Hypocrisy, thy name is Christian Fundamentalism
http://www.heartlandvalues.blogspot.com/
Weekly church-related crime update, August 7 - August 13
Archbishop William Levada was greeted by more than 100 clergy
sexual-abuse protesters holding vigil outside St. Mary's Cathedral in
San Francisco, where Levada celebrated a farewell mass before heading
off to Vatican City to become chief guardian of Catholic doctrine for
Pope Benedict XVI. Levada, reported the Los Angeles Times, had refused
to accept a subpeona ordering him to be deposed on behalf of about 250
plaintiffs in sexual-abuse lawsuits against the Portland Archdiocese
in Oregon, until "Cookie Gambucci, who runs a court support services
company in nearby Martinez, said she told him he could receive it then
or that it would be served on him at the altar during the service."
Levada accepted the subpeona under less dramatic circumstances.
Levada has also been the subject of a separate Catholic controversy,
reported the Los Angeles Times:
In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple
answer for why the archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the
costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a Portland,
Ore., parish. In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian
and now a Whittier priest, the child's mother had engaged "in
unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could
result in pregnancy," the church maintained in its answer to the
lawsuit...
[T]he church — which considers birth control a sin — seemed to be
arguing that the woman should have protected herself from pregnancy...
Now liberal and conservative Catholics around the country are decrying
the archdiocese's legal strategy, saying it was counter to church
teaching.
On Monday, the Gary (Ind.) Post Tribune reported that "credible"
sexual misconduct charges have been made against Richard Emerson, a
Catholic priest in Gary, and are being investigated by the Diocese of
Gary.
Patrick A. Shetler, pastor of the Glass and Garden Community Church in
Scottsdael, Arizona, was arrested on suspicion of felony theft and
fraud for allegedly using about $60,000 in church funds for personal
expenses.
Prosecutors in Wayne County, Indiana began an investigation into how
Harry Benjamin, "a former Detroit Catholic priest, convicted in 2003
of sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s, wound up celebrating mass
recently for a gay-rights group in Virginia," reported the Detroit
Free Press. "Benjamin's return to the altar, though not sanctioned by
the Catholic Church, underscores the difficulty of monitoring hundreds
of men accused of sexual misconduct and removed from the ministry,
including more than 40 in Michigan since 2002."
On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Reverend Richard
Emerson, a former Indiana priest who had fended off charges of
molesting a boy in Orlando, Florida because the statute of limitations
had expired, "has been named in a second credible allegation of sexual
misconduct."
The sexual assault trial of J.T. Talbert began in North Little Rock,
Arkansas. Talbert, minister at New Birth Ministry church, was charged
with four counts of third-degree sexual assault against women who came
to him looking for work.
Ralph E. Patterson, associate pastor at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic
Church in Henderson, Indiana, was charged with public indecency, after
allegedly exposing himself to an undercover officer at a park in
Warrick County, Ind.
Richard Mieliwocki, a priest in Mendham, New Jersey, was indicted on
charges of child endangerment and criminal sexual contact.
"Authorities said he improperly touched and made sexual comments to
[four] boys, ages 16 to 18, during therapy sessions at Daytop Village
last year," reported the Associated Press. Mieliwocki had previously
been suspended after he was accused of molesting two other boys.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Edward Anthony
Rodrigue, a priest convicted in 1979 of sexually assaulting two boys
in Ontario, California, had said in court documents that "San Diego
church officials transferred him to other parishes after parishioners
complained that he had molested altar boys and other youth in the
1970s."
Warrants for the arrest of Kenneth A. Atkinson III, a youth pastor at
Pawleys Island Community Church were issued in Georgetown, South
Carolina. Atkinson was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.
A lawsuit accused Paul Schultz, St. John’s United Church of Christ in
DuQuoin, Wisconsin, of sexual assault and battery.
A lawsuit accused Richard L. McCaffrey, pastor of Immaculate
Conception Church in Fairbanks, Alaska, of sexual abuse. The woman
filing the lawsuit, a Tununak resident, said McCaffrey had molested
her in 1978, when she was 10 years old. McCaffrey had previously been
put on administrative leave by the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, in
response to a different allegation that he sexually abused a minor
about 25 years ago.
Douglas Eugene Parker, pleaded guilty to molesting two teenage girls,
ages 14 and 15, who are also related to Parker. Parker was "a preacher
at a Baptist church in Marks, Miss., and he later became their
pastor," said prosecutors.
