A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 29 - Tuesday, July 20th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Archdiocese Urged to Make Full Disclosure On Sexual Abuse Settlements Nearly $2 million in Borrowed Payments Shock Faithful New York (July 15, 2004) -- With the recent news reports that settlements approaching $2 million have been paid by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America for clergy sexual misconduct, the Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL), an independent advocacy group comprised of Greek Orthodox faithful, has called for full disclosure to be made at the July 25-29 Clergy-Laity Congress in New York. The payments, financed mainly by bank loans, were disclosed in the June 26-27 issue of The National Herald, a widely read Greek-American newspaper, which printed that the information had been given to the Archdiocesan Council at its April meeting. The loans total $1.5 million and are in addition to $260,000 owed for other settlements. At the 2002 Clergy-Laity Congress, it had been announced that insurance coverage for sexual misconduct would cease as of August 2002, but this is the first report about the extent of monies borrowed and paid over the past three years. “Sexual misconduct by clergy cannot be tolerated,” said Dr. Peter Haikalis, president of OCL. “One would think that with the enormous attention generated by the troubles in the Catholic Church that the Archdiocese would have handled these matters with total transparency, full disclosure and a greater sense of urgency.” “What the Greek Orthodox faithful now require are answers, and a good starting place would be at the Clergy-Laity Congress, so the entire church community can begin to listen, discuss and decide,” Haikalis continued. “We need to know how much has been paid to abuse victims over the past 20 years, so we can understand the magnitude of the problem, and how it relates to the Archdiocese’s recurring fiscal deficits. The faithful have a right to know the identity of the offending priests, if they were defrocked, and their current status in the Church. The immediate disclosure of this information is necessary to protect our children from future abuse, and to insure that the perpetrators are not in situations where they can are able to inflict further damage.” “We should know who authorized the loans and settlements - was it the Synod of bishops and/or the Archdiocesan Council? What processes are in place both for preventing abuse and then dealing with its tragic results?” Haikalis also noted that although the Archdiocese announced a Clergy Sexual Misconduct Policy two years ago, there has been very little follow-up. The names of the policy Advisory Board have not been made public, and there have been only two Board meetings since its inception. The OCL and other concerned lay people have brought the misconduct issue to the attention of Archbishop Demetrios and other bishops, but the hierarchs have refused to engage in any dialogue with their parishioners. Secrecy has been their policy of choice, Haikalis said. Citing another recent report in the Herald, Haikalis expressed concern that a priest of the Archdiocese was suspended and is awaiting a Spiritual Court hearing, but prior to his suspension, had been allowed to continue in his position over several years, in spite of the credible allegations of misconduct against him. “It’s important to clarify that decent and devout Greek Orthodox Christians are not on a ‘witch hunt’, but they are entitled to answers and to be kept informed as to what is happening inside their Church.” He continued, “We must do what we can to insure that the Archdiocese and other Orthodox jurisdictions protect the young and remove those individuals whose actions cause such grief and pain.”
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