Costs

Published by The National Herald, February 4, 2005

Burdened by Legal Costs, Archdiocese Owes HC/HC $500,000

By Theodore Kalmoukos
Special to The National Herald

BOSTON – Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is undergoing considerable financial hardship, due primarily to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s failure to submit its monthly $100,000 contribution to the School.

Archdiocese officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of the reasons the Archdiocese is struggling to meet its financial obligations to the School are legal expenses incurred from unspecified cases involving sexual misconduct committed by Greek Orthodox priests.

The Archdiocese reportedly owes HC/HC a total of $500 thousand. The issue has been brought up frequently, most recently during last week’s meeting of the HC/HC Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee.

The Archdiocese is obligated to contribute a total of $1.2 million per annum. The sum was unanimously approved at the most recent Archdiocesan biennial Clergy-Laity Congress held in New York last July. The sum was decided upon after the Congress voted against the School’s original request for a contribution of up to $1.8 million.

It has since been disclosed that the School has now borrowed $1,475,000 from its own line of credit.

The School’s Finance Department recommended borrowing against its own credit line this past January 19. The recommendation was made to the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, which is chaired by the Archbishop Demetrios of America, with Thomas Lelon serving as Vice Chairman.

The School’s Finance Department originally claimed that the institution might need to dip into its rainy day account sometime before this coming May and use the money to cover its needs until the Archdiocese fulfilled its obligation, or until one of two major pending donations to the School were submitted.

HC/HC’s annual budget is $8 million. The two institutions together number approximately 250 students. Out of the 44 enrolled in the School of Theology last September, only 12 hail from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and expected to be ordained to serve in parishes of the Greek Orthodox jurisdiction in America.

Attempts top communicate with HC/HC President Rev. Nicholas Triantafilou were unsuccessful at press time because he was traveling. But Archdiocese officials responding to the Herald’s inquiries about the reasons behind the Archdiocese’s failure to fulfill its monthly financial obligation to the School, said (on condition of anonymity), "The Archdiocese is itself facing immense financial hardship," referring the Herald to the 2005 Archdiocesan Yearbook:

"Look at the size of the Archdiocesan departments, their heads and staff. Then you will understand where all the Church’s money goes," they said, adding that the Archdiocesan Council’s Executive Committee has not convened in the last six months.

The same sources also said that the Archdiocese is burdened by monthly legal expenditures as a result of sexual misconduct perpetrated by Greek Orthodox priests.

Although they did not provide any details about the cases, sources explained that the money to pay for those for the lawsuits is drawn from the Archdiocese’s general treasury because previous insurance policies meant to cover cases of sexual misconduct no longer cover the Archdiocese’s current expenses.

"One of the reasons the Archdiocese pressures the parishes to increase their contributions is because it needs the money to cover expenses for sexual misconduct cases, some of which are old cases," Archdiocese officials said.



Volume 7 Number 6 - Tuesday, February 8th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY