Greek church will celebrate milestone in ‘painful time’

OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday September 28, 2012

Members of Columbus’ Greek Orthodox Church are forging ahead this weekend with a 100th-anniversary celebration and the welcoming of a new dean while coping with a presiding priest’s confession to attempted rape of a child.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, on the edge of the Short North, will play host to the top church official in the U.S. — Archbishop Demetrios — and the top regional official — Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh — for the events.

The Rev. Patrick N. Hughes, interim dean of the church, was arrested last week after Franklin County deputy sheriffs said he used the Internet to solicit boys for sex. He pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced to six years in prison.

“The plans are going on as originally scheduled, but the difference will be in the spirit of it, obviously less celebratory and one of coming together in healing,” said Bishop Andonios, chancellor of the Archdiocese of America.

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