[Prezrezc]

Nope.

Neither one ain't got a damn thang ta doo wid it.

The funds simply stopped coming because the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America have in their upper management--i.e all of 'em--people who mismanage, misappropriate, squander, launder, embezzle και ούτω καθεξής (bla bla bla) monies they say are needed for the continued daily functioning of the organization. And they claim that this project is part and parcel of that functioning...i.e. the "Field of Dreams" principle applied to churchgoing matters.

But it's an ego trip thing, too...and a big one. Did you know that the original St. Nicholas Church (my empasis) was a repurposed dive bar? I didn't till my pastor informed me of it while we were talking about this whole mess.

Now the GOA wants to call this a "shrine" for practically no other reason than to brag about how they singlehandedly made the whole WTC complex some sort of quasi-holy "reflective space" for all faiths.

All right. I'll play along. If you're gonna do *that*, well and good if it beats your meat so you can feel all pious in a hedonistic, barbarian world and that sort of 9th Century-era pomposity. That's between you and the Deity to whom you bend the knee.

But don't use the faith I take drop-dead seriously to justify a potential boondoggle engendered by malfeasant activity.

Oh yeah...And when in six months this project still finds itself in it's present condition, I'll be most interested to find out if these carnival barkers in Byzantine-era liturgical garments can muster an intellectual defense against the inevitable backlash.

Rant over. In future, I'll debate this project on is merits...if it should ever find itself in possession of any.