| |
3.09.10
OCA Apologizes to Koumentakos, Admits Errors
The long nightmare of Kristi Koumentakos took a major step towards resolution when the OCA, in the person of Metropolitan Jonah, published a formal statement (read “apology”) on Friday, March 5th on the OCA website. The case involved a Maryland woman, details of whose confessions and counseling sessions were inappropriately made public by her former OCA priest in 2007, while the two were in the midst of a legal wrangle over her discharge from a church-related ministry a year earlier. (Read that story here.) Ms. Koumentakos eventually ended up suing the OCA, the former diocese of Washington & New York and her former parish priest, Fr. Ray Velencia, for $6 million. That suit was dismissed in late 2009 on First Amendment grounds - except for the two employment issues, which are still awaiting settlement.
The OCA statement reads:
“After discussions that took place at the joint session of the Lesser Synod of Bishops and Metropolitan Council of the Orthodox Church in America at the Chancery here during the first week of March 2010, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah issued the following statement.
‘As the Archbishop of Washington, certain matters of the dispute between the Archpriest Raymond Velencia, Pastor of Saint Matthew Church in Columbia, MD, and Kristine Koumentakos fall under our hierarchical/diocesan oversight. This has also been a serious concern within the Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America. Complaints from Ms. Koumentakos were brought to the attention of the administration of the Orthodox Church in America in January 2007. An investigation by the Orthodox Church in America took place in the early part of 2007. Ms. Koumentakos protested that the investigation was incomplete and brought her concerns to the members of the Holy Synod and the Metropolitan Council during the summer of 2007. The response to Ms. Koumentakos by the Orthodox Church in America was inadequate. During that time a private letter containing sensitive information was improperly shared with members of the Metropolitan Council.
“I apologize, on behalf of the Orthodox Church in America, to Kristine Koumentakos and to her family, for the lack of pastoral attentiveness and sensitivity to the matters at hand. The lawsuits that came about as a result of the disagreement between Ms. Koumentakos and Father Velencia were most unfortunate and should have been avoided. At this time the Orthodox Church in America is in the process of revising and updating its Policies, Standards and Procedures that address questions of alleged misconduct. Together with that there is an ongoing review of how to respond to complicated pastoral issues, conduct pastoral investigations, provide pastoral comfort and address allegations of misconduct. We will do all in our power to insure that the response and intervention in such matters of alleged misconduct will be ethical, professional and proper, as is befitting the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the teachings and canons of the Orthodox Church.’”
The “incomplete investigation” claimed by Ms. Koumentakos to which the Metropolitan refers was conducted by Fr. Alexei Karlgut, who was for years the OCA’s chief investigator of matters that involved clerical misconduct. Fr. Karlgut was “released” from this position in 2009. Now the Dean of Upstate New York, Fr. Karlgut interjected himself back into the Koumentakos case last month by publishing inappropriate and misleading details of his investigation and its conclusions in a Deanery newsletter. The letter was subsequently posted on an anti-Koumentakos website run by parishioners of Fr. Velencia, exacerbating the situation even further.
Meanwhile, Fr. Garklavs and Metropolitan Jonah visited Washington DC where they met with Mr. & Mrs. Koumentakos, Fr. Velencia, as well as parishioners of Fr. Velencia’s parish, St. Matthew’s in Columbia, MD, in a pastoral effort to deal with the toxic environment. The Koumentako’s have since received an apology; and the parish has announced that Metropolitan Jonah will be conducting a Lenten retreat for them on March 12th entitled: “Three Foundations of Orthodox Spirituality: Reaction, Resentment, and Inner Stillness”. There remains only the Synod’s review of possible canonical sanctions against Fr. Velencia (and perhaps others) as well as a settlement offer from Fr. Velencia to Ms. Koumentakos to bring this sad tale of “lack of pastoral attentiveness and sensitivity” to conclusion. |
|
