A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 26 - Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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No tolerance for sexual abuse, especially by priestsSexual abuse cannot and should not be tolerated by anyone. It is one of the ugliest, most despicable crimes that can ever be committed, with long term, serious consequences to the victim. When committed by priests against children, it takes on another significance and becomes almost impossible to comprehend, let alone to measure. The Catholic Church will forever be associated with this ugly crime, and its unthinkable efforts to protect these criminal priests by reassigning them to other communities, where they were able to continue destroying human lives. The Catholic Church will also be associated with trying to buy the silence of the victims—the victims whose lives and faith in their church had been shattered—instead of acting swiftly and honorably to protect the children and put these predators out of their miserable business. Thus, the revelation in this issue by National Herald investigative reporter, Mr. Theodore Kalmoukos, that our Church paid $1.5 million to the victims of sexual crimes committed by our “priests,” is more than shocking. It is astounding. How, in God’s name can this kind of crime be committed in our Church, a Church much smaller and therefore presumably more manageable than the Catholic Church? A Church that is supposed to be grounded in tradition, resolute and unchanging, more closely connected to Christ and the Apostles, different and better than most any other? These questions, and certainly many others, will be asked by the Greek Orthodox faithful as this story unfolds. We should be absolutely clear, however, that at issue here is not just the money being spent by our Church on the victims of our so-called priests. That is the least of our worries. At issue here is the handling of the case, the secrecy surrounding this whole mess. Will the Greek Orthodox Church make the same egregious errors as the Catholic Church? At issue also is the reputation, the moral ground upon which the Greek Orthodox Church stands. Our Church leaders need to come clean on this. They need to tell the world who these pedophiles are so that other children will not go near them. How many crimes did they commit? The people of the Greek Orthodox Church need to know that these so-called priests are not “serving” another community and continuing their crimes. We need to know that safeguards will be put in place so that our children, who trust our priests and who we raise in the Church, hoping to instill in them and pass on to them the faith we have, will be protected, and the good name of our Church and the hundreds of moral, upstanding priests will be protected as well.
Nothing less will do. |
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