Fr. Greg's Anglo-Catholic Rants

This is where I get to post my thoughts about Jesus Christ, the Anglican Communion and the world we live in. All opinions are welcomed. P.S. This is a work in progress. Pax et Bonum

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

NEW YORK: Leading Orthodox Priest Charged with Sexual Exploitation, Alcohol Abuse

Posted by David Virtue on 2006/12/4 7:40:00 (2192 reads)

NEW YORK: Leading Orthodox Priest Charged with Sexual Exploitation, Alcohol Abuse

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
12/4/2006

The priest of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, the Rev. Andrew Mead, rector of the flagship parish in the Diocese of New York, has been charged with a laundry list of abuses and accusations by twelve persons including a former priest, deacon and 10 lay people.

The charges include alcohol abuse, engaging in sexually inappropriate conduct, plots to overthrow the priest, and Fr. Mead's charges of homosexual activity at a former priest of the parish the Rev. Harry Krauss.

Fr. Mead has been charged under Canon IV.3.23(a)(2) for "conduct unbecoming a member of the Clergy." The charges were sent to the Rt. Rev. Mark Sisk, Bishop of New York by Michael Rehill, for review by the Diocesan Review Committee of the Diocese of NY. Rehill is the former Newark Diocesan Chancellor, who is also involved in a lawsuit to unseat Charles E. Bennison, Bishop of Pennsylvania.

The 8-page document sent to VirtueOnline lists the following accusations against Fr. Mead:

* The Rev. Andrew Mead continuously abuses alcohol and as a result has repeatedly engaged in conduct inappropriate for a priest, including engaging in sexually inappropriate conduct.

Specifically the complaint charges that at the annual lay reader dinner at St. Thomas' he hugged a certain Mr. Getzel "for an excessively long period of time while grabbing his buttocks."

In December 2005, at the staff Christmas Party in the Parish House, Fr. Mead dressed as Santa Claus and sat in a wing back chair. He then insisted that the female employees sit on his lap to receive their "presents".

* Fr. Mead engaged in financial improprieties including the following:

Without knowledge or consent of the Vestry, Fr. Mead routinely has all his groceries, including cat litter for his cats, as well as large quantities of alcohol, delivered to the church and billed to the parish as part of the Church Kitchen Budget. "These expenditures were not included in Fr. Mead's reported income from St. Thomas and are thereby unlawfully omitted from his state and federal tax returns," said the charges.

While the staff of St. Thomas were required to sign a conflict of interest form, including Fr. Mead which says vendors would not employ relations of theirs, Fr. Mead made an arrangement that only one florist could service St. Thomas Church. That florist employed Fr. Mead's wife. When people raised questions about the price of the flowers, Fr. Mead accused them of being disloyal or attacking his wife. In the summer, potted orchids were placed on the side altars, and the church was charged each week for the same orchids.

Fr. Mead and his wife spent the choristers' travel money to fly First Class to Paris to fire the headmaster of the Choir School who was vacationing there.

* Mead frequently engaged in misconduct regarding the staff and parishioners at St. Thomas including the following:

On December 1998, a parishioner, Barbara Vaughn Davis, was taken into the Vesting Room by Mead during a coffee hour, because she allegedly offended Mrs. Mead. Ms. Davis told Fr. Mead that she had never been spoken to by a minister that way, and threatened to go out to the coffee hour and tell everyone what he was doing. Fr. Mead apologized for his tone but insisted that Ms. Davis make up with his wife by taking her to lunch.

Ushers were expected to keep Mrs. Mead's favorite seat for her. When the ushers refused, Fr. Mead had it roped off and a brass plaque "Rector's Pew" affixed to the pew. When Mrs. Mead is not in church no one sits there. When a vestryman took issue with this, he was taken to the rectory where Fr. Mead and his wife wept in his presence.

On December 1998 Fr. Mead fired Fr. David Sellery for his "disloyalty" because he left the Rectory Christmas party to go to a parishioner's annual Christmas party. When the wardens said this would look bad for the parish, Fr. Mead gave Fr. Sellery six months to find another position.

