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How to tell the story of a church scandal
Newark Star Ledger ^ | 1/5/03 | Raymond A. Schroth, S.J.

Posted on 01/05/2003 12:13:45 PM PST by Incorrigible

How to tell the story of a church scandal

Sunday, January 05, 2003
BY RAYMOND A. SCHROTH, S.J.
Associated Press

[Jersey City, NJ] -- A year ago tomorrow the Boston Globe started publishing articles on the Catholic church's sexual abuse scandal, which sent the Boston diocese into a tailspin and had a ripple effect throughout the country.

A few weeks ago, a coalition of the courts, the press, the people, and the parish priests toppled Cardinal Bernard F. Law. It was sad to see his fall; but it is tragic that some bishops, like Law, have carried themselves less as servants than as princes on thrones.

How should the story of this scandal best be told -- and what kind of writer should tell it?

1. The writer should start by describing what happened in the church at the end of the 19th century: Rather than modeling the growing American church on the structures of democracy, the hierarchy -- more political than pastoral -- set the patterns of institutional behavior that remain today, especially patterns of secrecy.

Next, the writer should move to 1983, to Lafayette, La., where a group of families told their bishop a priest had molested their children. Within 20 years this scandal, repeated throughout the country, became the battleground on which progressive and conservative Catholics fought for their vision of the church's future.

The conservatives have seen the sexual acting-out reflected in the current scandal as the natural outcome of Vatican II's opening the windows to modernity, letting Marx, Darwin and, above all, Freud blow in.

The advantage of Thomistic moral philosophy, taught in Catholic colleges until the 1960s, was its moral clarity. The social sciences were the camel's head in the tent, conservatives say, introducing ambiguity, a watered- down sense of personal responsibility, and an implied invitation to experiment, even for vowed religious. In their periodicals, conservatives today argue that homosexuals have taken over the seminaries and corrupted the church's morals and doctrines.

Progressive Catholics, on the other hand, attribute the scandal to the clerical culture: Bishops are chosen only on the basis of their doctrinal purity. This means they are, with few exceptions, company men devoid of courage and imagination.

For progressives, the scandal has revealed the cracks in a system of forced celibacy and the exclusion of women from the priesthood. Married bishops with children would not brush off reports of priests who molested children. Women priests would break up the all-male club in the clerical power structure. The issue of gay priests, they say, is a red herring. Gays can be as chaste and pastorally effective as straights, they argue.

2. Ideally, the book should be written by a Catholic scholar, or, at least, by a theologically sophisticated non-Catholic believer. A number of "lapsed," "raised," "collapsed," and other species of angry-ex-Catholics have used the op-ed pages to settle scores with Sister or Father So-and-So who rapped their knuckles in grammar school. This book calls for a surgeon with a scalpel rather than an executioner with an ax.

3. The writer should get the facts on the sexual behavior of celibates.

I have read of widespread clergy concubinage in Africa and Latin America; but I had long assumed that the overwhelming majority of American priests were both heterosexual and faithful to their vows. Now I read that perhaps half of those entering in recent decades are homosexual and that an alarming number of both gay and straight priests lead double lives. This may or may not be true. The writer needs to find out.

He or she also should consider the possibility that innocent priests have been accused, fired and sent to prison. Good priests, on the basis of a single ambiguous accusation, have been sidelined for the rest of their lives.

4. Many clerical-abuse victims have been willing to testify about their pain. But the writer's challenge will be to get inside the mind of the abuser.

The Rev. Donald Cozzens, author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," has chillingly described serial offenders as sociopaths, without remorse. Inevitably there will be chapters on the monster molesters -- like Boston's John Geogan and Paul Shanley -- whose relentless pursuit of vulnerable youths marks them more as moral freaks than as representative figures.

But the greater mystery involves not the pedophiles and serial offenders, who constitute a minority, but apparently successful priests, admired by their flocks, who crossed the line in their relationships with young people -- some only once -- and repented long ago. Even once is too often, but how could this one time have been prevented? What went wrong?

Were such priests just not immune to the virus of a sexually absorbed American popular culture? Did they lack the maturity to integrate their spirituality, work, natural tenderness and need for affection?

5. The writer will understand that villains will emerge, but heroes will be harder to spot.

During the scandal's early stages, victims, parents, lawyers and journalists raised hell; the final surge brought forth the Voice of the Faithful and their priest supporters. But sex, money and power all corrupt. Some priests claim their accusers are motivated by money; some accusations have been found to be false. It will take a wise author to sort out the truth in disputed cases.

Cardinal Law and his coterie of auxiliaries who were promoted to other dioceses are characters made if not for Shakespeare, at least for Arthur Miller -- climbers loyal to a system that had moved them to the previous rung on the ladder and would move them to the next. Each bishop perhaps was tantalized by the same demon that sits on the shoulder of every ambitious cleric: You too could be pope!

