Sexual Abuse Scandal at Holy Cross Involving Teenage Girl
By Theodore Kalmoukos
A sexual abuse scandal has arisen at Holy Cross Theological School in Brookline, MA involving a 50 year-old married student who reportedly abused a teenage girl sexually on campus. Rev. Nicholas Triantafillou, president of Hellenic College – Holy Cross, told TNH that “the only thing I can tell you is that the School took immediate and appropriate action [regarding the suspect and the victim and her family].” Triantafillou refused to discuss the girl’s condition or whether the authorities had been notified. Despite TNH’s persistence for further comment, he said “I cannot say anything else at this moment, the issue is legal and the lawyer has told me to be careful.” The suspect has five or six children and belongs to the segment at the School that considers priesthood as a second-chance career and go to the Theological School at an advanced age to study to become Greek Orthodox priests. The girl’s family lived on campus as well because her father was a student at Holy Cross and already an ordained priest. The families of the alleged perpetrator and alleged victim knew each other and both lived at the dormitories that were built in the 1980s for the married students and their families. A big portion of the tuition expenses are covered by grants given to the School by Leadership 100 in excess of more than $1 million per year. Today there are more than 60 children of various ages who live on campus. The teenage girl babysat the suspect’s younger children. She is a high school student in the area but lives with her parents on campus. TNH has learned also that the suspect was giving drugs to the teenage girl and at some point she was taken to the hospital for overdose. When the girl’s father found out the incidents he went straight to School’s president and disclosed everything. Triantafillou immediately expelled the suspect from the School a few weeks prior to graduation, around the end of April to the beginning of May. He had been scheduled to graduate with a THM Degree and continue next year for the Master of Divinity degree, which leads to ordination to becoming a priest and serve a Greek Orthodox parish of the Archdiocese of America. Despite many efforts, TNH was unable to communicate with the alleged perpetrator. TNH has learned that his wife took the children and left to their hometown in California, but he has stayed behind in the Boston area. He has not appeared at the Theological School since was expelled. TNH has also learned that Triantafillou has fully informed Archbishop Demetrios of America, who is also the School’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees. TNH was unable to contact the victim’s family and does not know if they contacted law enforcement or will pursue legal action against the perpetrator, the School, and the Archdiocese.
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