On January 25,
2003, Antony, Archbishop of Ierapolis together with Fr. Frank Estocine arrived
at St. John’s Parish in Portland, Oregon to “put out the fires
and shore up the empire.
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Problems, problems and more problems similar to
those experienced by St. Michael's Parish, San Francisco, California, APPEAR at St. John the Baptist Parish in Portland,
Oregon
“What we
are missing now is a spiritual leader who will be a partner in our efforts to
build and retain a strong parish. There are nearly 30,000 Ukrainians in the
surrounding area, most of whom flock to non-Ukrainian Orthodox churches to
fulfill their spiritual needs”…..
“Our
main concern is that our parish is dissolving. Not only is this financially
destructive to our parish, it also corrodes the strength of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian community of Portland and surrounding
regions. Parishioners are migrating to
the OCA, the Greek Orthodox Church……….”
“We
respectfully and urgently request the removal of Fr.
Ivan Semko from our church. In 1999,
the previous board requested the removal of Fr.
Semko by the Consistory, for reasons of inappropriate behavior, verbal abuse
from the pulpit, (and) requesting the falsification of state documents for his
financial benefit…..”
“This
request was denied, but the priest’s negative behaviors persist. ”
Signed
by members of the Parish Council
****************************************
The above are a few short excerpt from the text of a lengthy letter
written on September 24, 2002 by St. John the Baptist Parish Council to
Archbishop Vsevolod. The complete text of the letter is posted further down on
this page.
PORTLAND UPDATE
E-mail
received 01-28-03
Antony and Estocin met with the (St. John the Baptist
Parish) council on Saturday evening and saw that the well was deep
and full of water. They then conveniently cancelled the public
meeting that was to have been held on Sunday afternoon. After the Sunday
dinner, (they) instead held private audiences with any who
wanted to voice their concerns about the future of the parish.
I have it on good authority that during
Antony's numerous ongoing telephone sessions to find a way out of the
inevitable spectacle for all of the Bound Brook insiders concerned, Antony
has consistently probed about my involvement in the parish. He
apparently did that at the meeting on Saturday night.
I will provide you with Ukrainian and
English texts which will provide historical contexts and an
understanding why Antony was so "chemnay" this weekend.
Slawko
Kosiwskiy
****************************************
Following are several e-mail’s that we received pertaining to
the arrival of Archbishop Antony and Fr. Frank Estocin at St. John the Baptist
Parish on January 25, 2002
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01-23-03 E-mail sent to Archbishop Antony on the occasion of his
upcoming visit on January 25 to St. John the Baptist, Portland, Oregon.
Attention:
Antony, Archbishop of Hierapolis / Patriarchate of Constantinople
The
National Council of Churches website (ncccusa.org), of which the UOC of
the USA is a member, incorrectly lists the Church as the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church of America in its MEMBER COMMUNIONS link. That link is found about halfway down the index on the
left side of the home page.
I
thought that you might want to know but forgot to include a note with
the earlier email.
Also,
(on your upcoming visit to St. John’s the Baptist Parish) will you be
bringing the Portland parish a check for $2871.15 plus compound
interest for expenses incurred as the result of the violation
of immigration law with respect to the previous pastor's assignment?
See
you soon!
****************************************
I
am forwarding an email received from St. John the Baptist parish in Portland,
OR.
In
the Word attachment, you will find the second request for the
removal of the Very Rev. Fr. Iwan Michailovich Semko from St. John's
parish.
The
so called Antony, Archbishop of Hierapolis / Patriarchate of
Constantinople will be arriving in Portland on Jan. 25, and will meet with
the parish after Divine Liturgy on Sunday. Immediately after that,
Antony will be departing for St. Michael's parish San Francisco,
CA, presumably also to put out fires and shore up the empire.
Slawko
Kosiwskiy
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The
text of the following letter is written in combined Ukrainian and English
fonts.