They saw the church as a secret society, not answerable to parishioners, the public or the press. Now the laws of an open society have exposed them.

Meanwhile the writer must discover the untold story -- which I read in letters and e-mail messages from all over the country -- of the alienation between bishops and good priests who once kissed their bishops' hands at ordination and now feel betrayed.

6. Finally, this book must speculate on the future of the church.

The American bishops may imagine that they can restore the status quo. Perhaps. This pope will soon pass away. The writer of this book, unlike church authorities, must listen to an international cross-section of theologians and pastors for a grassroots view on what the church should be. A startling picture will emerge. The American scandal has been a match to the fire, and the wind will carry the smoke across the world.

Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., Jesuit Community Professor at St. Peter's College, is author of "Fordham: A History and Memoir" (Loyola Press). His e-mail address is raymondschroth@aol.com.

Not for commercial use.  For educational and discussion purposes only.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: bostonglobe; catholiclist; law; newjersey
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To: RonF
I'm not so sure that it goes back that far.

You are mistaken.

41 posted on 01/06/2003 7:05:09 AM PST by SMEDLEYBUTLER
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Antoninus
It predates Jesus, re Melchisedech.
42 posted on 01/06/2003 7:10:57 AM PST by SMEDLEYBUTLER
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: saradippity
Don't intertwine me into posts to Sinkspur and expect an answer. What exactly is your question?
43 posted on 01/06/2003 7:14:19 AM PST by SMEDLEYBUTLER
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: RonF
Any Church that has "USA" as part of its name [as in ECUSA] makes me nervous.
44 posted on 01/06/2003 7:18:35 AM PST by Notwithstanding
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: sinkspur
Well, yes, but the Protestants have been jailing their child abusers for years.

It's about time Catholics are getting in step with the rest of the world.


It depended on where you were/are. Around here, there WERE priests going to jail regularly. It depended on the administrator.
45 posted on 01/06/2003 7:22:17 AM PST by Desdemona
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To: valkyrieanne
Episcopal crimes generally include embezzlement and adultery, not child sexual abuse (although it does rarely occur.)

Guess again.

PHILADELPHIA - After two days of testimony, a county judge took less than a minute to decide to deny a request to grant a new trial to Fr. Robert K. Orr, 55, an Episcopal priest convicted of possessing child pornography and distributing it on the Internet.

The defense attorney has 30 days to appeal to State Superior Court. For now,the former pastor from Wyncote still faces an 11- to 23-month prison sentence, handed down by the judge April 27. Defense had argued that crucial evidence, including phone records and witness testimony, were not adequately addressed by Orr's former defense attorney during the March trial.

He tried to show that much of the evidence used against Orr was part of a larger conspiracy that included one of Orr's former parishioners, John Ralston, whom Orr claims downloaded the pictures and framed him. Additionally, he raised questions about a message allegedly left by a school principal saying he had the photographs Orr requested. The recording was later determined to be a hoax.

The assistant district attorney agreed that the message was a setup, but said that it could not be used to prove that the entire case against Orr was part of an elaborate scheme to get him. Instead, she said much of Grimes' questioning amounted to a "smear campaign," to target Ralston.

Police acting on a tip found about 20 pictures of children engaging in sex acts on the new computer in Orr's church office at in May 1998. Shortly after his arrest, Orr was relieved of his priestly duties by the Episcopal Diocese of Philadelphia. He was later inhibited, meaning he cannot perform in a religious capacity, pending a church investigation. Inquirer 6/7/99, 3/11/99 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DANBURY, CT. - A former priest has been defrocked by the Episcopal Church for allegedly offering oral sex to a 13-year-old boy as a "confirmation gift." Fr. Bruce Jacques was removed as a priest from the Diocese of Connecticut after he unsuccessfully appealed a similar decision made by a lower church court, the diocese announced. The embattled pastor, who denied the boy's accusations, resigned from his parish in Feb. 1995, after the boy's family went public.

Jacques had been pastor for more than 10 years in 1984, when church officials reviewed the accusation and ruled that he could remain at the church if he received counseling. But the boy's family objected. He sued the family in 1995, and the boy's parents filed a countersuit. Both suits were withdrawn after a settlement in 1997. No criminal charges were filed against Jacques.

In Sept. 1997, the diocese ecclesiastical court found Jacques in violation of his ordination vows and "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy." He unsuccessfully appealed that decision. AP, 11/10/98 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ST. PETERSBURG, FL. - A family is suing the Episcopalian Diocese of Southwest Florida and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Punta Gorda, charging a deceased assistant priest molested their son.

