BishopAccountability.org
	Unraveling at the Seams Pokrov February 14, 2009 http://pokrov.org/display.asp?ds=Article&id=904 Recent developments in the life of the Church in America amply demonstrate how fragile the general situation is, and how much things have deteriorated in recent years – due to a series of unfortunate decisions over the years, but are badly mismanaged today – and an obvious vacuum in central leadership and authority. Things may seem calm at the local level – in some parishes –but when clerics start having lay people arrested; when hierarchs insist on supporting wrongdoers, only to suspend them from the priesthood later after a great deal of heartache; when hierarchs aren’t honest with us, the situation cries out for inspection, introspection and, ultimately, major personnel changes. Where do we begin? Do we continue to revisit the Katinas scandal which, like several other such cases that imposed severe financial hardship on the Archdiocese, rained embarrassment down on our community nationwide – not just in the Dallas community, where the now-defrocked former priest served for almost 30 years before retiring abruptly – only to learn that he allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with young boys? We can go back much further, but we don’t need to. Recent events will do just fine: In Oak Lawn, Illinois a male parishioner now faces one year in prison because he violated his priest’s “orders” to stay away from church grounds. The former treasurer of the Saint Nicholas Church parish council tells us she discovered improprieties in church financial records, and because she questioned the irregularities, Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago, who told us just last week that he was unaware of the Oak Lawn issue, ultimately removed her from the parish council – back in 2005. She, too, has been barred from coming to her parish, and is forced to go to church out of town. She, too, faces the possibility of being arrested if she sets foot on Saint Nicholas Church grounds. At the Annunciation Cathedral in Houston, Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver finally suspended the Very Rev. Gabriel Karambis this past December for reasons which Isaiah says have to do with the archimandrite’s “personal life, and how it negatively reflected on the Holy Priesthood.” It turns out that church membership and attendance dropped sharply because of conflicts with Father Karambis, but Isaiah, who enjoyed a personal friendship with this problematic priest, continued to support the archimandrite for the longest time – against the wishes of at least one third of the Houston parish community – until the situation became untenable. This is the same bishop who also defended Katinas. How do we know Father Karambis is problematic? What allows us to say or think the situation in Houston became untenable? Other than the fact that an entire community was divided, we cite one of the most esteemed clergymen and scholars in the history of our Archdiocese: “When I was teaching at the Theological School, I had personally requested his dismissal because he was incapable of learning, and because of his character,” Rev. Dr. Demetrios J. Constantelos told us. On top of that, a prominent member of the Houston community, who asked not be identified, told us many members of that parish are “relieved they did not go to Karambis for confession,” and that the reason for his suspension was “ethical in nature.” Statements like that speak volumes. Our archives are full, and our memories are long. We could go on ad nauseam about circumstances and events concerning the unacceptable, even criminal, behavior of individual clerics, and the hierarchical attempts to cover them up. But we don’t need to do that. Some Church leaders try to paint us as the bad guy. “Don’t listen to the media. They always twist and distort the truth. The press can’t be trusted,” they say in an effort to continue misguiding the faithful. In turn, they don’t return our calls when we make an effort to get their side of the story. If they’re so confident, what are they afraid of? They then try to pretend that they are “above the untrustworthy press,” and don’t have to answer to the community the way public officials in the secular world do. But that’s exactly where they are wrong. A clergyman, particularly a bishop, is squarely in the public eye. When you are in a position to serve an entire community; when you have the authority to get up and address a large assembly; when you are ordained with the God-given duty to preach the Gospel and minister to the faithful, people have the right to ask questions, and you have a moral obligation to provide honest answers. You don’t try to run and hide like the plague. You only make things worse when you try to evade the people you claim to serve in God’s Name. Finally, what stands out is not one individual case or another -even though some are clearly worse than others – but an entire collection of cases which are offending the sensibilities of the faithful; the increasing frequency of these cases; and the ethical decrepitude involved in the handling thereof. Even one such case is one too many. But when they start happening so often, it’s not only the corrupt practices of certain individuals, it’s also a sure sign of institutional degeneration. Some in our midst are acting like loose cannons and do whatever they want. And without the strength of central authority behind its administration, the Archdiocese is unraveling at the seams.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.