Fr. Mead said Fr. Bodie had to sign a termination agreement which included a waiver of the right to seek legal redress for past, present, or future harm inflicted by Fr. Mead or St. Thomas or Fr. Bodies' health insurance would be terminated immediately. This would affect the Bodies' youngest son Miles from being insured in the future because of his battle with Leukemia. Under that threat Fr. Bodie signed the agreement.

Fr. Mead used the parish security officer, Robert Gianetta, a former New York City Police Officer, to intimidate parishioners and staff.

Specifically, a parishioner Melissa Gobbs allegedly sat too close to Mrs. Mead and was escorted from the church by the security officer. She was subsequently removed from her role as Choir Mother.

On October 5, Canon Krauss and two other persons received phone messages from Fr. Mead saying that he had had too much to drink, but that he needed to talk with them. Both returned the call but Fr. Mead then denied making it.

At a Christmas party Giannetta told Canon Krauss that he had to be careful not to violate his agreement and that Mrs. Mead had heard that he was slandering Fr. Mead. Gianetta also phoned John Metcalf, Canon Krauss' partner to warn him that Canon Krauss should not hurt Fr. Mead.

Fr. Mead launched an investigation through Giannetta to falsely bring federal charges of mail fraud against Fr. Bodie because Fr. Bodie was attempting to enlist a Mark "Kip" Hakala in the case.

One of the worst charges is that on June 2004, Canon Krauss was called into Fr. Mead's office where he was accused of disloyalty. Mead had made derogatory comments about Fr. Krauss' homosexuality as early as 1998. Those comments were made at meetings of the clergy as well as in the Vesting Room. After his dismissal Fr. Mead very openly and negatively discussed Fr. Krauss at coffee-hour and other church functions and Fr. Mead made numerous additional derogatory comments relating to canon Krauss' homosexuality. On August 2, 2004 Fr. Mead fired Canon Krauss.

VOL called Krauss at the Cathedral in Providence, Rhode Island where he is Acting Dean and asked him about the charges. Krauss refused comment. He did say that he had the full support of his Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolfe.

Fr. Mead told Fr. Bodie that he was either a willing or unwitting part of canon Krauss' plot to over throw Fr. Mead and become rector. Fr. Bodie said he did not believe canon Krauss ever had any such intention, but that the relationship between him and Fr. Mead has been severely damaged over the years.

The following persons signed the charges against Fr. Mead: The Rev. Park Bodie, Mrs. Suzanne Bodie, Mark "Kip" Hakala, Mrs. Jessica Getzel, (communicant) Tyson Halsey (communicant), Bruce Gilardi (communicant), Bradford Agri (communicant) Mariana Hoppin (communicant), Marilyn Heineman (communicant), Hamilton Forster (communicant), Elizabeth Forster, (communicant), David Verchere (communicant)

But a source told VOL that the charges brought against Fr, Mead, who is orthodox, were brought by former clergy of St. Thomas, "all of them with homosexual tendencies".

"Fr. Bodie is an Affirming Catholic leader promoting homosexuality as something good. Canon Krauss was let go by St. Thomas when his homosexual activities became a near scandalous matter," he wrote.

The source said that the vestry supported Fr. Mead "100 percent" and has made it clear that all the charges are a "fabrication."

The source also said that several parishioners of St. Mary the Virgin in NYC (a well known gay bastion) have joined St. Thomas in the last couple of years. "This entire picture [to get rid of Fr. Mead] is an effort being made by sodomites against the rector of St. Thomas."

VOL called and e-mailed attorney Michael Rehill seeking comment on the complaint. There was no response. Fr. Mead did not return a call to VOL.

END

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Blog entry from: The Connecticut Six

The following blog entry was sent to you from: ghray@netzero.com
It came from the blog: The Connecticut Six
The entry is titled: Bishop of South Carolina Speaks to San Joaquin
The entry can be found here: http://www.ctsix.org/index.cfm/2006/12/3/Bishop-of-South-Carolina-Speaks-to-San-Joaquin

The following notes were included:
I got this from the CTSix.org website



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