The gnat

I haven't mentioned the financial scandal in my Church (not my parish or diocese, which are above reproach in every way) on my blog until now. Even though it was in the Washingotn Post and currently in Commonweal and people around the world have known about it for years, I didn't want to draw the attention of its existence to someone who might be considering a conversion to Orthodoxy, or to an Orthodox of weak faith. But today, it occured to me that I, by not mentioning it, was doing the same thing the bihops of my church are doing, trying to hide the facts. I do not anticipate writing a lot about this scandal or the people involved. I am only mentioning because I do not want to be like those who want to sweep it under the rug.

Now that I've mentioned it, I want to tell you what I am doing about it.
1. I pray to the Mother of God and to St. Tikhon theEnlighter of America to remove from the ranks of the clergy all those who have lied or stollen money in the course of this scandle. That includes Metropolitan Herman (I am aware of no evidence that Metropolitan stole money. But he has been caught in lies. And he was treasuerer when a lot of money dissapeared.)
2. I call the Metropolitan's office every day and ask him to resign.
3. I've written a letter to my bishop (now retired) asking him to take our diocese out of the OCA and into one of the other jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church.
4. I have ensured that none of the money I give to my parish filters up to the Metropolitan's office or any of his programs.
5. I have written to the Holy Synod and asked them to deal with the situation and not just sweep it under the rug.
6. I ask God to not let my annoyance at the bishops and priests eclipse my view of my own sins. (It is easy to get so worked up over the weeds in your neighbor's yard that you forget to weed the garden of your own heart.)
7. I have written many emails to the Metropolitan Council, urging them to do their job and not just be a rubber stamp for Metropolitan Herman.

I probably won't mention this situation on this blog again. Hopefully, through God's mercy those who have done wrong will repent, come clean, and we can all get on with our mission.