O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ Bringing the news ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ to generations of ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 The National Herald Greek Americans A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION c v www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 12, ISSUE 588 January 17, 2009 $1.25 GREECE: 1.75 EURO Study Finds Christian Menendez Orthodox Membership on Brings Up the Rise in the U.S. The Cyprus By Eleni Kostopoulos lished traditions along with an em- Special to The National Herald phasis on continuity, stability and Problem uniformity in Church life can be NEW YORK – A study released by seen as foundational for Orthodox the Patriarch Athenagoras Ortho- Christianity,” Krindatch wrote. “At Urges Hillary to Stay dox Institute in Berkeley, Calif. in the same time, we know that in to- late 2008, suggests that Orthodox day’s America the actual approach Consistent with her Christian churches may be growing to various aspects of Church life as in America, given the large number well as to different social issues vary Positions as Senator of converts from other Christian de- greatly from parish to parish.” nominations, particularly Catholic Krindatch said, based on their By Evan C. Lambrou and Protestant backgrounds. personal understandings and inter- Special to The National Herald Although different sources offer pretation of Church doctrine and conflicting national statistics, the traditions, Orthodox clergy and NEW YORK – U.S. Senator Bob Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of laity organize the social and reli- Menendez (D-New Jersey) broached America (GOARCH) indicates there gious lives of their parishes, and in- the subjects of Cyprus and the Ar- are 540 parishes, 800 priests and teract with the outside non-Ortho- menian Genocide this past Tuesday, approximately 1.5 million faithful dox community in very different January 13, during the Senate For- in the U.S. ways. He examined this diversity by eign Relations Committee confirma- Alexei Krindatch, the Orthodox asking participants to rate them- tion hearing on U.S. Senator Hillary Institute's research director, who selves as one of four types of “ortho- Clinton’s nomination as the coun- surveyed 1,000 members of Greek praxy” on a conservative to liberal try’s next Secretary of State. Orthodox or Orthodox Church in scale, using a theory proposed by In his question, Senator Menen- America congregations to investi- Anton C. Vrame suggesting the way dez said the Armenian Genocide gate trends in Orthodoxy, found Orthodox individuals live their lives must be recognized as historical fact that the real membership statistics is shaped by their religious atti- AP PHOTO in order to “Move forward,” and in all Eastern Christian Churches in tudes. Coast Guard Rescue pointed out that the ongoing Turkish the U.S. can be estimated at about The four categories were as fol- occupation of northern Cyprus forms 1,200,000 individuals—with only lows: “Liberal: I am willing to initi- A Greek coast guard officer looks on as rescued illegal immigrants arrive at the port of Heraklion, on the “the most militarized part of the 440,000 Greek Orthodox adher- ate and promote new developments Greek island of Crete, on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. Authorities rescued 53 illegal immigrants world per capita.” ents— a considerably lower figure in Church,” “Moderate: I accept Wednesday from a boat that became stranded in rough weather in the Aegean Sea. The rescue effort began He also told Senator Clinton that, compared to commonly accepted new developments and changes in Tuesday night and involved commercial vessels, a navy frigate, a helicopter and a military transport plane. in the likely event of her confirma- estimations, which are as high as Church depending on local circum- It was initially hampered by strong winds in the area, said the ministry, which deals with rescues at sea. tion, he hoped her positions on over four million. stances,” “Traditional: Any changes Greek and Armenian issues as Secre- Despite the conflicting statistics, in the Church should be evolution- tary of State would not deviate from all sources tend to agree that the ary. Conservative: Orthodox Church her positions as a senator, which he numbers are indeed increasing and should avoid changes in its life and has viewed as supportive. trends are indicating that Greek Or- theology.” The survey found that 28 In her brief response, Senator thodox Churches in the U.S. contin- percent said they held conservative HMS Welcomes New President Clinton (D-New York) said that the ue to remain stable, especially views, 42 percent said they held tra- State Department would be looking when compared to other Christian ditional views, 26 percent said they By Eleni Kostopoulos “I’m very proud to be a president of [Vasilopita cutting] event in which at those “and other challenging is- denominations. held moderate views and only four Special to The National Herald this historical society that’s been many organizations collaborate to- sues… very closely,” and cited the is- STUDY FINDS SURPRISING percent said they held liberal views very active in both the medical field gether to serve an all-inclusive pur- sues as “legitimate concerns.” TRENDS KEEPING RELIGIOUS NEW YORK – The Hellenic Medical and Greek American community in pose.” The full text of the Senator “Sixty percent [of Greek Ortho- TRADITIONS ALIVE Society of New York (HMS-NY) re- a broader sense. I hope I will con- Dr. Tsioulias also said one of his Menendez’ question and Senator dox parishioners] said they expect As indicated by Krindatch’s find- cently welcomed its newly-elected tinue to expand on this vision.” hopes is to urge youth to become Clinton’s answer, as recorded in the their parish to grow in the next ten ings, parishioners are seemingly president, George J. Tsioulias, M.D. Dr. Tsioulias said he has many more involved within the society. official transcript posted by the Con- years, 32 percent said it would stay very supportive of their faith, and Ph.D, to succeed George D. Dangas, ideas he plans to implement during He emphasized the importance of gressional Quarterly’s website the same, and 8 percent said that it while church-going statistics vary M.D., Ph.D., who served as presi- his tenure, including broadening inducting younger doctors into the (www.cq.com), reads as follows: will decline,” reported Krindatch in widely, Greek Orthodox Christians dent of the society for two consecu- the society’s appeal while continu- Society to continue its mission and MENENDEZ: I know you have his study “The Orthodox Church To- make their best efforts to continue tive terms. Dr. Tsioulias is the Di- ing the efforts of past presidents. to serve the Greek American med- supported the legislation we had day.” Additionally, Krindatch found attending. rector of Surgical Oncology at “One of the goals for the upcom- ical community in the New York that came to the committee, biparti- that 52 percent of Greek Orthodox “While my Greek Orthodox faith Mount Sinai Hospital in Queens, ing year is to try to be more extro- area. san and unanimous, on creating a churches said they get between 100 is extremely important to me, I NY and is involved in the training verted as a society and strengthen “I’ve appointed members of var- social and economic development and 499 attendees including chil- don’t get to attend church as often of surgical residents. our ties with other organizations in ious committees and have dropped fund for the Americas. We’ll call it to dren on any given Sunday. “It’s such a great honor to have the Greek American community,” your attention. “A strong adherence to estab- Continued on page 4 been elected,” said Dr. Tsioulias. he said. “An example of this is the Continued on page 3 Two last areas of the world. There are many, but I hope that the support that you gave while you were a sena- tor to the question of the Armenian Genocide that the President-Elect Lawyer Wins has, himself, supported – the recog- Greek American Athletes Excel in U.S. Sports nition of that. You know, if we are to say never again, part of that is ulti- High-Profile By Mark Frangos mately the recognition of what has Special to The National Herald happened so that we can move for- ward. And I hope that you will be an New York Pete Sampras is considered the advocate of having us get off of greatest tennis player ever and an extremely worthy ambassador for Continued on page 9 Bigamist the legacy of Greek American ath- letes. But since his retirement in 2002, there are many Greek Ameri- Eviction Case cans that have done a great job con- tinuing the prominence of our com- $53M Ransom By Eleni Kostopoulos munity in sports. Special to The National Herald Greek Americans are involved in the four top U.S. sports (baseball, Wanted For NEW YORK – Barbara H. Katsos, basketball, hockey and football) and the attorney representing a 35-year professional wrestling, which may old woman evicted from her condo- be classified as “sports entertain- Ailing Tycoon minium by the man she was “mar- ment,” but with the role that Greek ried to” while he already had a wife Americans have played in the devel- without her knowledge, was victo- opment and popularity of this By Evan C. Lambrou rious on January 8 when the state’s “sport,” it deserved a place on this Special to The National Herald Supreme Court's Appellate 3-1 ma- list. jority decided to reverse the lower Here are some examples of some NEW YORK – In yet another high- court decision. Radiah Givens said athletes that you may have seen or profile abduction since last sum- the $285,000 given to her by per- be seeing more of in the future: mer, three men abducted an elderly sonal injury and real estate lawyer BASEBALL and ailing Greek tycoon at gun- 54-year old Joseph I.