[MGSA-L] Greek Church Warns Of 'Tsunami Of Poverty'

[June Samaras]

Greek Church Warns Of 'Tsunami Of Poverty'

http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16056922

11:10pm UK,
 Friday August 26, 2011

Greece will face a desperate situation this autumn, with a wave of
poverty stemming from its crippled economy, a spokesman for the
Orthodox Church in Athens warns.

Speaking to Sky's business presenter Jeff Randall for a special
programme on Greece's financial woes, Costis Dimtsas described the
added pressures the Church were facing in the provision of help for
the poor.

"We are at the beginning of the wave," he said.

"At this moment, we just learnt that the tsunami is coming. In
September we will see it, and next year we will see the results."

The Church runs a number of feeding stations and shelters around
Greece, through a project known as 'The Mission'.

Since the crisis began, those centres have seen a sharp increase in
the number of Greeks seeking help.

"About 60% of the beneficiaries are now people of Greek origin," Mr
Dimtsas said.

"Two years ago, the statistics were inverse. We had 25-30% Greeks and
the rest were immigrants.

"We are handing out 10,000 meals per day. We've been doing it for the
last three months in order to confront the financial crisis.

Church spokesman Costis Dimtsas said greed was behind the Greek crisis

"The tragedy is the increase in ages - unemployed people who are over
45 and cannot find a job again, and older people who are suffering
lately from the reduction of their pensions."

Sky News visited one feeding station in central Athens where we were
met with hostility.

Beneficiaries refused to be filmed, urging us to seek out the rich who
they believe are responsible for the crisis, rather than the poor.

But while the Church visibly serves up support for those squeezed by
higher taxes and lower pensions, some accuse it of being disingenuous.

Many Greeks are under pressure from higher taxes and reduced pension payments

The former finance minister Stephanos Manos says the Orthodox Church,
the biggest landowner Greece after the state, is not making its full
contribution.

"Very conveniently, there's no land registry, so no one really knows
what you own - and in particular, no one really knows what the church
owns," he said.

"The church has flatly refused to give a full description of its
landownings because they know if people know what they are, they'll
ask, 'why don't we tax them?'"

Mr Manos claimed that many Greek politicians were keen to keep
influential religious leaders on their side, resulting in "special
treatment" for the Church.

But the Orthodox Chruch disputes those accusations.

Greek Orthodox Church

The Greek Orthodox Church is the biggest landowner in Greece after the state

"That is a myth - a Greek myth," said Mr Dimtsas.

"The Church pays all her taxes. All the existing taxes. It suits the
parties of the left to talk about the presumed Church property."

Mr Dimtsas said that since 1952 the Church had given 92% property to
the state, which he claims was wasted.

Of what remains, at least its 70% is woodland and therefore not of use
to the Church, he said.

"The state cannot ask us to do this social work, without any revenues
and at the same time to pay property taxes," he went on.

"The Archbishop of Athens says that this crisis is not financial but spiritual.

"Mainly the crisis is in our minds, and has been created from the
over-consumption of the Greek people. This, in my opinion, is the
source of the evil."

-- 
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
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E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com