Letters Reveal More Details on Fr. Pappas’ Suspension

Several letters related to Fr. Michael Pappas recent resignation have been released on pokrov.org.

Fr. Michael Pappas requested that he be released from his priesthood:

I am writing today with a heavy heart and with great humility to inform you that I have petitioned Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco, to be released from my priesthood. source

Fr. Demetrios-Earl Cantos, Chancellor, wrote to members of the Metropolis Council, saying:

Abuse Survivor Describes Events Behind Katinas Suspension

Interview with ‘DZ’, whose reports of abuse by Fr. Nicholas Katinas led to Fr. Katinas’ eventual suspension.

DZ: The reason I have decided to give an interview at this time is to attempt to clarify many of the misconceptions and misinformation that have been said or omitted by the GOAA, Metropolitan Isaiah and the media.

Question: Can you give us a timeline of the events after you reported the abuse? 

DZ: First of all, I cannot refer to Nicholas Katinas as Father because in my eyes he is no longer a priest, regardless of what the GOAA and others may say. In the remainder of this interview, I will refer to him as NK.

In October, 2005, I filed an official complaint through the GOAA Hotline for Clergy Sexual Misconduct.

S.F. Greek Orthodox Priest Resigns, Citing “Unfaithfulness”

Fr. Michael Pappas resigned of a prominent Greek Orthodox church in San Francisco resigned, saying that he had “strayed from faithfulness” to his wife.

Pappas was a member of the GOA’s Sexual Misconduct Advisory Board as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton Clergy Sexual Misconduct Review Board (read more). As such, it is particularly disturbing that he will not comment as to whether his misconduct was with one or more members of his congregation under his spiritual care.

S.F. Greek Orthodox priest resigns, says he was unfaithful to wife

By Matthai Chakko Kuruvila

A prominent Greek Orthodox priest of a San Francisco congregation resigned this week after saying that he had “strayed from faithfulness” to his wife.

The Rev. Michael Pappas wrote in a letter to his congregation at Holy Trinity Church that “over the last 15 years, in my zeal to excel in ministry, I have neglected the garden of my marriage and as a result, it has withered on the vine. In those moments of hunger, I have sadly strayed from faithfulness and dishonored the sanctity of the gift of a precious wife and treasured children.”

SNAP Reacts To Church’s Attempt To Expose Victim’s Names

Barbara Dorris, National Outreach Director for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), gave this reaction to the recent news that the Greek Orthodox Church was attempting to expose child sex abuse victim’s names to the public:

We are appalled that a few church officials are still so mean-spirited as to try and force child sex abuse victims to disclose their identities. Every Greek Orthodox congregant should be ashamed of their church ‘s hierarchy for initiating or tolerating this kind of callous attack on those who were molested as kids.

We are grateful to these brave victims and applaud them for beating back this vicious assault.

Read the original article on this topic.

For further information, contact:

• Barbara Dorris, National Outreach Director, 314-862-7688
• David Clohessy, National Director of SNAP 314-566-9790

Nicholas Katinas Trial Date Set

As first mentioned in brief in an earlier article, the trial date for the Nicholas Katinas lawsuit has been set.

In what is shaping up to be a high-profile, two-week-long jury trial, the case of John Doe I et al, vs. Reverend Nicholas Katinas et al, is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on June 9th, 2008.

See attached document for more details.

Russian Orthodox leader faces sexual misconduct accusations

(PHOTO ABOVE: Bishop Nikolai blesses the congregation at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Juneau earlier this summer. A senior national church official says Nikolai faces serious allegations. The nature of the accusations has not been revealed by church officials. Nikolai has denied that there is any investigation.)

Former missionary makes claim against chancellor of Alaska diocese.

By JAMES HALPIN
The Associated Press

The second-highest-ranking Russian Orthodox Church official in Alaska is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct, national church leaders said Friday.

Chancellor of the Alaska Diocese Archimandrite Isidore is accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with a former missionary and educational leader in Kodiak, according to officials with the Orthodox Church in America’s headquarters in Syosset, N.Y.

Bishop Nikolai, who heads the Alaska Diocese, also is facing “extraordinarily serious” allegations, according to the senior church official in the country, although the nature of the accusations has not been revealed by church officials.

(read full article)

Judge Denies Holy Trinity’s Motion to Expose Victims’ Names; Sets Trial Date

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Dallas and the Denver Metropolis — both represented by the Dallas law firm of Douglas D. Fletcher — made a motion on June 6th to expose the Plaintiff’s name to the public (see attached motion below). ((“Defendants’ Special Exception to Plaintiff’ Original Petition and Brief In Support”, pp. 1-3, Katinas-Fletcher-Special-Exception.pdf))

Attorneys representing both the Plaintiffs and the Defendants in the Nicholas Katinas sexual misconduct lawsuit went before a judge on August 7th to review this motion. The judge denied the Defendants’ motion and ruled that the Plaintiffs be allowed to continue to use pseudonyms within the public documents.

The judge also set the trial date for this case for June 9th, 2008.

Below are excerpts from the Plaintiffs’ response. Highlights are made for emphasis by the editors of OrthodoxReform. Source documents are available for download at the end of the document.

The Plaintiffs’ names in such cases are typically made known to the judge and the defendants in private, but to prevent further revictimization of the Plaintiffs, pseudonyms are used in public court documentation. This is a common practice in sexual abuse cases, as the Plaintiffs’ response points out:

There have been many, many cases litigated in Dallas county using John Doe and Jane Doe pseudonyms for both Plaintiffs and Defendants. …So long as the litigants know the identities of the Does, these types of cases clearly can be developed without denying fair play to anyone, certainly not the public. Even our own local media do not reveal the identities of sexual abuse victims. ((“Plaintiff’s Response to Defendants’ Special Exceptions”, p. 5, Katinas-Plaintiffs-Response.pdf))

Katinas’ name, however, is published in the court records. Is this a double standard? The Plaintiffs’ explain the difference:

Reader Calls for Dialog to Address Clergy Abuse Issues

The following letter to the editor appeared in this weekend’s The National Herald. 

To the Editor:

I read with dismay and sadness in my heart Theodore Kalmoukos’ article, “Greek Orthodox Clergy Voice Concerns about Fr. Katinas, Some Call For Defrocking him,” published in your May 26 edition.

According to that article, some of the priests, although they lacked sufficient knowledge about the service Father Katinas provided to his community in Dallas, were in favor of punishing him further for this alleged pederasty.

I wonder if problems of that sort can be satisfactorily dealt with just having the priest punished further. Some priests may be too old, or dead, by the time this is brought to the public’s attention. Furthermore, there may be other issues which should be taken into consideration.

Misconduct Investigation Within Alaska Diocese Begins

This article from the Kodiak Daily Mirror — a daily newspaper of Kodiak, Alaska — reports on developments into the recent OCA sexual misconduct reports.

“Bishop Nikolai asked to keep out of church probe of accusations”

By BRYAN MARTIN
Mirror Writer

“Metropolitan Herman, the primate of the Orthodox Church in America, which has a following of more than a million adherents in the United States, is beginning an investigation into misconduct within the Alaska Diocese with charges and allegations centered within the Kodiak clergy, primarily its seminary and the bishop who oversees it. ”

(Read the article here)

Pokrov.org Launches New Site

Pokrov.org, the Orthodox sexual abuse web site with many resources and reports on abuse within the Eastern Orthodox Church, has recently launched an updated version of their web site. It’s database of convicted, sanctioned, or sued abusive clergy in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the most exhaustive resource on this topic on the web today.