In Accountability on June 6, 2007
I am pleased to offer for download an excellent resource to aid Orthodox Parishes in implementing a Safe Environment program. This “Policy & Procedures on Sexual Misconduct” document contains many items that were suggested by the speaker at the Fall 2006 SCOBA Bishop’s workshop. This document was produced by Fr. J. Gregory Waynick, serving at Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Florence, SC. Fr. Gregory developed this policy while at St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, FL. Many of the ideas in the Policy came from Fr. Gregory’s research of documents from other Christian groups.
This document can serve as an excellent starting point for parishes constructing their own Safe Environment program to protect our children.
Also available for download is a list of training resources that can aid in educating your church on these matters of safety. Read the rest of this entry »
In Accountability, Opinion on August 28, 2006
By Fr. Vladimir Borichevsky
The following reflection on authority in the church is apropos given the many scandals of our day. From: http://ocanews.org/reflections.html
Q&A on Authority in the Church by Fr. Vladimir Borichevsky (+1990)
Question: The present confusion in the church is what really troubles me…..Someone wrote “we are now in a crisis of authority.” I think it is more accurately described as a crisis of credibility of those in authority. We can no longer rely on those in authority to speak directly with us. They insist on talking down to us as though we were not capable of understanding real problems and real issues. In the old days, we were told that we were to pray and pay. But, that is exactly what our parents rejected when they returned to Orthodoxy. Now we find many of those in authority insisting that our duty as laymen is to do whatever we are told and never to rock the boat. I can’t be specific, but I want you to discuss the principals of Orthodox Catholicity or sobornost in which the whole church is supposed to act in harmony, in unity, and love. The present authorities seem to call for obedience and compliance to whatever they propose. Don’t we have a say, can’t we object and question our leadership?
Fr. Vladimir: In response to your question, “Don’t we have a say?” The answer is yes. And you have certainly a right and a duty to question those in authority in the church whether they be bishops, or clergy or laity. They are all subject to the authority of Christ and of his church. In this mutuality is our real strength. We all acknowledge one ultimate authority, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we submit to all those in authority in the church only as long as they themselves are also obedient to Christ. We are a unity in Christ and without him we are as nothing. Therefore, as long as we acknowledge him, we are a fellowship of true unity and love in Christ. Read the rest of this entry »
In Accountability on August 28, 2006
Are policies enough to constraining sinful man? T. S. Eliot gave his opinion seventy years ago in his poem, “The Rock”:
They constantly try to escape
From the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect
that no one will need to be good.