San Diego new Armenian church campus approved by commissionJanuary 26, 2016 - 13:43 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - In a historic vote of 11-0, the California State Coastal Commission approved St. John Garabed Armenian Church’s application to build a new church campus near Del Mar, California. The new campus, which will be built in stages over a period of several years, will include a sanctuary, social hall, education center, library, gymnasium, youth center, Armenian heritage park, picnic and meditation space, and abundant parking. In his remarks to the Coastal commissioners, Harry Krikorian, chairman of the church’s Trust Fund Committee, stated, “Our proposed plans are for a place of worship, a place to socialize, a place for remembrance, and a place to preserve our culture, traditions and heritage. We are not a commercial enterprise but a non-profit Christian Church with a rich and proud history. “Therefore, we disagree with staff that building a 50 foot church without the dome as they suggest is equally good and as functional as our design. We respect Coastal staff who reviewed and analyzed our project, however we find that conditions 1A & 1B do not meet the needs of our church nor satisfy our religious requirements.” Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese, stated, “This is a historic day for us as we present this proposal, and it comes in the context of a very important time in our church history. Just recently we commemorated the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and very soon we will be celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Western Diocese. This church campus will not only be a symbol of our Christian faith, but also a stronghold to unite communities around the world. On behalf of the Diocesan clergy, the Diocesan Council, and all Armenians, I respectfully ask you to accept the proposal as it has been presented.” Top stories The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. London’s Armenian community has been left feeling “under attack” after the city’s Genocide monument was vandalised. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. Armenia to sing in 2nd semi-final of Eurovision The organizers of Eurovision 2024 have revealed the running order of the countries in the two semi-finals. |