Standing Conference establishes two new commissions

NEW YORK, NY [SCOBA] — 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].

The Rev. Nektarios Morrow will serve as the initial moderator of ORC, which will work with each SCOBA jurisdiction in evaluating current data collection systems and offer assistance in enhanving and facilitating the process. It will also facilitate the ongoing participation of SCOBA in national surveys of religious life and participation.

“This commission,” Father 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.”

Initial coordinator of the OITC will be Mr. Jamil Samara. The commission 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.”

Information on 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.