share these plans with the whole Church, so that the laity may also provide input?

CLICK HERE for the Agenda of the Meeting.