To the Editor:

Thank you for publishing the Letter to the Editor entitled “Enough Already with Your Witch Hunt Re Demetrios” (May 19). Accountability and transparency are important, that is what everyone is asking for at the end of the day. Blaming one person, when there seems to be a lot of blame to go around, is not the answer. I think many people are being unfair to His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, but there are things the people need to know to move forward. They want above all else to know that money intended for a certain purpose, like the building of a church for example, actually is used for that purpose and not for anything else.

Non-profit organizations across the United States have to account for every penny they make in order to receive funding from government agencies and private foundations when they apply for grants. They have to show detailed budgets in some cases showing three years back and three years into the future so that whoever is funding them will know that this is an established and legitimate organization that plans to be around for a long time. It’s not going to spend your hard-earned money and leave a church half-built.

Athena K. Papavasileiou

San Diego, CA