Wily rev wanted my wife in bed, he says

N.Y.Daily News ^ | October 28, 2005 | HELEN PETERSON

[PAR35]

A churchgoing husband is suing the senior pastor of a top Manhattan house of worship for $5 million - charging the minister tricked him into marriage counseling so he could bed the man's unfaithful wife.

Joseph Vione's suit charges that the Rev. Thomas Tewell, 56, of the Fifth Ave. Presbyterian Church also urged him to become more active in the church - so the clergyman could further his "adulterous relationship with [Vione's] wife."

Vione's wife, Rachel, 42, admitted the affair to her husband last January, according to the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by Joseph Vione's lawyer, Dominic Barbara.

The lawsuit also accuses the church of shirking its duties to investigate claims made by other congregants that Tewell was having an affair with Rachel Vione.

The church knew about accusations that Tewell "had exploited his position at [the church] to prey on women to whom he was providing spiritual and marital counseling."

[PAR35]

Other stories indicate that the Church itself is a defendant. The Church was formerly conservative, before this pastor took the pulpit claiming to be evangelical while moving the church far to the left.

In recent years, reported membership is up, but actual attendence has dropped. Annual giving is about $2.8 million, lagging the denomination's average for both giving per member and giving per attendee.

Statistical source here: http://www.pcusa.org/tenyeartrends/report/8AF68HO/all_statistics.jsp

[elli1]

Another stupid lawsuit.

[caryatid]

In recent years, reported membership is up, but actual attendence has dropped.

A phenomenon noted in other such churches ... all those faceless new names on the roll ... and, despite the increase in membership ... declining attendance and declining giving ...

[heybeavis]

>> charging the minister tricked him into marriage counseling so he could bed the man's unfaithful wife.

He should sue himself for falling for it. What a moron

[LongElegantLegs]

MOnty Python's already done it.

[GSlob]

Boccaccio, Decameron, Day 3, Novel 4. Verily I speak unto you, there's nothing new under the sun. The only difference is that instead of a senior pastor in 2005 there was monk Don Felice about yr 1340.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Tewell, 56, who is married, is on a leave from the church

That much is obvious!

[onedoug]

'Seen that skin-flick.