wfn.org | Elenie K. Huszagh is Installed as NCC President for 2002-2003

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                  GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:
November 20, 2001
Contact: Nikki Stephanopoulos

       ELENIE K. HUSZAGH IS INSTALLED AS NCCC PRESIDENT FOR 2002-2003

Oakland, CA -- Elenie K. Huszagh, Esq. of Nehalem, Ore., a longtime member
of the Archdiocesan Council and first-generation Greek American, was
installed Nov. 15 as 21st president of the National Council of Churches in
the USA.  Ms. Huszagh is the first Orthodox woman and the first Orthodox
lay person to hold that office.  The installation took place following a
special service of vespers at Oakland's Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the
Ascension, with over 600 in attendance.

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios traveled from New York to participate in
the service.  Before delivering the sermon, the Archbishop remarked that
the "majestic service in this venerable church" marks "the changing of the
guard at the National Council of Churches as for the first time a lay
person from our Orthodox Church becomes the president."  He pointed to Ms.
Huszagh's high qualifications, in particular her "constant, indefatigable
way of working and offering.  She's always eager to assist."

The brief installation ceremony featured the passing of a cross and chain
from the outgoing president to the incoming one.  Ambassador Andrew Young
of Atlanta, Ga., the NCCC's president in 2000-2001, placed the cross and
chain around Ms. Huszagh's neck at the moment of the "declaration of
installation."

"Elenie, you bring your training in law, your love as a mother and wife,
and the history, heritage and wisdom that comes from this glorious and
magnificent Greek Orthodox tradition," said the Rev. Young, a United Church
of Christ minister.

The installation ceremony incorporated the reading of a message of
"congratulations and fraternal greetings" from His All Holiness Bartholomew
the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
of America falls under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate.

Music was provided by the Oakland Bay Area Choir under the direction of Dr.
Tikey Zes and by Ms. Anna Marakis Counelis, organist. Participants in the
choir came from 11 area parishes.

Following the service, those assembled moved into a festive reception and
banquet featuring Greek music and food.   Among special guests bringing
greetings were the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, William
Levada, who noted the National Council of Churches' "historic role in
ecumenical dialogue, common witness and action for justice" and the
challenge of interreligious dialogue "as key for the peace of nations."

In her remarks at the banquet, Ms. Huszagh noted that "in all of recorded
history and most likely before, people have divided themselves into an 'us'
and a 'them.'"  It starts early, she said.  The first "us" is "our family,"
and "them" is everyone else.  Nations also divide themselves into "us" and
"them," usually considering "us" good, and "them" bad.  Within nations,
people of other races, religions and ethnicities also get defined as
"them."  "The National Council of Churches has never seen the world this
way," Mrs. Huszagh said.  "Our contribution has been to say that we are all
created in the image of God."

She continued, "Anyone of us can become a 'them' for any reason at any
time," recalling particularly the detention of Japanese Americans during
World War II.  "On September 11, a new 'them' entered our life.  But these
are shadowy figures, all over the world ? " Ms. Huszagh urged her listeners
to reject making Muslims the new "them," saying, "No religion, including
Islam, supports terror or killing.  We Americans must not demonize them to
justify whatever actions we might take. We must act to provide a more
secure and peaceful life for all."

Ms. Huszagh will serve the NCCC -- the nation's largest organization in the
movement for Christian unity, with 36 Orthodox and Protestant member
communions comprising 50 million adherents in 140,000 congregations -- for
a 2002-2003 term of office.  As president (a part-time, non-salaried
position, similar to chairman/chairwoman of the board), she will play a key
role in leading and interpreting the NCCC's life and work.

THE ORTHODOX IN THE NCCC

The growth of Orthodoxy in the United States in the last century came at a
time when the modern ecumenical movement was getting underway. The Orthodox
have been an integral part of that movement, including at the NCCC, where
today 11 of the 36 member communions are Orthodox (seven are Eastern; four
from Egypt, Syria, Armenia  and India, are termed "Oriental"); 24 are
Protestant, and one is Anglican. Joining the NCCC at different times, all
the Eastern communions had become members by 1966. Yet, Ms. Huszagh notes,
it is in recent years that they have become more visible in the NCCC.