Victor Whitworth, pastor at Victory Temple of the Church of God in
Christ in Waterbury, Conn., "was charged with first-degree larceny and
third-degree forgery," reported the Associated Press. "Police said he
forged his name on a check for $16,245, then used the money to
participate in an e-mail scam that they said has cost victims millions
of dollars... Participants pose as Nigerian government officials, then
try to persuade people to send them money and bank account numbers.
People are told in e-mails or letters that they can earn money by
helping to funnel funds from Nigeria to the U.S. "
James Cannel, youth pastor at Selah Covenant Church in Yakima,
Washington, was arraigned in federal court on three child pornography
charges. "Officers said he used a church computer to try to arrange
sex with a detective posing as a 12-year-old boy," reported the
Associated Press.
On Thursday, T. Mike Dugan, a priest at St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, Texas, "was arrested on charges of
drunken driving after causing a three-car crash, hitting a fourth
vehicle and fleeing the scene, police said," reported the Dallas News.
"In 1990, while Father Dugan was assigned to a Plano parish, church
workers accused him of being an alcoholic, and he was briefly placed
in treatment by the Dallas Catholic Diocese. Church officials later
apologized and said the intervention had been a mistake. Officials
said he could continue with his duties. "
Al Liberatore Jr., a priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea,
Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 10 years probation after pleading
guilty to groping an eighth-grade altar boy in a hotel room in
Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Liberatore "had faced three first-degree
felony counts in New York, including sodomy and sexual assault..."
reported the News Leader. "Liberatore admitted giving the boy alcohol
and molesting him during overnight stays at the church rectory in
Duryea from 1999 to 2004, according to court papers."
Wilfred L. Englert, a priest in Jasper, Indiana, was arrested "on
charges of deviant sexual conduct and sexual battery after an
investigation by Indiana State Police," reported the Indianapolis
Star. "The alleged victim, described as mentally disabled, was a
friend of Englert's, State Police said. The priest allegedly molested
the 19-year-old twice this year, once during an Orange County camping
trip and once during a Dubois County visit."
Antonio J. Rizzo, youth director at St. Joseph Catholic Church in
Shreveport, Alabama, was arrested on two counts of molesting a
juvenile, a teenage girl, at the church. In a previous incident,
"Rizzo was booked on three counts of contributing to the delinquency
of a juvenile," reported the Associated Press. "Police accused him of
giving alcohol to teenage girls and making sexual advances."
Msgr. Eugene Clark, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York,
resigned after he was named as "the other man" in a Westchester County
divorce case, reported the Associated Press.
Clark was named in divorce papers filed in Family Court in White
Plains by Philip DeFilippo, 46, of Eastchester, who claimed that a
private investigator taped his wife, Laura, and the monsignor entering
and leaving a hotel in Amagansett, on Long Island. The videotape was
shown Monday to New York City newspapers.
Samuel Rutledge, an elder at First Discipleship Church in Conyers,
Georgia, was arraigned on statutory rape and aggravated child
molestation charges. "Rutledge is accused of molesting a 7-year-old
relative in front of her 6-year-old brother," reported WXIA TV. "After
the charges were filed, one of Rutledge's three grown children, a
step-daughter, came forward to say she, too, was a victim. 'My
stepfather, he sexually, mentally and physically abused me from the
age of two to 16,' she said."
On Friday, James Fincher, pastor of Faith Missionary Baptist Church in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, was sentenced to another six months of home
detention after he continued to refuse to admit he was a sexual
predator and to enroll in court-ordered counseling. "A jury convicted
Fincher in October 2003 of fondling a woman who came to his office to
ask for a loan," reported the Fort Wayne News Sentinel. As part of his
sentence, Fincher was required to attend the counseling.
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Yang
a.a. #28
AthD (h.c.) conferred by the regents of the LCL
a.a. pastor #-273.15, the most frigid church of Celcius nee Kelvin
EAC Econometric Forecast and Sorcery Division
Proudly plonked by Lani Girl and Crazyalec (aka aka Yang's little poltregeist *****)
The Bush 'balanced' budget: 1.6 trillion and worsening
The Bush 'economic' policy: 12.5 million FEWER jobs than Clinton and counting
The Bush Iraq lie: -1846 GIs, one friend's co-worker's son and mounting
Having Bush ***** up my country: Worthless
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