Українська Православна Церква Св. Івана Хрестителя
St. John
the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church
___________________Portland,
Oregon____________________
24-го
вересня 2002
Archbishop VSEVOLOD
Western Eparchy: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
3200 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 701
Chicago, IL 60657
Високопервосвященнішій
Архієпископ
Всеволоде,
This year’s board has been proactive in trying to create a stable political atmosphere and financial environment in which a competent priest can help build the congregation. In doing so, the board has succeeded in:
v
Establishing
an open-book and open-meeting policy
v
Establishing
a tracking system for donations
v
Publishing
people’s donations on the bulletin board at church, thereby encouraging others
to join their peers in donation efforts
v
Offering
membership to supporters exceeding $100/year in donations
v
Launching
a pledge system of offering envelopes for each parishioner and “frequent
guests.”
v
Establishing
a monthly newsletter mailed to every parishioner as well as guests. The
newsletter calls for donations each month and reports the amount collected,
amount of expenses, and calls for increased financial support.
v
Launching
a website for use as an outreach tool for people in the community we might not
reach with personal contact or newsletters.
v
Tripling
caroling donations in one year by reaching out to the surrounding community and
thereby building a larger mailing list.
Aside from some financial progress, the board’s efforts also resulted in 5 new member-parishioners, representing $100 each, and a number of new visitors. The board believes it has established a sound baseline on which to preserve our church, and to grow our parish. What we are missing now is a spiritual leader who will be a partner in our efforts to build and retain a strong parish. There are nearly 30,000 Ukrainians in the surrounding area, most of whom flock to non-Ukrainian Orthodox churches to fulfill their spiritual needs. Once a new spiritual leader is in place at St. John, our efforts can be channeled into rebuilding our broken parish, and marketing our new spiritual strength to the surrounding community. We are planning the opening of Sunday school for the children of our community; the leaders of our future.
Коли ми перебрали обов’язкі церковної управи, Ви нам казали що настоятель має з нами співпрацювувати і повідомити Вас як цієї співпрацї не буде. Нам прикро повідомити Вас що, скільки ми не стараємось, о. прот. Іван не тільки не співпрацює з управою але постійно принижує нас неправдиво: як і прилюдно з церковного амвону під час служби так і в приватних колах.
Протягом останніх чотирьох років ми протерпіли багато, дещо описано нижче. In any given conversation with Father Ivan, the subject migrates from how can we better the church to “What can you do for me?” The main issues supporting our request for Father Ivan’s removal are outlined below.
The board, the parish, and the priest have no way of reconciling their issues due to a lack of a formal employment agreement. Archbishop Antony outlined Fr. Semko’s financial terms of his assignment; however, there are no guidelines as to the responsibilities of the priest’s duties and the repercussions for not fulfilling them.
Our main concern is that
our parish is dissolving. Not only is this financially destructive to our
parish, it also corrodes the strength of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the
Ukrainian community of Portland and surrounding regions. Parishioners are migrating to the OCA, the
Greek Orthodox Church, and even the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Even though the
new board is staffed with committed, honest individuals, our church’s spiritual
foundation is in a very ill state.
Vladyka Antony suggested that perhaps Fr. Semko is not performing up to par because the parish is not paying him. In a letter to the Consistory dated April 28, 1999, the board of St. John passed a new compensation schedule for Fr. Semko, providing him with housing then valued at $1300 per month and payment of all church-related employment taxes. This agreement has not changed since it was put into effect; however, a new agreement was proposed by the board in February 2002: to pay Fr. Semko $100 per month plus half of anything over the first $1000 raised each month, in addition to the comfortable housing and tax benefit he already receives. Fr. Semko disagreed with this proposal, requesting the board instead pay his bills. The board refused, and Fr. Semko continues to privately solicit personal donations.
It is the board’s belief
that Fr. Semko has not fulfilled his Constitutional or Biblical duties for the
following reasons, which are expounded on in the attachment at the end of this
letter.
We respectfully and
urgently request the removal of Fr. Ivan Semko from
our church. In 1999, the previous board
requested the removal of Fr. Semko by the
Consistory, for reasons of inappropriate behavior, verbal abuse from the
pulpit, requesting the falsification of state documents for his financial
benefit, and lack of parish funds to support his requested level of financial
support (letter attached dated 21 June 1999). This request was denied, but the
priest’s negative behaviors persist.
