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Question 453

Afternoon Pater. Without offending anyone or suggesting anything, we’ve all seen the issues the Catholic Church is facing with The Pope’s visit to Ireland with regards to the abuse etc. How would the Greek Orthodox Church act or deal with such matters within the faith if there were such problems. I ask only because it’s clear to anyone with some level of intelligence, that the Catholic Church has simply “swept it under the carpet” thinking the problem will just “go away”. And I’ll add, before my friends on here start taking the mickey, and to keep my question a little light hearted, I’ve not been tampered with by anyone of the faith       

 

Answer to Question 453

The Orthodox doesn't have the problems of the Catholic Church because our priests are married and those who chose to remain celibate are mainly in monasteries. Saying that we do have scandals occasionally, but of a different sort and these are investigated immediately and if the priest is found to be in error then he will be defrocked without question. There is no sweeping under the carpet. The problem with the Catholic Church is how they see the priesthood - that once a priest always a priest and even if he is defrocked he still has the grace of the priesthood so they prefer to remove the priest from the scandal by placing him in a new position where people don't know him. Another reason could be that the Catholic church has been fully aware of what has been going on for decades that if she was to begin defrocking she would have to defrock hundreds of priest including many high ranking priests and would lose many of her faithful if the full extent was to come out into the open.

 

Same member

So as a faith,they believe that denial will help them solve a huge issue they refuse to deal with. This simply confirms why I personally cannot warm to any other faith apart from my own Greek Orthodox one. Strange, If and sadly someone came to you with such an issue, would it be dealt with at Church level, or is it a straight phone call to the boss ?

 

Reply

If I knew of a priest involved with children and had proof then I would bring it to the attention of the bishop whose responsibility it is to investigate and if necessary bring the accused priest before the Holy Synod. But if I heard of a priest committing adultery whether with a woman or man then I wouldn't interfere, they are both adults and know what they're doing. Sooner or later they will be found out and disciplinary procedures will follow