CANADA
Fr. Ted’s Blog
Posted on June 11, 2013 by Fr. Ted
Winnipeg news outlets are reporting that the sexual abuse trial of the OCA’s former Archbishop of Canada, Seraphim (Storheim) has begun. The Winnipeg Sun reports, “Sex abuse trial for former Orthodox archbishop Seraphim Storheim begins.” The Winnipeg Free Press said, “Ex-altar boy tells archbishop’s Winnipeg sex assault trial he felt ‘disgusted’”.
It is only with the trial’s beginning that some details about the allegation are coming forth. A court ordered publication ban prevents certain details from being released since those making the allegations were minors at the time the events were claimed to have occurred. Archbishop Seraphim was still a parish priest when the alleged abuse occurred between 1984-1987. He became a bishop in 1987.
We will soon learn what the Crown is able to prove regarding the case and how Archbishop Seraphim will be judged by the court. Whatever is proven in court, the Orthodox Church in America will still and also have to render a judgment on Archbishop Seraphim and whether anything he did violated church canons and requires a church court or church discipline. The OCA has chosen to let the Crown make its case and judgment first before dealing with the case in the church. This was partly necessary perhaps because the OCA did not have all of the details of the case which are only now being revealed. Still the OCA needs to review its own inner culture that allowed the events to be ignored for so long without opening an investigation into the allegations.
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