Even with a new board of committed individuals in place and after taking
many positive steps, Father Ivan’s lack of preparation and negative attacks
from the pulpit drive newly recruited members and prospects away.
This parish refuses to exist in an abusive relationship with
Fr. Semko, and calls for his immediate removal from our church. This board did not create the difficult situation
it finds itself in and is willing to work with you to resolve it Просимо
Вашого
Благословення
та Молитов.
Зостаємось
у Христі та
Пошаною до
Вас,
Юрій
Кулій Ярослав
Кафтанчиков
Єлизавета
Яковенко Юрій
Герець
Голова Заступник
Голови Секретар Скарбник
Enclosure: Expounded Reasons for Removal of V. Rev. Ivan Semko
Letter to the Consistory dated June 21, 1999
Cc: His Eminence Antony, Archbishop of New York
Consistory President
P.O. Box 495
South Bound Brook, NJ 08880
Tel: (732) 356-0090
Fax: (732) 356-9437
His Beatitude Constantine, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of USA
1803 Sidney Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Fax: (412) 431-0758
Отець Іван використовує нових прихожан, які не обізнані з всіми фактами, до стадій вищих дій провокації. Коли вони дізнаются правди, осоромлюются і відходять з парафії. Цей цикл ввесь час повторюєтся із новими прихожанами. Замість прямувати енергію на добро і розвиток церкви та мириння людей, священника талант тратится на розсварення людей. Парафія втрачає фінансову підтримку з духовно розчарованних людей.
A vivid example of this was one of
our tenors in the choir. He regularly
sang, even bringing his little daughter to choir rehearsals. Having believed Father Ivan’s side of
things, he and his wife publicly attacked the board ironically as it was
organizing the picnic to raise money for the priest to attend the Sobor. Instead of helping to pacify the situation,
Father Ivan lead most of the congregation to his residence, leaving Yaroslav
Kavtanchik and George Cooley to salvage the resulting mess. As for the tenor, he and his wife gave
direct contributions to the priest, however after seeing how little the priest
does, they have both left the church and have not been back since.
For the past four
years Father Ivan has not prepared his homilies but instead prefers to deliver
the same theme of “How people think that they are something but in actuality
they are nothing.”
Father Ivan was given ALL of the money collected for his Sobor trip (over $800). He failed to keep his end of the bargain in making timely travel arrangements and did not go but kept the money.
Another instance was John and Karrie’s wedding. We taught American singers the Ukrainian Wedding service. For this reason John and Karrie scripted out everything to the last detail. Despite this, Father Ivan changed the service from what was agreed upon, confusing the singers that rehearsed for 4 months prior. And at the last minute, he made Karrie and John come to church for communion just hours before the ceremony, delaying the wedding by an hour.
Instead of privately
discussing concerns and issues during board meetings, Father Ivan continues to
attack board members during church sermons.
This serves to raise the emotional outrage of both the people who know
how the issues are one sidedly misrepresented with not chance for rebuttal as well
as new guests that are not acquainted with the issues.
Fr. Ivan seems
unconcerned in resolving any issue. He
has not made a serious attempt at bettering himself or learning any
English. In any given conversation, the
topic of conversation always meanders from how can we better the church to
“What can you do for me?” When
challenged, his standard response is, “В селі
мені все
робили.”
Despite numerous
requests, Father Ivan has taken no initiatives to teach adults or children
about the Bible. We constantly receive
complaints that Father Ivan refuses to teach catechism to the children. One parishioner relates how Fr. Ivan told
his child to “Just read the Bible and if you have any questions just ask.” This parishioner sends his children to the Greek
Orthodox Church for lessons. We
witnessed another request for preparing a child for pershe prychastya just a
few weeks ago. Judging from our
priest’s enthusiasm, I doubt that the couple will be back. Other parents have taken their children to
Catholic churches for religious education.
