A Diocese in NJ

njcopts

Hello Tasbeha.org Members,

We, the children of Coptic immigrants to the USA in NJ, would like to provide Pope Tawadros a petition regarding concerns with the Church's future in NJ. So we have written a message with all of our concerns. As it is being delivered directly to His Holiness, we welcome all support from all New Jersey Copts by signing up or sharing our message on social media.

Our Goal:

We desire that all of the state of New Jersey, as the birthplace of Coptic Orthodoxy in the USA, be established as a diocese and receive an enthroned Bishop with the full authority of the Holy Spirit to shepherd it

Our Message:

Your Holiness Pope Tawadros II,

Please accept the reading of this letter after we kiss your right hand and offer you our metanya.

We want to first acknowledge that you are our father, and wherever we go, whichever situation we are in, our allegiance will always be to the see of St. Mark, the see of St. Athanasius, the see of St. Cyril, the see of St. Dioscorus, the see of St. Pope Kyrillos VI, and the see of the thrice-blessed Pope Shenouda III....

Read More:

http://njcopts.org/#message

To support us, please like/follow/share our message on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/copticnj

copticuser20

Hello,

I am a congregant from NJ as well and I also am quite upset that we are not part of a diocese, nor have a dedicated Bishop to focus on us. However, I do not share many of the thoughts expressed in this letter and many other youth from my church disagree with your requests. I think it is wrong to hide behind a name that represents all of the youth in NJ when many disagree with parts of your letter. I also believe, when you suggest monks from Texas as Bishops for NJ, it shows how little you know about the diverse congregations of the churches in NJ and their needs. Just because they are from this area, it doesn't mean they will be able to serve us properly. They won't. This weakens your overall argument and gives HH, or anyone else who reads it, no reason to listen to you. Please edit your letter if you want more youth on board. It needs to be shorter, with less requests and realistic. 

Otherwise, find HH's contact information from your local priest, and message him on your own, with your real name. 

If we do not do this properly, it won't be done.

njcopts

Hi Copticuser20,

Thank you so much for your feedback. We appreciate the fact that you and your parish youth have read and considered the petition. To write a petition that would have encompasses every person’s opinions, I think we can all agree would be virtually impossible; this letter took into consideration various points of views, many conflicting, before solidifying this final letter. We understand that it may not completely resonate with all people, but we pray that we agree on more than we disagree.

Regarding hiding behind the name, while we may be anonymous as of now, rest assured His Holiness has our names and signatures - we thought it best to remain anonymous for now as we seek everyone’s thoughts so as to not affect anyone’s perspective just by our names, especially those of our own parishes. We are a group of people representing parishes from North Jersey (Bayonne, Bergen, East Rutherford, West Side, etc.), Central Jersey (East Brunswick, Holmdel, Howell, etc.), and South Jersey (Atlantic City, Barnegat, Medford, etc.). 

Regarding the requests - it is only a request for consideration. His Holiness himself has emphasized in the past that it is optimal for clergy to know their area. Obviously a bishop will not know every cultural difference at the start, but we are not expecting him to do so - a bishop from the area will at the very least know where to begin to address the major differences in our state - to that, we all agree that the monks from TX have a blessed ability to macro manage as needed and we leave it obviously to His Holiness to consider the strengths and weaknesses of our arguments. We are very aware that our requests are none other than that - requests - and that none of them may come to fruition if His Holiness deems them harmful to our growth, or if he has better options for us, of which we are unaware. If not a monk originally from our area, could you recommend a better option?

Are there parts of this letter that you agree with? Would you add anything else? 

Besides the anonymity, would you mind sharing any of your other concerns? We agree that open discussion of our points of view will make this a strong petition.

Thank you.