Several of the parishioners at my church are members of this order. And there is always a little ceremony to induct them; not that I mind though the ceremony sometimes seems a bit much and is no longer than that for someone who is being tonsured a taper bearer or reader. Most of the people I know who are in the order do so much more for their church than merely write checks.
However, from what I've heard and read about various Antiochian parishes in the United States, there seems to be an overemphasis or favoritism, if you will, given to those people who just write checks and because of that, everything else they do (reprehensible as it may be) is given a pass and overlooked. And it happens that many of those same people are given powerful positions as laity in the Archdiocese. I think you can make the case that the Board of Trustees is a plutocracy. The case of Khalid Walife (sp?) immediately comes to mind. But, I do believe that such is the exception, not the rule.
On a little bit of a tangent: A year ago, I was unemployed and I could not contribute to the church as much as I wanted to. But in order to be considered a member of the parish and to vote in elections, I had to be a pledging member. I was contacted by my priest asking why I had not pledged anything though he knew well of my situation. I then told him why it is we consider only those who pledge money to be a member of the parish. A lot of the people who pledge lots of money are never there for anything or only come sporadically. They don't volunteer but they can contribute $ which is great, but that's it. I asked him why my services for the church as a chanter (sometimes the only chanter), bookstore manager, occasional chorister, sexton, etc. by themselves are not sufficient reasons for me to be considered a full member of the parish. Why is the contribution of my time not as prized as whatever pittance I cannot contribute at this time? He admitted that I was right; that the time we give, sometimes that is all we can give, is overlooked at the expense of money. In the end, things worked out but the thing is that as long as our parish constitution says that pledging money makes you a member, we are going to be a parish that measures success and failure by dollar signs.