Archdiocese Bars Bishop From Liturgy

Antiochian cleric to receive treatment for alcohol abuse

Bishop Demetri Khoury of Toledo has been banned from preaching or performing liturgies, at least temporarily, and will undergo treatment for alcohol abuse as a result of his arrest last week after being accused of fondling a woman in a Michigan casino, a church official said.

Metropolitan Philip, head of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, in a statement released yesterday, said Bishop Demetri “has acknowledged that he has a problem with alcohol, that perhaps combined with various medications he has been taking for serious health problems, may have contributed to his actions in Traverse City, which he truly regrets.”

Bishop Demetri, 54, who has Parkinson’s disease, has been head of the Ohio, Michigan, six other states, and Ontario region since 1995.

The cleric appeared to be highly intoxicated when he grabbed the breast of a woman sitting next to him at a slot machine in the Turtle Creek Casino near Traverse City Wednesday night, said Michigan State Police Trooper Paul Kushner, the arresting officer.

The incident was captured on the casino’s video security system, Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Dennis LaBelle said.

Bishop Demetri was charged with criminal sexual conduct, a fourth-degree felony, and a misdemeanor offense of drunk and disorderly conduct, officials said. He was released on $25,000 bail and scheduled for arraignment Aug. 1. If convicted on the felony count, he could face up to two years in prison and a $500 fine.

“I have directed Bishop Demetri to seek professional help,” Metropolitan Philip said. “He is willing to do that, and has already made arrangements for inpatient treatment at a well-recognized facility. Once he receives permission of the civil authorities, he will be entering a 90-day treatment program.”

Bishop Demetri, one of five bishops in the 450,000-member North American archdiocese, was unavailable for comment. Nobody answered phone calls to the Toledo chancery yesterday. Officials at the archdiocese’s headquarters in Englewood, N.J., had no comment except for the statement by Metropolitan Philip.

“We will not abandon Bishop Demetri, who is both a brother and a friend,” Metropolitan Philip said.

He urged the church to pray for the bishop and also for “those who were directly affected in Traverse City by Bishop Demetri’s actions, as well as the faithful, especially those in the Midwest and throughout this archdiocese, both clergy and laity, who have been deeply surprised, hurt, and disappointed.”

He said he has ordered the bishop “not to preach or preside at any liturgical service … while this matter is under investigation.”

The church will follow its “policies and procedures,” adopted by its board of trustees in June, 1999, in governing Bishop Demetri’s case, Metropolitan Philip said.

Those policies and procedures are for internal use only and aren’t available to the media or general public, Antiochian Orthodox officials said.