Rape and the Holy Man Part Four - Sincerely, Carole Anne Stephens

ROCOR! It is incumbent on you to act now on behalf of Carole Stephens, her daughter, and her entire family. JTO will facilitate a meeting or communication with her. Please contact via journeytoorthodoxy@gmail.com. You already have her documentation and testimony in Rape and the Holy Man and in your office via a hard copy report sent to and received by your Metropolitan Hilarion. Look again now with fresh eyes at the criminal conduct of Matthew and Elizabeth Williams and some of your own clergy.

"Better is open reproof than hidden love" Proverbs 27:5

The following is a new statement from Carole Anne Stephens:

          To whom it may concern:

I am grieved to hear about the recent allegations of Father Matthew Williams assault on the parishioners at St Tikhon. I always suspected that since he was so protected by his wife and parishioners and allowed to be ordained as a priest after attacking my own 15-year-old daughter in 2008, that he could eventually victimize his own children.

I was not informed about the attack upon my own daughter until she was in college in 2012 (when my eldest son informed me) and she had passed the age of my parental rights. My whole family became homeless as a result of my own investigation and complaints filed with the metropolitan of the ROCOR. I was deemed a rabblerousing instigator at many parishes where I tried to seek help and lost our property that Matthew's father, the late Father Gregory Williams of the Church of the Annunciation, was selling us on a land contract. My daughter suffered a nervous breakdown at the University of Tennessee and was hindered in her studies for a few years. I am not sure she ever recovered and is unwilling to come forward.

Only, Father Gordon Walker of St. Ignatius in Franklin TN, and Reader, Nathan Lee Lewis were willing to take my part. Father Gordon fell ill with cancer shortly after and passed away. Among those who accused me of slander were Father Christopher Stanton, brother-in-law to Matthew, and Father Kentigern McCaffrey of Cullman, Alabama.

Sadly, we were betrayed by the very godparents of my children, Matthew and Elizbeth and Eleni Jolly, who was the personal godmother of my daughter. Eleni kept silent when I entrusted her to pick my daughter up from the bus station after being sent home after the sexual assault by Matthew. Elizabeth Williams warned my daughter, that "this should never be found out". My daughter had served Elizabeth with childcare and was attacked while at their home near Roswell, Georgia. I filed a police report once I found out, but without my daughter, I had no case. She was over eighteen years of age by then. It was just filed away. My daughter cried jagged tears and spoke with Father Anastasy Yatrelis by phone upon returning from Georgia. Eleni swore she would not tell her parents of her emotional condition. Later, after I found out, Eleni said she did not know why my daughter was crying but allowed her to call Father Anastasy from her house. My daughter and her two daughters were friends. All of my attempts to contact Fr. Anastasy were ignored.

Matthew and Elizabeth did try to apologize by phone once the formal complaint hit the desk of the metropolitan. We went 'round and ' round for hours in this conversation with no real admission of the details. They had a lot at stake. I confronted Father John Oliver at St. Elizabeth's in Murfreesboro, TN as he was the one who set up the phone conversation after Matthew had consulted him. Father John had always been" inaccessible", so it was odd that he should call me. I went to see him at his church in person and he told me he never knew why Matthew wanted to contact me. Father Sommers from the metropolitan office was trying to get me to dismiss the issue with a light apology. Everything that was written by Nathan Lee Lewis in his article, "Rape and the Holy Man" is accurate and true. He is the only one who tried to bring justice.

Sincerely, Carole Anne Stephens