CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, March 3, 2014
For more info: Melanie Jula Sakoda 925-708-6175 cell, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com, Cappy Larson cappy@rlarson.com, David Clohessy 314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Ministers say they were “deceived”
Fundraiser for convicted predator won’t happen in Ottawa
He was Orthodox Church’s highest ranking cleric in Canada
But in Jan a judge found archbishop guilty of sexually assaulting a boy
Victims’ group calls for investigation into “hurtful & disturbing situation”
SNAP: “Discipline church officials who participated in this callous effort”
Two ministers at an Ottawa parish say that they were “deceived” by a group planning to use their church to hold a fundraiser for a convicted child molesting cleric.
Late last week, leaders at Woodroffe United Church in Ottawa wrote to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, saying that they did not know the scheduled March 5 event was to benefit Archbishop Seraphim Storheim, who was found guilty last month of molesting a boy. Storheim was the Orthodox Church in America’s (OCA) highest ranking cleric in Canada.
SNAP had written to Woodroffe pastors Rev. Matt Gallinger (613-722-9250 x223, matt@woodroffeunited.org) and Rev. Jan Lougheed (613-722-9250 x226, 613-799-6238, jlough@rogers.com) urging them to block the fundraiser.
Within hours of hearing from SNAP, the pastors cancelled the event and said that it would not be rescheduled in their parish.
(The complete text of the pastors’ letter is pasted below.)
Now, SNAP is asking OCA officials to identify those who allegedly deceived the Woodroffe parish and who they say hurt victims by promoting a public benefit for a child predator. They are also asking that any church officials who participated be severely disciplined.
“Publicly rallying around a proven child predator is morally wrong and intimidates other child sex abuse victims into staying silent,” said Melanie Jula Sakoda of SNAP. “It’s also wrong to lie to other churches. The OCA hierarchy should investigate both parts of this controversy and publicly discipline those responsible so it won’t happen again.”
SNAP sent letters denouncing the proposed fundraiser to the OCA, the OCA’s Archdiocese of Canada, the United Church of Canada, and the Woodroffe parish on the morning of February 27th. The victims’ group asked each to cancel or denounce the event. SNAP pointed out that a public event benefiting a convicted pedophile “hurt at least one child sex abuse victim and deterred other child sex abuse victims from speaking up.”
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