Met Iakovos Katinas Was Gone by the Time I Became the Bishop, by Theodore Kalmoukos, Orthodox Reform, December 15, 2007

Met. Iakovos: Katinas Was Gone by the Time I Became the Bishop

By Theodore Kalmoukos
Orthodox Reform
December 15, 2007

http://orthodoxreform.org/cases/fr-nicholas-katinas/met-iakovos-katinas-was-gone-by-the-time-i-became-the-bishop/

BOSTON, Mass. – In statements to the National Herald, Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago said he wanted to clarify his position on the pedophilia scandal allegedly involving Nicholas Katinas, who has been defrocked.

Mr. Katinas is the former longtime pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas, also served as parish priest at the Assumption in Olympia Fields, Illinois. He is accused of sexual misconduct with minors.

Metropolitan Iakovos rejected allegations that he knew about Mr. Katinas' alleged sex abuse of young boys, and that he attempted to cover up Mr. Katinas.

Iakovos, who is the senior bishop of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, said Mr. Katinas had already left the Chicago Diocese by the time he became bishop of Chicago.

"When I came to Chicago, Katinas had gone, so I did not have any communication with him, or any knowledge about him. All these years, I did not hear anything either from priests or laity, nor from Dallas or from anywhere else – not even one word," Iakovos said.

Asked if there was any correspondence in the Chicago Diocese about Katinas, Iakovos said, "When I look into the archives here, there was only one letter written by the late Bishop Timothy of Rodostolos, who had bestowed upon Katinas the offikion of economos (honorary title, steward of the Church), and he was praising him as being the best priest."

The Metropolitan of Chicago emphasized that he did not have "any contact with Katinas whatsoever, neither with his parish because the man had left when I came."

Asked if he has in his possession the Ecumenical Patriarchate's official letter of Mr. Katinas' defrocking this past July, Iakovos said knew about the defrocking, "but I do not have the Patriarchal letter. It is filed at the Archdiocese."