Nine Leadership 100 Members Invested As Archons; Chairman Emeritus Constantine Caras And Member Stamatios Kartalopoulos Represent Archons At Annual OSCE Conference
Nine members of Leadership 100 were among the twenty Archons of the Order of St. Andrew invested on Sunday morning, October 18, 2015 at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity following the Divine Liturgy presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios.
They are Paul Bregianos, Archon Depoutatos, Direct Archdiocesan District; John Peter Calamos, Sr., Archon Efaxias, Metropolis of Chicago; James Constantine Catrickes, Archon Maestor, Metropolis of New Jersey; William Paul Doucas, Archon Notarios, Metropolis of Chicago; Demetrios Vasilios Halakos, Archon Skevophylax, Metropolis of New Jersey; Constantine Sideridis, Archon Proto Notarios, Metropolis of Boston; William Harry Spell, Archon Laosynaktis, Metropolis of Chicago; Michael Nikolaos Stefanoudakis, Archon Orphanotrofos, Metropolis of Denver; and Adam Manuel Tzagournis, Archon Quaestor, Metropolis of Pittsburgh.
Earlier, in September of 2015, Leadership 100 Chairman Emeritus Constantine Caras and Leadership 100 member Stamatios Kartalopoulos represented the Order of St. Andrew at the 2015 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Caras presented a paper at the Discrimination Session outlining the discrimination faced on a daily basis by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, while Kartalopoulos presented a paper at the Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion and Belief Session. Both received replies at the conclusion of their remarks from the Turkish Ambassador to the OSCE with denials that the alleged discrimination and denial of religious freedom exist in Turkey generally and, in regard to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, specifically. However, the Ambassador also commented that “negotiations are ongoing” regarding the reopening of the Halki seminary and that the Patriarchate is treated no better or worse than any other religious institution in Turkey.
The OSCE, with 56 international members and 11 partner states, addresses issues relating to security and cooperation in all areas of society worldwide. More than 2,000 international delegates participated in the Conference.