On January 16, 1985, I sent an open letter to both Arachnorts of our Prelacy and Diocese 
churches.   I was querying them as to why our Armenians in North America remain 
divided.   I started my open letter with the following paragraph: "Whenever you ask a 
member of any Armenian organization why Armenians have so much trouble getting 
along with each other (namely churches, political groups, and the like), you get the same 
response, ‘It’s not us, it’s them.’"


After another letter and a few phone calls, I, along with two companions got an audience 
with Archbishop Mesrop Ashjian, who was the Prelacy Prelate at that time and later with 
Patriarch Torkom Manoogian, who was also an Archbishop and the Diocesan Primate at 
that time.  Needless to say, outside of some "perhaps" and "maybes" we got no directives 
from either of them other than, why don’t you leave well enough alone.


Later, after making those interviews public, I was contacted by members of a former joint 
Church Unity Committee who, after years of negotiation, had finally agreed on a set of 
guidelines in 1982 which they had submitted to their respective National Representative 
Assemblies.  As it turned out, their respective National Assemblies approved it along 
with the Catholicos of Cilicia and of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin.  But as fate would 
have it, a politically oriented faction from the Detroit Diocese felt that Article II, Section 
II of those 1982 Guidelines needed revision and they took a trip to Etchmiadzin to 
convince Catholicos Vazken I to ask for further clarification.   Before the matter could be 
formally resolved, the Prelacy, through the influence of their in-house politicals, 
interpreted Catholicos Vazken I’s need for clarification as a rejection and the Prelacy in 
turn followed up by withdrawing their original approval.


As I stated, I was contacted by former members of this joint unity committee and after 
reviewing the monumental work this group had accomplished, we decided to give it 
another try.


The Coalition for Church Unity came into existence in 1985.  And throughout the years 
that followed, we put together many public forums to properly inform the public of our 
need for church unity.  We even joined forces with a New England coalition who called 
themselves the Coalition for Armenian Unity.  In fact, the former joint unity committee 
also started becoming active again.  But while the Diocese end of the committee had full 
authority to make decisions, the Prelacy side had to submit all proposals to their higher 
authorities for final approval.  As things turned out,  we soon realized we were playing 
against a stacked deck.   Meetings were called, meetings were canceled, or sometimes 
meetings were called and proper representation didn’t show up.  And I’m sorry to say that 
most of the delays and stonewalling that manifested itself after the 1982 Guideline 
controversy, came from the Prelacy side.  


In a recent TARInt’l, I read how the ARF had been trying to raise one million dollars 
toward establishing an ANC office in Europe.  It would seem that the Forum of Armenian 
Organizations were in the process of doing the same and that the ARF’s intent was to 
establish the ANC office before the forum established theirs.  But this isn’t where the 
story ends.


The Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, in an unprecedented mood of generosity, 
contributed $100,000 toward this project.   Assuming that such a contribution was made, 
is there anything  religious about  having an ANC office in Europe?  And if by some 
distorted reason  there is a religious reason, did he also donate $100,000 to the Forum of 
Armenian Organizations?  The answer is, No, to both of the above.  However, I would 
like to point out that the $100,000 that the generous Catholicos from Cilicia donated 
toward the ANC office in Europe could have done more good had he donated it toward 
helping the destitute people in corruption ravaged Armenia.

	
As for myself, I know that if I were still involved with the Prelacy and I became aware of 
such a donation, I would be wondering if I were supporting a religious ideology or a 
political one.  But even now, after all is said and done, I still wonder: Is the dog wagging 
the tail or is the tail wagging the dog?


Joseph Vosbikian