Another parishioner
works at an auto body shop. He comes
from Patriarch Dmitriy’s parish and is quite strong in his Orthodox
beliefs. In fact, he frequently defends
Orthodoxy in front of his Ukrainian and Russian Pentecostal co-workers. One day this person comes to choir rehearsal
completely devastated. When asked what was
wrong he told us that Father Ivan’s taillight burned out so he showed up in the
shop wearing jeans with cigarettes in his pocket. While the parishioner started servicing the car, Father Ivan got
into a confrontation on religion with the Pentecostals using profane language. You can imagine what kind of light this
portrayed on the image of Orthodoxy.
This person has not lived it down and has switched jobs.
Most of the Ukrainian Catholics in Portland attended this parish prior to the incident where the previous pastor could not complete a Christmas service because he was under the influence of alcohol. This incident is raised by our brother Catholics in nearly every social event and has propagated among many of the Pentecostals. Never-the-less, because they attend a non-Ukrainian parish, the Ukrainian Catholics still came back to the St. John’s parish for major holidays to hear our choir sing, bringing in a surge of donations. The board was trying to win them back and was making headway until one incident, where Father Ivan publicly commented to their president that, “Ну той (інж.) Андрухів є досить розумний: на службу зпізнится, але варенників не пропустить.” None of the Ukrainian Catholics have been back since and have recruited away several of our guests.
Our Greek friends report that the priest’s civilian job, which was lined up by one of their priests with a Greek owned business, was lost because of a propensity to confrontations with fellow co-workers. Similarly, he is not invited to serve with other Orthodox parishes.
Some parishioners have witnessed Father Ivan regularly frequenting the neighborhood bar. This was confirmed by several of the church’s local neighbors that stopped by our choir rehearsals on summer evenings.
After 4 months of intensive rehearsals to learn the Ukrainian wedding service, members of Festival Choral Oregon, who participated in John and Karrie’s wedding, experienced tense moments as Fr. Ivan deviated from the previously agreed upon service.
Father Ivan’s chiropractor from the Greek Orthodox Church used to visit our church from time to time. She told us how Father Ivan used to barter money from her and she felt uncomfortable. Also she lost all respect for him and will not set foot into our church as long as he’s there. When asked for specifics, she told us that she would only confess to the Bishop.
Some of our women have mentioned how Father Ivan invades their space.
Father Ivan has prided himself on the fact that a, “Crazy woman from California bought me a car and constantly sends me gifts and money.”
During the Kaftanchick’s wedding
reception, many people witnessed Father Ivan making inappropriate gestures and
remarks towards several women. One
instance was when he called over to a young woman from Salem and asked her in
front of his presbetera to, “Прийди
сюди і сядь
мені гарно на
коліна.”
Despite the choir’s meeting each Wednesday evening, Father Ivan frequently fails to inform the choir director or other board members about extraordinary services such as molebyns, panahydas or even funerals. The most recent examples were Mrs. Natalie Merkelo’s funeral and Metropolitan Constantine’s molebyn. During the latter, not having any prior knowledge, the choir director went downstairs to the rest room after liturgy only to return with the service in progress. The choir members had no music and were completely lost. Father Ivan attacked them and the choir director in the middle of the service screaming, “Що, ви вже забули як співати?”
A peculiar incident occurred when a Russian from Siberia visited our parish and told Fr. Ivan that the Eye on the Archangel Michael’s shield (всевидище око) on our iconostas was actually a Masonic symbol that brings evil spirits into the church. Without the board’s knowledge or approval, Fr. Ivan had one of our artists paint over that and another icon. After the fact he mentioned it to the choir director and other parishioners.
Other incidents include doing a children’s program with the novoprybuli and not charging any admission. When asked to do so, Fr. Ivan told the board that, why don’t you ask for donations?”
Father Ivan frequently “forgets” to solicit donations for church, explain the offering envelope system. He even hid the newly delivered offering envelopes for a month as the board was tracing
the shipping order attempting to find it. Despite being uncooperative in raising money for the church, he never misses a chance to publicly advertise that the board does not pay him, even though he solicits donations directly from parishioners.
Another incident took place just shortly after the new board took over. Last February, the choir showed up for their weekly Wednesday night rehearsal only to find a panahyda fully in progress. None of the choir members or the choir director were informed of this ahead of time. No one had any messages on their answering machines.
