Free Republic

MEDIA, Pa. - Instead of feeding children in third-world countries and fixing the leaky roof, a woman used money from First Church of Lansdowne collection plates to buy a shore home and breast implants. "I was very dishonest and selfish," Colleen Lacombe, 34, of Drexel Hill, told Judge Robert C. Wright tearfully. Lacombe pleaded guilty in September to theft by deception, and made full restitution of $325,000 to the church. Wright sentenced the mother of two to two years of house arrest Tuesday, followed by two years of probation. Lacombe embezzled the money while handling finances at the church from...

Dutch Protestant Churches Agree to Merge Fri Dec 12, 1:42 PM ET By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Three Dutch Protestant churches formally agreed Friday to put aside their ideological differences and merge, the culmination of a process that began more than 40 years ago. The Dutch Reformed Church, the Calvinist Reformist Church, and the small Lutheran Church will unite to form the Protestant Church of the Netherlands, together representing about 2.2 million churchgoers — or about 14 percent of the population. In much of the country, the churches already have been merged in practice for some...