CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, November 13, 2015
For more information: Melanie Jula Sakoda (925-708-6175 cell, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com), Cappy Larson (415-637-2006, cappy@rlarson.com), David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
Victims want defrocked cleric supervised & kept off church payrolls
As archbishop, he was the highest ranking Orthodox cleric in Canada
But he was found guilty of abusing a young boy in his care & went to prison
He’s been demoted to “monk,” but could still be employed in local parishes
SNAP to OCA bishops: “Warn your flock about him & promise you won’t hire him”
A victims’ group is urging Orthodox officials to make sure that an ex-archbishop who was convicted of molesting a child will not ever work in a North American church again.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing to the synod of bishops of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and the head of a Canadian monastery begging them to apply the denomination’s guidelines on sex offenders to Seraphim Storheim.
SNAP believes that an accountability plan should be in place for the former archbishop both at his monastery and at any OCA parish that he visits.
From 1990 until his suspension in 2010, Storheim was the highest ranking OCA cleric in Canada. However, following his conviction for sexually assaulting a young boy under his care, the former archbishop was defrocked by his synod last month.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.