Stonnington Council apologises for lowering flags for convicted sex offender and Greek church priest

UPDATE: A sexual assault victims advocate has slammed a council for its blundered tribute to a convicted long-serving Greek Orthodox priest.

Stonnington Council has apologised for lowering its flags for a Greek priest who was also a convicted sex offender. File picture.

The head of the Victoria’s Sexual Assault Services board has slammed an inner city council for lowering its flags during the funeral of Greek priest who was a convicted sex offender.

Sexual Assault Services Victoria chair Karen Hogan said Stonnington Council “needed to do their homework” before its tribute to Malvern East’s St Catherine’s Church veteran priest Andreas Papadimitropoulos on February 20.

Fr Papadimitropoulos was given a two-month suspended jail sentence in 2002 after he pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court to indecently assaulting a 17-year-old parishioner.

The council made the decision to lower the flags at Malvern Town Hall and its service centre during the funeral after several councillors were invited but couldn’t attend.

But no one at the council was aware of Fr Papadimitropoulos’ prior conviction until after the funeral.

Ms Hogan said the error was “most unfortunate” and disrespected Fr Papadimitropoulos’ victim.
“Certainly from our point of view its an error of judgment and most unfortunate, it demonstrates that people who are abusers can still hold positions respected in our community,” she said.

“We need to recognise he was an abuser and that sexual assault is a crime in our society, regardless of whether it happened 20 years ago or not.”

Ms Hogan called for the council to publicly apologise to the victim over the incident.

A council spokesperson said it had apologised to community members affected by the lowering of the flags and would review its processes for such honours following the mistake.

“We understand that several councillors were invited to a community event acknowledging the passing of Fr Andrew Papadimitropoulos, and that the request to lower the flags was in response to this invitation,” the spokesperson said.

“No one in council was aware of this history at the time the decision was made and we are deeply sorry for any hurt we have caused.”

The council recently approved a new policy to fly themed flags in support of the LGBTI community on six occasions throughout the year.

Ratepayers Stonnington president Dean Hurlston called for the council to introduce a blanket on lowering its flags for any community figure or group to avoid future issues.

“They can’t be everything to everyone, and if the policy was a blanket no, none of this would have happened, despite the good intent of some councillors,” he said.

“Council has a number of ways it recognises valuable community service through its awards, and perhaps that is enough.”

Fr Papadimitropoulos told parishioners of his behaviour during a Greek Easter service in the same year of his offending and apologised.

A spokesman from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, on behalf of St. Catherine’s Malvern East, said the church did not request the council’s flags be lowered.

The spokesman said Fr Papadimitropoulos’ offending was “comprehensively dealt with by the courts” at the time and the church remained sensitive and respectful of the victim.
He said the church was focused on caring for Fr Papadimitropoulos’ family and the wider community mourning his death.