On several occasions, Fr. Ivan has hidden in the church during the Wednesday night rehearsals, startling choir members when he knocked something over.
Despite being asked several times, Fr. Ivan can’t seem to make the deadline for our Church Newsletter. The board compensates for this by publishing materials from other sources. Fr. Ivan takes great offense to this and proclaims that the board has no right to publish anything without his permission. He then proceeds to publicly attack the board for its efforts.
Many times during services, Father Ivan appears to simply go through the motions. For instance, during the Great Entrance, he frequently walks out before the choir finishes singing the Cherubic Hymn. On several occasions he started chanting before the choir even finished the third verse.
Another example includes a panakhyda service of someone’s newly departed grandmother where he started coldly lecturing in front of the entire congregation that that person’s hramota was improperly filled out and made the priest’s work so difficult.
During Mrs. Shalduha’s funeral, Father Ivan used the eulogy to shamelessly attack the board and solicited pay during his homily actually stating, “Покійна завжди казала що вони Вам Отче потребують платити.”
Starting at the end of summer, Fr. Ivan has increased his attacks on board members and publicly taunted them over on many Sundays asking, “Цікаво чи ця управа пошле мене на конференсію, чи як минулого року що недали мені грошей.” He has publicly attacked the choir director and board president as well as the secretary and treasurer for not being in Church in August. For the record, the president was attending his nephew’s christening and cousin’s wedding and directed the choir at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Silver Spring, MD each Sunday during his absence from St. John’s in Portland. The secretary and treasurer were both vacationing as well.
John Glasko wrote this account of Sunday September 15th’s service via email:
“At the end of a recent Sunday service, Father Ivan embarked on a self-aggrandizing monologue. He began by commenting that the choir sang very well under the directorship of Did Vasyl’ and unlike the official choir director, Did Vasyl’ was able to direct the choir to perform the appropriate accompaniment without advance warning. To the uninitiated, this commentary sounds much like an innocuous compliment to Did Vasyl’. He was in fact attempting to publicly trivialize the choir director’s request for advance warning about planned Sunday services and justify his perpetual disregard for his request. In the spirit of cooperation, making an effort to communicate in advance, the order of the day, is not an unreasonable request to make of a parish priest. He then proceeded to chastise the choir director for his absences and decreed that Did Vasyl’ will now perform as choir director, justifying this assertion by saying that he is entitled to make that call as the head of the church. He then brought up the fact that the church council was not willing to pay his way to the spiritual conference and that this forces him to appeal to the parishioners to give him money so that he may attend. He also commented on how the powers that be within the parish may be trying to remove him as priest. He then spoke of an allegedly true story of how members of a parish he knew of tried to drive away their priest by first stealing his children, and when that didn’t work, planned to take him to the river to drown him. When Father Ivan asked him why he would allow them to take him to the river to drown him, the priest responded that I leave it in God’s hands. When the parish members took him to the river, after some thought they relented and dispersed.
The priest told Father Ivan that, “You know, within a year, I buried every last one of these people.” Father Ivan then stated that he will not be swayed in his resolve; he is strong and will stay on.
It is both unprofessional and inappropriate to carry on in this manner after Sunday Liturgy. Matters such as these ought to be brought up in council meetings, and resolved after appropriate discussion. The final decisions of the church council are all that should be aired after Liturgy.
John Michael Glasko,
Ph.D.”
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January 4, 2000
To: The Honorable Judge Roger F. Mahon, Superior Court of NJ, Chancery Division Flemington, NJ
Dear Judge Mahon,
St. John the Baptist Church in Portland, OR is a constituent parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. I was the presiding officer at the December 19, 1999 annual parish membership meeting and was delegated to communicate the wishes of the parish to the esteemed court.
Corresponding with the enabling resolution adopted by the members, I
respectfully advise the court that St. John the Baptist parish requests
to be withdrawn as a party to the plaintiffs. The parish does not support
Archbishop Antony in this lawsuit against Holy Ascension Parish in Clifton, NJ.
Signed… Myroslaw Michalesky
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