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  Greek Pastor Accused in Dallas Sued in Chicago

By Sam Hodges
Dallas Morning News
September 10, 2008

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/091008dnmetkatinas.128320d.html

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chicago alleges that Greek Orthodox Church officials received reports that a local priest had sexually abused boys and dealt with it by sending him to Dallas.

Nicholas Katinas – now defrocked – already faced a lawsuit in Dallas County in which five males say he abused them in the 1980s, early in his long tenure as pastor of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in North Dallas.

The suit filed Tuesday in Chicago says Mr. Katinas sexually abused a child in the 1970s at his previous church, in Olympia Fields, Ill.

"If they had removed him instead of transferring him in 1978, nobody in Texas would have been abused," said Marc Pearlman, the Chicago lawyer who sued for the plaintiff, who says he was abused by Mr. Katinas as a teenage altar boy.

The lawsuits in Chicago and Dallas target the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and regional and local church entities, as well as Mr. Katinas.

Mr. Katinas led Holy Trinity for 28 years. Soon after his retirement in 2006, the national archdiocese suspended him, meaning he could no longer serve as a priest.

Early in 2007, a national archdiocese official told the Holy Trinity congregation of abuse allegations against Mr. Katinas and said an investigation showed that the priest "engaged in serious moral transgressions."

Since then, the Dallas County lawsuit has been filed in district court, with the number of plaintiffs growing.

 
 

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