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	The National Herald: Finally a Decision on Katinas Orthodox Reform [United States] June 30, 2007 http://orthodoxreform.org/cases/fr-nicholas-katinas/decision-on-katinas/ Finally a decision on Katinas After a long and disturbing refusal to do the right thing, Archbishop Demetrios finally decided, as we are reporting today, to defrock Fr. Nicholas Katinas, for allegedly sexually molesting young children over a period of decades. Better late than never, as the proverb goes. But why the foot dragging from the Archbishop on a case that was clear cut from the beginning? It is now apparent that Demetrios failed to fulfill his high duties and ethical responsibility by not fully realizing the significance of this case for the church, but also its effect upon his legacy. Indeed it is almost certain that Demetrios' handling of this terrible case will be studied by future archbishops as an example of what not to do in similar cases. Instead of coming clean from the very beginning, Demetrios seems to have concluded that he ought to try to hide the terrible truth about his friend Fr. Katinas, in the mistaken assumption that by doing so he was protecting both the Church and the priest involved. When he realized that it was not possible he tried to let the priest involved live his last years in peace and eventually be buried as a priest. And then again when that was not possible given the unprecedented in recent years reaction against him from the community, he decided that he had no choice but to bite the bullet. What can one conclude about him from the cold, uncaring, harmful to the Church way he handled this case? And is this a way to run any organization, much less a Church whose foundations should be cemented in the truth, honesty, compassion for the weak and suffering? Does it not matter that the lives of then-innocent children were ruined by a priest those children admired and trusted? Have we not learned anything from the trauma the Catholic Church in America went through after massive sex abuses, which financially and spiritually ruined some of its dioceses? Were there not some Bishops forced to resign or relocate because of it? Let's be as clear as we can be on one fundamental point: Demetrios did not ordain those priests or other higher up churchman who are said to be involved in similar cases, nor was he the head of this Church when these heinous crimes took place. But he is was in charge when they the victims spoke out about the crimes committed against them, and thus he should have taken immediate, transparent and decisive action both on the merits of it but also as a warning to others that this sort of criminal activity will not be tolerated in our church. Instead he had to be pressured into finally doing the right thing. And while there are many good and decent clergyman who are serving in our church, the few, as a percentage of the total, shed a long shadow on all of them. And that is not fair to neither them, nor to the community.
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