Letter to the Editor: Reporter Theodore Kalmoukos Replies to Fr. Artemas’ Letter

I thank Fr. John Artemas for his letter-testimony of the accuracy of my articles about the events at his parish in Illinois which he admits “contain much detail and truth.”

The reason for contacting him – and he was kind enough to grant me an interview – was to give him the opportunity to provide details, explain the situation and present his side of the story and he did.

The tone, the style, the language and the characterizations of his letter are certainly indicative of many things and I will let the readers draw their own conclusions.

Instead of any other reply, however, to his letter, I simply would like to remind him of the following portion of his interview to The National Herald (Feb. 4, 2009) which is self explanatory:

“TNH: How do you justify the fact that sums of $20,000-$25,000 were moving through that account?

JA: There is a pious and generous lady who cooperated with Fr. Bakakos and she made from time to time huge donations for various purposes. I checked that instance myself and I discovered that she had given a lot of money which Fr. Bakakos, for reasons of convenience, deposited into the GOYA account and used it to make payments. They purchased new chairs that cost thousands of dollars.

TNH: Why did Fr. Bakakos deposit the donation of that lady into the GOYA account and not into the regular accounts of the parish?

JA: It is a good question. I would say that it was a mistake by Fr. Bakakos. It would be better to deposit the money into the parish’s account. But he probably did it out of carelessness. The money that was deposited in that account was used for the purpose that it was given.

TNH: Then why did you throw Mr. Papadopoulos out of the church?

JA: First of all I did not do it alone. Whatever I did, I did it always in consultation with the Metropolis, the general assembly and the parish council.”

I am wondering who should be really ashamed.

Sincerely,

Theodore Kalmoukos