Former OCA Treasurer Breaks Silence

MJS

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Nov 7, 2005, 7:32:14 PM11/7/05

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Former OCA Treasurer Breaks Silence:
Old Scandal Resurfaces Amid Fresh Allegations & New Details

by Mark Stokoe

Stunning new allegations of financial corruption and personal
misconduct, as well as insider details of a cover-up have been leveled
against the current administration of the Orthodox Church in America by
its former Treasurer, Protodeacon Eric Wheeler. In a series of three
letters dated October 15 to November 1 sent to Metropolitan Herman,
Primate of the OCA, members of the OCA's Holy Synod, and finally,
members of the OCA's Metropolitan Council,
Wheeler demanded the Orthodox Church in America "clean house".

The Scandal

Many of Wheeler's allegations, including the existence of secret
discretionary accounts totalling millions of dollars, first surfaced in
1999 when the former chairman of the OCA's Audit Committee, John Kozey,
balked at signing the 1997-98 official audit. When Kozey revealed the
problem of "Discretionary Accounts" to the OCA's Holy Synod, and later,
Metropolitan Council, Kozey was summarily dismissed, at least one
member of the Metropolitan Council was forced to resign and Wheeler was
"reorganized" out of his
position as Treasurer.

Now Wheeler, who had a stellar career in the administration of the OCA,
first as an administrator at St. Vladimir's Seminary, then as Secretary
to Metropolitan Theodosius from 1988-96 and finally as OCA Treasurer
from 1996-1999, has broken his long silence about
these matters in a confessional mea culpa that has the OCA
administration in an uproar, the OCA hierarchy splintering, and the
Orthodox cyberworld abuzz since major excerpts of the three letters
were posted on Orthodo...@Yahoogroups.com

Financial and Personal Misconduct

In his climatic third letter which details the origin, nature and scope
of the corruption, as well as the ensuing cover-up, Wheeler explains:
"The prevailing financial climate at the (OCA)
Chancery was always one of concealment. Everything pertaining to money
had to be handled in a secretive manner since the bishops were not
interested in the financial needs of the central church, the
Metropolitan Council and church bodies lacked, or rather, could
never be given real control over the money and the masses were not
spiritually mature enough to handle the truth." Given this atmosphere,
Wheeler writes, funds were needed "to safeguard the church from
scandal, to cover embarrassing credit card debts incurred by the
Metropolitan, to provide family members who leached off their relatives
with a steady stream of assistance, to pay blackmail requests and to
provide the means to entertain with dinners, trips and gifts of cash
the visiting foreign dignitaries and "friends of Syosset".

According to Wheeler, secret bank accounts were established in the
Roslyn Savings Bank, funded by undisclosed donations to the OCA by the
Archer Daniels Midland Foundation (as well as personal foundation of
ADM's founder, the Dwayne Andreas Foundation) totalling almost $5
million, as well as off-the-book sales of merchandise and liturgical
items from Russia to OCA clergy and parishes. Wheeler details how
Temporarily Restricted Funds, the
OCA's Annual Mission, Seminary and Charity Appeals - were looted to
cover operational expenses in an extensive shell game meant to cover
financial irregularities. "On a regular basis", Wheeler writes, "petty
cash checks were cut from these accounts in the amounts of $10,000 with
the cash being given to Father Kondratick. A review of the financial
records of the church during this period will show a deficit in the
Charity Appeal Fund of close to $275,000 dollars." Additional monies,
according to Wheeler, were diverted from Church Planting Grants as well
as the Department of Chaplains Bibles for Russia campaign.

Wheeler's insider description of the financial chicanery at Syosset
occasionally borders on the comic as he explains how a proposed visit
to the OCA's Representation Church in Moscow, St. Catherine's by ADM's
Dwayne Andreas threatened to bring down the
house of cards. Having diverted Andreas' annual gifts for a conference
and communication center in Moscow for years to secret accounts,
Wheeler writes: "The greatest fear was that Mr. Andreas would want to
view the nonexistent conference center. A plan was put into place to
present the offices of the law firm renting property within St.
Catherine's complex as the `Andreas Conference Center' the only thing
to be changed were the signs on the outside
of the building."

The Scandal Breaks

Wheeler's tone changes, however, as he begins to detail the events
which led to his own dismissal in 1999. Wheeler writes: "As the
All-American Council neared in 1999 I felt it essential to present an
audited financial report for the years 1996-1998. Not to mention the
fact that the plenary session devoted to finances was to be four hours
in total presentation, with 45 minutes of open questions for the
Treasurer."

