Lawsuit threat may have led to Koveos defrockment

Lawsuit threat may have led to Koveos’ defrockment
Victim’s mother will not sue now that ”they’ve done the right thing”

Catherine Metropoulos, the mother of the girl molested by defrocked Greek Orthodox priest Emmanuel Koveos, thinks her threat to sue the Church may have led to his defrockment.

”I don’t know if they would have made that decision otherwise,” Metropoulos said. ”I don’t think so.”

Koveos was convicted of molesting Metropoulos’ daughter while giving her a Greek language lesson at the Dormition of the Mother of God Church in Burlington, Vermont on January 22, 1997. The deadline for filing a lawsuit against the Church was three years later, January 22, 2000, according to Metropoulos.

Late last summer, with the deadline approaching, Metropoulos wrote to Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, to then-Archbishop Spyridon in New York, and to Metropolitan Methodios in Boston. She told them that the family would be left with no other choice but to take legal action if the Church did not defrock Koveos soon.

Before threatening to sue, Metropoulos had repeatedly demanded, to no avail, that Koveos be defrocked, in many letters to Bartholomew, Spyridon, the members of the Holy Synod of the Archdiocese, and the press.

Although Koveos was convicted in February 1998, the only action the Church had taken until Metropoulos threatened to sue was to place him on indefinite suspension. After Metropoulos threatened to sue, the Holy Synod of the Archdiocese reconsidered the matter and forwarded a confidential recommendation to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul.

In early December, 1999 Metropoulos again wrote to the press demanding Koveos’ defrockment after she learned that the convicted and suspended priest had been serving as a chanter at the Transfiguration of our Savior Church in Lowell, Masachusetts.

A few days later Metropoulos was unofficially informed that the Patriarchate had decided to defrock Koveos. The defrockment became known publicly after Methodios officially informed Koveos of the decision late last year.

Metropoulos says she will not sue the Church now that Koveos has been defrocked. ”I do not want to sue my Church, and I’m thankful to God that I don’t have to,” she said. ”I have no intention of suing now. I don’t need to; they’ve done the right thing.”

Metropoulos stressed that her determination to see Koveos defrocked ”was not a vindictive act.” She said Koveos had to be defrocked ”in order to restore respect and dignity to the collar he defamed and humiliated,” and to protect other children in the future.

”I’m really concerned about the children,” she said. ”If this can happen to my daughter it can happen to anybody.”

”I think the Church really needed to make this decision,” Metropoulos added. ”If they didn’t defrock Koveos and it ever happened again, the liability would have been incredible,” she emphasized.

Since learning of Koveos’ defrockment, Metropoulos has offered to help the Archdiocese write its new clergy sexual misconduct policy. ”As a faithful member of the Greek Orthodox Church and because of my personal involvement in the Koveos case, I feel that my experiences can be of great value in the writing of this much needed policy,” Metropoulos said. ”I’m going to do my best to make something positive out of this negative experience,” she added.

Metropoulos has some specific suggestions to offer. ”The first thing I would tell anyone in this situation is to call the police,” she stated. ”They are an unbiased outside agency.” ”It’s difficult for the Church to make the correct decision because they know the priest so well.”

But despite the success of her lengthy effort to get Koveos defrocked, and her willingness to help the Church prepare for the future, right now Metropoulos and her family are still suffering.”

”This has bothered me very much, she said. ”I have lost many nights of sleep.”

”We’re all really sad that we got to this point,” Metropoulos continued. ”I feel like I put my own dad in jail.” ”I have a lot of guilt about this.”

”Church was a big part of our lives,” she said. ”Now we don’t go much any more.”

”I’ve tried to take Holy Communion, but every time I do I cry.” ”And my daughter is not doing very well,” she added.

”The Church has done nothing for us,” she emphasized. ”Not a card, not a bible, nothing, zero.” ”The Philoptochos sent Koveos flowers when he got sick, as they should have, but they didn’t even send a card to my daughter.”

”I want my Church back,” Metropoulos said, ”but it’s going to be really hard.”

Despite the lingering pain, Metropoulos feels that Koveos’ defrockment ”puts closure on what needed to be done.” ”After three long and agonizing years, we are grateful that now, and with God’s help, we can start our long and difficult journey towards closure and healing,” she said.