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  Fr. Nick Katinas — Time to Come Clean

Orthodox Reform [United States]
March 23, 2007

http://orthodoxreform.org/cases/fr-nicholas-katinas/fr-nick-katinas-time-to-come-clean/

Continuing editorials on the Fr. Nick Katinas charges, which are being "mismanaged so grossly that it … raises serious ethical questions" from a March 23rd article on The National Herald

    Time to come clean

    The case of Rev. Nicholas Katinas, the suspended former pastor of the Dallas community who is accused of sexual misconduct with minors, has shocked the community.

    Instead of being resolved in a proper way, however, it is being mismanaged so grossly that it not only raises serious ethical questions, but also demonstrates a lack of understanding of such proportions about the potential implications – and the threats those implications pose to the financial welfare of the Archdiocese – it's almost frightening.

    The Archbishop has argued that Father Katinas need not be defrocked at 72 years of age because he retired and is permanently suspended; that Father Katinas wants to be buried as a priest when he dies, not as a layman; that he should not be defrocked, as the moral obligation and canonical code of the Church requires.

    Never mind that other clerics have been defrocked for less serious allegations and offenses. Father Katinas is a special case, according to the Archbishop.

The article goes on to voice concern over the financial and moral implications of the way the Greek Archdiocese is handling this issue:

    Meanwhile, faithful members of the Church who understand the implications of such an irresponsible approach are worried sick.

    This is not how smart, educated people would normally handle such a case in the post-Roman Catholic scandal era. The Archbishop needs to come clean, and that right soon. He can not continue hiding, or making unsustainable arguments in favor of, Father Katinas because it leads to widespread speculation about his motives.
 
 
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