With neither Metropolitan Theodosius nor Fr. Kondratick willing to
address the unethical behaviors or financial irregularities, Wheeler
himself balked. "On June 20, 1999," Wheeler
writes, "I finally broke down and explained the entire financial mess
to Rob Taylor, a partner of the CPA Firm responsible for auditing the
accounts of the Church." Taylor, however, only
informed the Chairman of the OCA Auditing Committee, John Kozey, of the
secret accounts. Kozey, in turn, informed all members of the Holy Synod
and Metropolitan Council in early July, 1999 of the secret
"discretionary accounts".

The Cover Up

"It is telling," continues Wheeler, "that within a week ...
Metropolitan Theodosius retained the services of a private lawyer,
Michael Kennedy, and Father Kondratick retained the services of
David Chesnoff, a lawyer from Las Vegas provided through the
connections of Richard Rock and William Turbey." In order to contain
any potential scandal before the Metropolitan Council's meeting, the
Holy Synod met and voted to officially allow discretionary accounts, as
well as to prohibit audits of them. Now Wheeler reveals that: "The
resolution signed by the Holy Synod during the All American Council in
1999 calling for the Metropolitan to deny any type of audit of the
`Discretionary Account' was actually prepared by legal counsel for the
Metropolitan."

Wheeler continues: "This scandal would not be resolved, at least from
the standpoint of Metropolitan Theodosius and Father Kondratick, until
the Spring of 2000 with the Metropolitan's Report to the Holy Synod.
Richard Rock, formerly of Martinez & Murphy,
would run the `cover up' and worked with Father Kondratick to construct
an entire paper trail for the `so-called' discretionary account from
1996 to 1999. The discretionary account would end up footing the bill
for the personal attorneys for the Metropolitan and the Chancellor and
the accounting fees for Heinz and Associates for their review(not an
audit of financial statements) of the paperwork created `after the
fact' by Richard Rock."

In the wake of the successful cover-up, Kozey was dismissed and several
members of the Metropolitan Council who had passionately argued for
greater financial accountability and transparency forced to resign, as
neither the Bishops, nor clergy would confront Syosset. The affair
seemed finished as Metropolitan Theodosius reported to the 2000 Spring
Session of the Holy Synod that "... an external audit is not a
canonical requirement and is an expensive and unnecessary exercise
which causes internal turmoil rather than good order." The cover-up was
complete.

Charges Continue

Charges of financial irregularities, however, continued to be leveled
against Syosett. Most recently, widespread questions arose regarding
the dispersal (or rather, non-dispersal) of the more than $275,000
collected specifically for the 9/11 Charity Fund. In response to these
questions, and at the urging of his Diocesan Council, Archbishop Job of
Chicago and the Midwest, representing the OCA's largest diocese, sent a
letter in June 2005 asking for
a "broader explanation of church finances and accounts" at the
All-American Council in Toronto.

In a response dated June 30, 2005, the Chancellor of the OCA maintained
that it would be "inappropriate" to release additional financial
information to the All-American Council "without the prior approval of
the Metropolitan Council and the blessing of the Holy Synod, claiming
that the Metropolitan Council "is provided with all pertinent
information concerning
finances." This refusal caused one prominent Metropolitan Council
member from the neighboring Diocese of Western Pennsylvania, US
Attorney Greg Nescott, to resign in July 2005 citing the "...continued
lack of openness in the OCA's chancery and central administration."

Wheeler Breaks His Silence

Wheeler offers no single or dramatic reason for breaking his silence at
this time. He does acknowledge that writing these letters "has been
cathartic". His sole hope, he writes is "by
conveying my side of the story, and by attempting to explain the
financial abuse that has taken place over the years, we can affect a
change in the approach to financial stewardship and accountability in
the Orthodox Church in America."

Responses Vary

Clearly, Wheeler's letters have reopened the book on the many scandals
that have plagued Syosset for the past six years. Publicly, Syosset has
been silent on the charges. Privately, Syosset supporters dismiss
Wheeler's allegations as the work of a "malcontent", saying "the issues
have been resolved long ago".

Not surprisingly, other members of the Holy Synod, however, seem to
have taken Wheeler's charges to heart. Although rebuffed before the
Council, Archbishop Job held an emergency
meeting of all his Deans on Thursday November 3rd in Chicago to discuss
Wheeler's revelations. No official announcement has yet been made but
sources close the meeting indicate that unless significant actions are
taken, the largest Diocese in the Orthodox Church in America may be
contemplating withholding funds to Syosset until remedial actions are
taken.

