Headline photo Tristan Rodas, credit Bergen County NJ.
Anglican Watch’s ongoing investigation of problems at St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue, has uncovered additional disturbing allegations, including charges that Vicar and COO the Rev. Matthew Moretz has repeatedly brushed off allegations brought to him of abuse, and allowed a person convicted of felony distribution of heroin and multiple other crimes to serve as a security guard at the church.
Matthew Moretz allegedly covers up abuse
Since our previous post about St. Thomas, Anglican Watch has identified several additional persons who claim that they brought allegations of abuse and misconduct to Moretz, only to be brushed off. Additionally, these persons claim they were treated with hostility and disrespect by Moretz, and that Moretz did not forward their complaints to a Title IV intake officer as required by church clergy disciplinary canons.
In these cases, a consistent theme was the lack of a caring, pastoral response. Indeed, several persons stated that they felt Moretz retaliated against them.
Relatedly, sources close to the matter say they believe Moretz was aware of a pattern and practice of ignoring misconduct within the parish.
In support of these allegations, we were able to uncover text messages in which church security officials acknowledged they were aware of specific instances of sexual harassment within the church. Some messages from security officials also contained inappropriate, anti-LGBTQ+ comments.
Convicted felon works as security officer at St. Thomas
Security at St. Thomas, including at the Choir School, is under Moretz’s supervision in his role as Chief Operating Officer, or COO.
These services are handled by an outside vendor, Blue Perimeter Security.
Owned by retired NYPD officer Robert J. Giannetta, the firm touts itself as offering “the highest quality security professionals to the New York area,” the firm’s website lists a number of high-profile clients, including:
Salvatore Ferragamo, The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, The Crosby Hotel, Jacob and Company, ING Bank and Rose Associates. He has served as Director of Security for the St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue for over eighteen years where his responsibilities include assuring the safety of the world renowned St. Thomas Boys Choir.
Sports commentators Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, James Brown and Jimmy Johnson of Fox NFL Sunday and Joe Buck travel with a security team comprised of Mr. Giannetta and his associates.
Despite these claims, we identified a St. Thomas security guard, Tristan Rodas, for whom public records show a May 19, 2015 felony drug conviction. Rodas also has been charged with selling heroin, possession of an illegal weapon, using a minor in the commission of a crime, shoplifting, and more. Two of the charges occured while working at St. Thomas’.
Our questions are:
- How is Rodas able to serve as a security guard at St. Thomas’? New York law prohibits licensure to persons convicted of serious crimes. Thus, either Rodas is not licensed, or someone pulled a fast one to get him licensed.
- Why is St. Thomas’ not requiring background checks for all employees and contractors and independently verifying this information? Doing so is especially important for persons in positions of trust who likely have access to otherwise restricted parts of the facility.
- How is it appropriate to have a security guard in proximity to the Choir School when the guard has been convicted of using minors in the commission of a crime? Or selling heroin to minors?
We also note that the 2022 St. Thomas Yearbook shows Blue Perimeter CEO “Robbie” Giannetta as part of the church administrative staff—a curious addition for a third-party vendor. And while public records show no guilty findings, Giannetta’s record as a police officer reflects what we believe is an concerning number of citizen complaints, at least by current standards.
As COO, Moretz is the staff member responsible for these sorts of operational issues, including compliance with diocesan safeguarding policies. On these issues, St. Thomas’ and Moretz score an epic fail.
Employment practices
While we’re on the topic of safeguarding the vulnerable, we note with deep concern the decision, reflected in the 2023 Yearbook, to outsource church facility maintenance to Aramark.
As part of this change, six full-time church facility employees were transitioned to employment with Aramark. Readers may go to page 39 of the Yearbook to assess for themselves the possible ethnicity of these workers.
And while we are not privy to the specifics of this arrangement, there is only one plausible explanation for the move, which is to sidestep denominational requirements for increased retirement-plan equity for lay employees and to possibly cut health care insurance costs. (Aramark covers only a small portion of the cost of health insurance for employees, while church employees typically pay little or nothing for their coverage through the Church Pension Group.)
To be clear, the decision to do so is pretty rich for a parish that sits on investments that, as of December 31, 2023, totalled $138,731,028.
Moreover, St. Thomas’ has been living life large since 1980, relying on investments to cover operating deficits the entire time (the exception, ironically, was a single year during the pandemic, which strongly suggests the challenge sits on the spending side of the equation.)
Thus, we find it disturbing that a parish that survives only due to its investments would seek to avoid investing in the future of its own employees. Such behavior is inconsistent with the church’s claim to stand with the oppressed and the maginalized.
So, maybe a few less choir trips to the UK and other luxuries, and maybe a little more concern for the welfare of the parish’s own employees is in order at St. Thomas. Just saying.
In closing
As our investigation of allegations of abuse at St. Thomas’ progresses, we see a disturbing pattern of organizational narcissism, together with circles within the parish in which sexual harassment/assault and other serious misconduct is considered acceptable.
Even worse, current church leadership is proving consistently unable to lead with integrity, and often retaliates against those who object.
As a result, we expect to uncover additional challenges/problems at this flagship Anglo-Catholic parish of the Episcopal Church.
In the meantime, we’d be grateful if St. Thomas’ would act immediately to ensure that no convicted felons are working for the church, especially when the convictions involve selling drugs to children and using a minor to facilitate a crime.
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