By Mariam Ibrahim
Vancouver Sun
October 6, 2010
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Canadian+archbishop+under+investigation+will+cleared+Sister/3634043/story.html
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| Archbishop Seraphim Storheim -- the Canadian head of the Orthodox Church in America -- speaks at Parliament Hill in Ottawa in this April 15, 1999 file photo. |
The sister of a high-ranking Canadian archbishop currently under police investigation says she will stand by her brother “100 per cent” after allegations of past sexual abuse surfaced this week.
Archbishop Seraphim Storheim requested a leave of absence late last month from his position as the Canadian head of the Orthodox Church in America after Winnipeg police launched an investigation into sexual-abuse claims dating back nearly three decades.
But Dianne Storheim-Hill says the allegations are totally at odds with Storheim’s character, and she has faith her brother’s name will be cleared.
“We stand by him 100 per cent,” Storheim-Hill said. “His life has been totally for other people — not to hurt them, but to help them.”
A statement posted Sunday on the website for the Orthodox Church in America — which has an estimated 700 parishes and other institutions in North America — confirmed Storheim’s three-month leave.
“I have blessed the church’s office for review of sexual misconduct allegations to work in conjunction with the Canadian police authorities and to comply with the Orthodox Church in America’s policies and procedures to obtain the necessary information needed to bring about a proper resolution,” Metropolitan Jonah said in the statement.
The Edmonton-born Storheim began his religious career as an Anglican priest, but later converted to the Orthodox Church and became a monk.
An online biography says Storheim was ordained as a priest in New York in 1979, and became a bishop in Edmonton in 1989. He became the archbishop of Ottawa and Canada in March 2007. He’s also served in Winnipeg, Moose Jaw, Sask., London, Ont., and locations in Europe and the U.S.
Storheim-Hill said she last saw her brother in Victoria in July for a meeting of the Orthodox Church in America’s archdiocese and council.
“People love him so much they lined up in a very long line up to receive a goodbye hug from him,” she said.
Storheim-Hill said her brother is respected in the church community in Edmonton, adding she has received emails and phone calls of support since news of the allegations broke.
“I’ve had friends who are not in the church talk to me today, and they don’t believe it either,” she said. “It’s just so out of his character.”
She said she won’t believe the allegations unless they’re proven “beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
Storheim has not been charged with any offences in the case.
According to SNAP Orthodox, an American advocacy group for abuse survivors, the claims involve two men who allege the abuse happened in the early 1980s, when the pair visited Winnipeg as 10-year-old boys.
Storheim — born Kenneth Storheim — served as rector of Holy Trinity Sobor in Winnipeg between December 1984 and June 1987, his biography says.
In a letter posted on SNAP’s website Tuesday, the organization said the abuse claims came to the attention of the church more than 20 years ago.
While he was an Anglican priest, Storheim spent two years at Christ Church in Edmonton and four years at St. Mary’s in Ponoka, Alta. He later converted to the Orthodox Church and became a monk.
Bishop Jane Alexander of the Anglican Church in Edmonton confirmed Storheim was a member of the diocese from 1973-78, but said no one has raised any concerns about his time with the church.
“As far as we’re concerned in all of our files and records, there’s absolutely no accusation, no complaint, not even a whisper of anything untoward during his time with us,” Alexander said. “He was seen as a good and faithful parish priest and there’s nothing in the records to even hint at anything inappropriate.”
Meanwhile, Bishop Irenee Rochon, of Quebec City, says he’ll fill in for Storheim for “however long it takes” and that the church’s Canada office is surprised by the allegations.
“We don’t know anything. We were never contacted by anybody . . . nobody ever phoned us or told us anything specifically,” he said.
Rochon said the archbishop “claims he doesn’t know anything about it” and is very troubled by the news. “Everybody’s upset about it; the whole . . . Archdiocese of Canada, is upset about it.”
The Orthodox Church in America is thought to have more than one million members and is the 24th largest Christian denomination in North America.
With files from the Winnipeg Free Press
Edmonton Journal
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