According to a civil suit, Fr. Greydon Copeland "exploited the power of his position ... to perform lewd and lascivious, homosexual acts" on the boy, now an adult, while he went to the church there from 1985 to 1989. The boy was a minor at the time.

The suit alleges Copeland told the boy that if he told anyone about the molestations, his family would be humiliated and harmed, and the community would ostracize him. The boy's father was studying to become a Episcopal priest at the time. The boy apparently made the allegations after Copeland was investigated by the church on charges he molested another minor while serving at another parish.

The suit claims Copeland did not deny the allegations when confronted by church officials in May 1994 and that he committed suicide immediately afterwards.

Bp. Rogers Harris and Rector Vincent Scotto of the parish are also named as defendants in the suit. Scotto said he remembered that Copeland was questioned by Harris and another bishop about the incident, and that Copeland committed suicide, but did not know the details of the alleged molestations.

Copeland did perform some services but did not perform children's Sunday School services or have contact with the church's youth other than the families with whom he was directly involved, he said.

The family seeks a jury trial and monetary damages against the defendants on 13 charges, including negligent hiring and supervision, fraud and negligent infliction of emotional distress on all of the family members. The unidentified family contends the son is "severely and permanently injured" by the charged molestations. He continues to incur expenses for medical, psychiatric and psychological treatment, therapy and counseling. Sun-Herald, 2/17/99 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

VINELAND - A lawsuit filed by a teen-age girl who was an altar server, choir member and Sunday school aide accuses an Episcopal priest of sexually assaulting her. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of the unidentified girl, now 18 and living in another county. A second lawsuit filed there the same day alleges the priest also fondled a 40-year-old parishioner.

The lawyer representing the two unidentified women said they came forward after speaking with six or seven other parishioners who made similar claims against Fr. Thomas Berlenbach. Berlenbach and his lawyer denied the allegations. The diocese removed Berlenbach from his post at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Feb. 1997. He faces a trial in the diocese's ecclesiastical court.

The county prosecutor would not comment on whether Berlenbach was ever investigated on criminal charges, but said no investigation is pending. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, medical and legal expenses, and payment for the clients' lost capacity to earn money in the future.

In the summer of 1994, the girl, then 14, was "violently raped" in a basement meeting room during a coffee hour after a Sunday service, according to the lawsuit, and 3 years later, the girl was sexually assaulted in Berlenbach's office.

The second lawsuit claims a woman, now 40, was abused by "inappropriate touching of the plaintiff's lower torso" on Feb. 22, 1997. The lawsuits also name Bps. Mellick Bellshaw and Joe Morris Doss as defendants, alleging they knew about Berlenbach's "deviant sexual conduct" before the women were abused, but failed to investigate. AP, 1/30/99 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WILLIAMSBURG, VA. - Plaintiffs in a sexual molestationlawsuit against Bruton Parish Church are alleging that a former priest abused children and had a sexual relationship with a male teen-age baby sitter.

The lawsuit stems from charges first filed against baby sitter Richard Wescott Weaverling,who was later convicted of multiple sex crimes and sentenced to 73 years in prison. Weaverling molested children in their homes and at the 300-year-old Episcopal church, where he baby-sat with his mother from Jan. 1993 until Sept. 1994. The plaintiffs allege that John A. Grubb,a church member, and Fr. Michael W. Jones, the associate rector, also took part in the abuse. The amended suit raises to more than $250 million the amount of damages sought by the 35 plaintiffs, who include more than a dozen children.

Jones, now rector in Chesapeake, denied the allegations. Grubb has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached. No criminal charges have been lodged against Jones or Grubb, but prosecutors said they are continuing to investigate the case. AP, 10/14/98 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DENVER - An Episcopal priest will be leaving her parish and moving to another after acknowledging that she had "relationships" with two women in her congregation. The admission by the Rev. Sandra Wilson, 45, a black female pastor was cited in a confidential memo from Colorado Episcopal Bishop Jerry Winterrowd.

The memo's recipients are not identified, but sources said it was written to two women who accused Wilson in late March of "sexual and ethical misconduct," prompting Wilson's suspension from the pulpit. A third woman also filed a complaint but the nature of it has not been made public. Although a diocesan "response team" found the women's complaints "credible," Winterrowd reinstated Wilson saying the case was closed.

Wilson denies any "exploitation of those parties or abuse of her role" as a priest, the bishop's memo says. But official guidelines of the Episcopal Church forbid a priest from having a sexual relationship with a member of his or her congregation.

Wilson declined comment on the memo because of a confidential agreement between Wilson and her bishop. (9/7/98 Denver Post) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CHARLESTON, WV. - The state Supreme Court refused to reinstate a man lawsuit that claims he was sexually molested by an Episcopal priest when he was a boy but repressed memories of it until years later. The man claimed the memories resurfaced while under hypnosis, but in an unanimous opinion the court said the lawsuit was filed too late.

