Ohio chorbishop charged with public indecency, relieved of shrine duties

Editor’s note: Reader discretion is advised. 

The longtime rector of the Ohio-based Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon has been charged with public indecency and relieved of his duties by his bishop, after police said he was observed engaging in an alleged sex act with a registered sex offender in a Warren, Ohio, park.

Chorbishop Anthony Spinosa, 75, faces one count of procuring, a first-degree misdemeanor, and one count of public indecency, a second-degree misdemeanor, in Warren Municipal Court. 

In an Aug. 18 letter posted to the website of the Eparchy (equivalent to a diocese) of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan wrote that he had “relieved Chorbishop Spinosa from his ministerial assignment with immediate effect.” Bishop Zaidan said the Rev. Michael Shami would serve as temporary administrator of the shrine and asked “for your prayers for Chorbishop Spinosa and all persons involved.”

The term “chorbishop” comes from the Greek Chorepiskopoi and was a title originally given in the Eastern Catholic Church to bishops whose jurisdiction was confined to rural districts, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. In modern day usage, it is an honorary title primarily used in the Maronite Eastern Catholic Church, and its holders serve as assistants to the bishop.

According to WFMJ, officers were called to Perkins Park around 5:40 p.m. July 31 after a couple walking their dog said they saw Kenneth Kopp, 54, performing a sex act on another man who was smoking a cigar, and that one of the men offered to let them watch in exchange for money. Upon arrival, police found Chorbishop Spinosa sitting in a black SUV nearby, smoking a cigar; he denied knowing Kopp, according to the report, though a witness insisted he had seen the two together.

A city prosecutor issued a warrant for his arrest on Aug. 3, and Chorbishop Spinosa was booked into the Trumbull County Jail on Aug. 13 and arraigned the next day, pleading not guilty and posting a $2,000 bond. He was ordered by Judge Patricia Knepp to stay away from the park. His attorney, Jeffery Goodman, has asked prosecutors to turn over all evidence in the case, including any video, WFMJ reported.

Both men are due back in Warren Municipal Court on Sept. 14. Kopp, a Tier Three registered sex offender convicted in 2011 of raping a minor female, was also charged with a drug paraphernalia offense and has pleaded not guilty.

Chorbishop Spinosa was ordained in 1983 and served parishes in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Utah before becoming rector of the North Jackson shrine in 2002, according to a 2023 profile in The Vindicator, marking his 40th year as a priest. 

Addressing the faithful of the eparchy in the Aug. 18 letter, Bishop Zaidan said, “I write to you today in response to the charges that have been made against Chorbishop Anthony Spinosa. Like you, I am saddened and looking for answers, which will only come when the civil authorities have completed their investigation and any subsequent legal action.”