[Mark Stokoe is a free-lance journalist and author living in Dayton OH.
A graduate of St. Vladimir's Seminary, Stokoe served as the General
Secretary of SYNDESMOS from 1982-88, and as the first Director of the
OCA Department of Youth and Campus Ministries from
1988-1991. He is the co-author of "Orthodox Christians in North America
1796-1996."]

Bbd

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Nov 8, 2005, 8:35:13 AM11/8/05

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MJS wrote:
> Former OCA Treasurer Breaks Silence:
> Old Scandal Resurfaces Amid Fresh Allegations & New Details
>

This seems to point to serious deficiencies in the church's
administrative structure.

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Nov 10, 2005, 6:16:14 PM11/10/05

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<Digim...@starpower.net> wrote in message
news:1131626044.7...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Ditto. Carpatho-Russian under Constantinople

***the parish I'm attending still uses the bells at the Epiklesis and during
the prayer before communion. But I absolutely love the hymn to the Holy
Mother the congregation and choir sing while the priest censes before the
Divine Liturgy begins. And I no longer miss the Little Litanies.

***What do you think of the special prayers to the Holy Mother at the end of
the Liturgy?

vo...@lycos.com

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Nov 11, 2005, 6:10:23 PM11/11/05

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4. Digimor...@starpower.net
Nov 9, 10:23 pm show options

Newsgroups: alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox
From: Digimor...@starpower.net
Date: 9 Nov 2005 05:23:55 -0800

"I did not like how Met. Herman and all his buddies were globetrotting
everymonth, so I left OCA. Now I am glad I did..."

Did their "globe trotting" have any stated purpose... of course if they
are the OCA (A as in America) not much of a reason to travel outside
the US...

AGGreen

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Nov 11, 2005, 11:03:18 PM11/11/05

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<vo...@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:1131750623.1...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

***Except that the OCA has parishes in Canada and Mexico (which are part of
America) and in Australia. And then there's the representation parish in
Moscow...

vo...@lycos.com

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Nov 12, 2005, 5:01:24 AM11/12/05

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10. AGGreen
Nov 12, 1:03 pm
<v...@lycos.com> wrote in message

Actually Canada, Mexico, South America etc are a part of the
Americas... The OCA title is Orthodox Church in America... regardless a
considerable distance from Australia....

They also were in Japan and tried to establish elsewhere...

Still curious about where they were "globe trotting" to...

Gary H

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Nov 12, 2005, 12:02:26 PM11/12/05

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I can't and will not try to defend their travel execpt to say that the
autocephaly of the OCA has still not been recognized by all of the canonical
church and I believe one of the goals of the OCA is to maintain visibility
and contact with the other jurisdictions.

Gary

<vo...@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:1131789684.5...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

AGGreen

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Nov 12, 2005, 12:50:31 PM11/12/05

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"Gary H" <g.h...@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:Cepdf.566844$xm3.477054@attbi_s21...

> I can't and will not try to defend their travel execpt to say that the
> autocephaly of the OCA has still not been recognized by all of the
canonical
> church and I believe one of the goals of the OCA is to maintain visibility
> and contact with the other jurisdictions.

***There may be some truth in what you say. But understand that the lack of
"official" recognition is the result of church politics, not canonicity. The
OCA has at one time or another concelebrated with Holy Eucharist with ALL of
the other 19 canonical autonomous and autocephalous Orthodox churches...even
those that have no "officially" endorsed the OCA's autocephaly.

Al

vo...@lycos.com

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Nov 12, 2005, 5:42:46 PM11/12/05

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12. Gary H
Nov 13, 2:02 am

"I can't and will not try to defend their travel execpt to say that the
autocephaly of the OCA has still not been recognized by all of the
canonical church and I believe one of the goals of the OCA is to
maintain visibility and contact with the other jurisdictions."

Gary
That was neither my question or intent. You don't need to defend the
OCA or any other Orthodox their actions and the results of their
actions speak for themselves.

Al is most correct... I have been at services held by Orthdox that were
directly under the EP and one or more priests were from the OCA no one
cared. It is an issue only for the internet and patriarchal
"contests"...

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Nov 16, 2005, 10:12:14 PM11/16/05

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Disclaimer already stated; I'm not following the travels that closely. Only
stating a goal I have heard. Not trying to reconcile the goal against
actual behavior.

Do you have data?

Regards,

Gary
<vo...@lycos.com> wrote in message

news:1132051962....@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...