A book OR no book ... (2)

On November 1, 2009 1:28 AM, our sister in Christ "I" has left a comment on our post “A book OR no book”:Anonymous said...

Dear SMC Rescue Team,

I wrote the post requesting that non of this be published, but so far, apart from your response (which I thank you for), I have only read very few opinions on this matter!!

This hate is spreading so fast in our community its scary.

How can we think clearly when so many of us can rush into thinking that everyone responding to a criticism must be siding with the 'enemy'??!

In response to the anonymous writer of "Why not? We assume you have not told Mr Hanna to remove or with draw all the posings on coptichistory.org!!. Nor have you asked Father Antonious to with draw the email he sent, or the hidden messages in his blog part of the church website..." - I admit I have not. The damage had been done already in these cases. I appealed to SMC to avoid causing a similar damage to our church. Forgive me for not doing more.

SMC, I appreciate your response and consideration in what I requested. And PLEASE don't get me wrong, but even though I hold a VERY high respect for what you have accomplished with this blog, I also need to note that SMC consists of men/women who are only human and are capable of making a mistake in this decision.

PLEASE HEAR ME OUT. I know you guys are intelligent and Just, so only take my comment as a loving Sister in Christ.

I don't know how many people keep up with this post or know what's going on with our church. My own mother, who like most of our mothers -keeps her ears open about the happenings in the community :)- did not know of how deep this issue goes and was shocked when I told her!!

The people in our community should have a say in this. Not only the ones who can use the internet or pass on messages through the grapevine.

A proper poll. Thats all I ask. And I hope SMC that you agree, as since it is your belief that publishing this book is for the best interest of our community; let them be involved in this decision.

This book will not only be attacking the people involved, but OUR WHOLE CHURCH. I hope you can see that.

SMC, you are pointing out HUMAN mistakes for your decision behind printing this book, THAT IS NOT RIGHT. That CANNOT be justified for what damage this book MIGHT do.

SMC, using point#6 to justify this book being published is NOT right. Fr Antonios was refering to the HOLY BIBLE. A BOOK written by GOD's wishes and His alone. But if he means a book written by man is just as good for history keeping of our church, then he is wrong in making such a comment. ONLY God should have the RIGHT to record the right and wrong in our history.

"The book shall stand as a history lesson for our kids and yours (the future generations) to learn from the past and how to deal with any future AOEs." - I believe this book will do the OPPOSITE of teaching what you expect. It will teach future generations to QUESTION the church and its priests. It will TEACH THEM DOUBT AND MISTRUST. No child after reading this book will EVER look at their confession father the same way or look at their community with respect. And that will be a sad thing to have to witness.

Can I simply ask that before anything is publish - even taking in consideration your reasons SMC - that you take a poll from as many people in our community as you can honestly get? And NOT ONLY via the internet OR this blog?

If I can assist in anyway to make this happen, or be guided by SMC in accomplishing this myself, please let me know and I will be happy to assist.

Your Sister in Christ
(For future comm) "I"
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Dear our Friend Sister in Chris “I”

Thank you for your comment.

We also thank you for your admiration to what the blog has accomplished which others are condemning, as you said “… but even though I hold a VERY high respect for what you have accomplished with this blog, …”.

You said “Forgive me for not doing more”. With humbleness, we are happy to forgive you for the Lord to forgive us all. In this regard and since you offered your assistance, all what we are asking is all members of the coup stand down, be brought to account for the damage they have caused and not to be involved in any future service in the diocese. Is this a fair call?!

Only then we can begin the process of healing and recovery.

You can kindly assist in our call by talking to members of coup, in the same manner you are communicating with us. Your comments reflect an intelligent and reasoned thinker and we are sure you can do it. You can talk with Ostaz Amir Hanna (mob. 0417 742 647) and Fr Antonios Kaldas (mob. 0411 712 896) as starting point and see if you can convince them. We will be praying for your success since we all want peace.

As for your accusation “This book will not only be attacking the people involved, but OUR WHOLE CHURCH”; this is farthest from the truth. God, we would never contemplate or allow ourselves to do that. The book is meant to be a history book documenting a sad and dark era of the Diocese of Sydney as it happened.

Then you are saying “ONLY God should have the RIGHT to record the right and wrong in our history.” Can you please tell us how would God document the history of our church?!

As for point #6 in our post “A book OR no book” (our response to your comment part I); we were referring to the context of his post “Looking forward to the Past”. If you read his post, the second sentence is “How do we deal with our history as a Church and as a community?”. Fr Antonios was referring to the coup on the reposed Pope Yusab II (Pope of Alexandria before Pope Kyrollos VI). He also said “3. Why doesn’t he appear very much in our histories, Sunday School Curricula, Youth Group Programmes etc?”. You can infer his criticism to hiding this part of the history from Sunday School Curricula, Youth Group Programmes etc. Here is the link again for your reference http://www.stbishoy.org.au/modules/wordpress/2008/04/07/looking-forward-to-the-past

You believe the book will do the opposite of its purpose. In fact, if you let those few wicked members get away with what they have done, what sort of signal are you sending to the rest of the community (current and future generations)?! Effectively, you are saying if you disagree with your bishop or your priest, gather few of your relatives, friends and supporters and start a coup and force your own hidden agenda on the majority! Is it not?!

Do nothing and you will achieve the same result that you are worried the book might cause.

You said “No child after reading this book will EVER look at their confession father the same way or look at their community with respect.” Without the book and in light of what has happened so far, how do you think they view their bishop or the priests who would like to excise certain establishments from the diocese?!

In response to your request for a public poll on the book, have you ever heard of an author surveyed the public opinion before publishing a book of any sort?!

Unless members of the coup stand down and be brought to account, the book will be published (full stop).

GBU.
SMC Rescue Team