  "I'm pleased with the place of the Orthodox in the Council at this time,"
she says. "In the past, we perceived ourselves as marginalized and were so
perceived by others, but, as the years went by, we contributed more
broadly. We took our rightful place." By doing so, she says, "we bring
something different to our country and to the ecumenical movement. The
Eastern churches' view of the world and of reality is a benefit. We expand
the choices available."

That view, she explains, is based on "a living continuity" with the Early
Church that is unchanged by forces that shaped Western Christianity ranging
from the Renaissance to the Reformation. Therefore, the Orthodox have a
frame of reference that differs from that of the West and which is often
described, in broad strokes, as more mystical and philosophical than
legalistic.

It includes an emphasis on the mystery of God, a high place for worship as
the joint work of the clergy and the people, and an approach that focuses
somewhat less on the sins of humanity and Christ's atonement for them and
somewhat more on the Resurrection of Christ and the possibility of the
faithful in Christ to journey toward a mystical union with God.

These different "languages" of faith form a barrier that is being overcome
with greater East-West contact. At a more mundane level, the growing
visibility of the Orthodox at the NCCC and in other settings may simply
reflect the fact that, unlike previous generations, most Orthodox in the
U.S. today are American born and have grown up speaking English.

Such is the case in Ms. Huszagh's family. Her aunt who lived in Lowell
spoke only Greek to the end of her 85 years, while her parents taught
themselves English as young adults. She herself spoke only Greek until she
entered kindergarten. "Then I learned enough in a week" to participate
fully in learning and play, she says.  After that, the goal was to maintain
her ability in Greek, which she now speaks "reasonably well." She vividly
recalls "as a child, I went to Greek school, which provided language
instruction for many recalcitrant young children who attended after regular
public school."

Increasing numbers of American-born members affected church life, too.
"Services were entirely in Greek when I was growing up," Ms. Huszagh says.
"However, since the late '60s and early '70s, the language issue has
evolved. Today in many parishes the services are primarily and often
entirely in English. There was no mandate for change, but each community
seems to have dealt with language in an appropriate manner the object being
to communicate and to serve the people."

Similar processes of assimilation have taken place among other Orthodox
communities, including those of Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Arabic,
Serbian and other ethnic roots. "Now all of us share the same language and
can communicate with each other," Ms. Huszagh notes. At the NCCC, for
example, a caucus that includes all Orthodox delegates to the NCCC General
Assembly helps to insure an effective presentation of Orthodox concerns and
perspectives to the larger body. The Assembly is the NCCC's highest
policy-making body and is composed of delegations from all the member
communions.

HUSZAGH'S CONTRIBUTIONS HIGHLIGHT ROLE OF LAITY IN THE GREEK ORTHODOX
CHURCH

Ms. Huszagh has more than earned the description "prominent member of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America," and has helped expand the role of
women in her communion. In 1974, she was among five women who were the
first women ever named to the Archdiocesan Council, a body composed of
clergy and lay members that governs the temporal and financial affairs of
the Archdiocese between the communion's Biennial Clergy-Laity Congresses.
It also has an advisory role in the election of bishops and the Archbishop.
She continues as a member of that body and has served the Archdiocesan
Council in many capacities, including as vice-president from 1988-1990.

She also has been involved in recent negotiations concerning a new charter
for the Archdiocese, which is part of the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople. She was among delegates who went to
Constantinople to discuss provisions of the new charter with members of the
Patriarchal Synod, a weighty and sensitive responsibility given that the
issue of the degree of autonomy of the American church has been widely
debated within the communion for decades.

In other responsibilities, Ms. Huszagh has presided over plenary sessions
of the Clergy-Laity Congresses in 1988, 1990, 1996 and 2000. And she has
served as a senior advisor to Archbishop Iakovos (1994-1996). Among her
many commitments at the diocesan level, she is legal counsel for both the
Chicago and the San Francisco Dioceses.

In 1996, she was awarded the Medal of St. Paul, the highest honor that the
Archdiocese bestows upon a layperson.