SCOBA Establishes Two New Commissions

The hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), at their recent meeting in New York City, established two new commissions: the Orthodox Research Commission (ORC) and the Orthodox Information Technologies Commission (OITC).

Initial coordinator of the ORC will be Fr. Nektarios Morrow.  "This commission," Fr. Nektarios stated, "will seek to meet the tremendous need for accurate data to assist in the proper planning, initiation and evaluation of Orthodox life and work in America."  The ORC will work with each SCOBA jurisdiction in evaluating current data collection systems and offer assistance in enhancing and/or facilitating the process.  It will also facilitate the ongoing participation of SCOBA in national surveys of religious life and participation.

Initial coordinator of the OITC will be Mr. Jamil Samara.  It is comprised of those persons responsible for the management of information technology and the web sites of each SCOBA jurisdiction.  "Among its responsibilities", Mr. Samara indicated, "will be the maintenance of the SCOBA web site, the creation of an On-Line Directory of all SCOBA parishes, the creation of an orthodoxjobs.com database, and assistance to parishes in the creation of web sites and parish bulletins."

These commissions can be found on the www.scoba.us web site, under the heading Agencies.  In addition to these two commissions, SCOBA also has three other commissions: Study and Planning, Ecumenical, and Social and Moral Issues.

In addition to these five standing commissions, SCOBA has also established six Agencies which each operate as separate entities: International Orthodox Christian Charities, Orthodox Christian Mission Center, Orthodox Christian Networks, Orthodox Christian Fellowships, Orthodox Christian Education, and Eastern Orthodox Committee on Scouting.

Contact:    SCOBA General Secretariat
        8 East 79th Street
        New York, NY  10021
        Tel: 212-570-3593   Fax: 212-774-0202   E-mail: scoba@goarch.org