In 1996, the man filed a suit against Fr. H. Willard White, and the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, claiming the diocese knew White had a "proclivity for deviant sexual behavior" and did nothing about it. White and the church immediately sought to have the case dismissed because of the statute of limitations. The county circuit judge agreed and the high court upheld his ruling. White's attorney said the molestation never occurred and White was surprised by the allegations.

White is still a minister and lives somewhere in Tennessee. He has never been charged with a crime and no one has ever made a similar allegation against him, his lawyer said. (6/23/98 Associated Press) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NEW YORK CITY - A Manhattan judge has declined to hold the Episcopal Diocese or Trintity Church Retreat civilly liable to a man who was allegedly sexually assaulted by one of the retreat's priests. Judge John Koeltl found no merit to claims that the church should be held responsible for Fr. Masud Syedullah's alleged sexual assaults on a former parishioner of his from Oklahoma. The judge did allow the plaintiff to proceed against Syedullah on the claims of assault and battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. (2/27/98) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DALLAS - A youth minister of the Church of Christ has been arrested after allegedly sending nude pictures of himself to a 14-year-old girl over the Internet. Matthew Washington, 23, was charged with distribution of harmful material to a minor. Police said Washington sent her four photos of him seated nude on an exercise bike at the church after talking to her in an Internet chat room. The girl showed them to her mother who alerted the police. Washington was released on bail but faces up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. (12/22/98) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PORTAGE, WI. - Episcopal Church officials here and in Ft. Worth, Texas, allowed a now-imprisoned man to become a priest despite accusations of sexual misconduct during his seminary training, police records show. Defrocked priest Eugene Maxey, 43, now serving 20 years in Wisconsin, admitted to police that he abused four boys at Nashotah House, a Wisconsin seminary, in the late 1980s, some of them dozens of times. He denied sexually molesting a young man there whom he had driven up with from Texas and gotten drunk, saying it was consensual. No charges were filed in that incident nor in regards to his confession to police of abusing boys in Albany, New York, after ordination. Maxey served there until the early 1990s and then worked at parish in Chester, England, until his arrest.

Signs of trouble first surfaced by early 1986, when a fellow seminarian told the dean that she suspected Maxey of trying to seduce her 12-year-old son. Police records show that men who lived in the dormitory with Maxey backed up her claims, saying boys often visited him behind closed doors.

The dean at the time, Fr. Jack Knight, said it was only "innuendo" and Maxey denied wrongdoing. Knight is himself now suspended from the priesthood for sexual misconduct with a Colorado woman.

After more allegations were made, Maxey was allowed to transfer his allegiance to the Albany diocese. Fr. Rex Perry, who worked at the seminary and served as mediator, resigned last year as a pastor in Dallas after pleading no contest to fondling a Dallas police officer in a public restroom. Since completing a probationary sentence, he is now an assistant pastor in Baton Rouge.

Several people interviewed by police at Nashotah House, one of the most conservative Episcopal seminaries in the country, said that at the time consensual adult misconduct was common there, describing heterosexual adultery, homosexual promiscuity and faculty-student liaisons.

Five prosecutions resulted from the investigation. Along with Maxey, Fr. Russell Martin, 39, also sponsored by the Ft. Worth diocese and now suspended, was convicted for three incidents of child-abuse, and is serving a four-year term which he is appealing.

Along with another seminarian, courts found they abused a young teenage boy whose stepfather was studying for the priesthood at the seminary at that time. The victim came forward in early 1994 with allegations of everything from fondling to rape, sometimes accompanied by pornography and drug use. This led to the identification of other victims of Maxey, most of whom were also sons of fellow seminarians. (10/5/97) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

COTE, PA. - A suburban Philadelphia Episcopalian priest is facing child pornography charges. Fr. Robert Orr, 54, was arrested after images of young boys engaging in sex acts was found on a computer at his church in Wyncote, where Orr is the rector. He was being held on $50,000 bail at the pending a hearing scheduled for mid-May. (1998)) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TRENTON - The state Supreme Court said that the trusting relationship a person has with a religious leader has legal weight and a clergy member can be sued for sexual misdeeds that abuse that trust. However, the court stopped short of opening doors for lawsuits against clergy specifically for malpractice, like doctors and therapists. It concluded that a mal- practice rule for clergy would violate the First Amendment.

The case involved Episcopal priest Fr. Alex MacDonell, who had counseled a female parishioner who claimed that in 1992-3, MacDonell, who was married, engaged her in sexually intimate behavior, but not intercourse, when she visited. She alleges the distress led to a suicide attempt and required psychiatric hospitalization.

After MacDonnell left the church, she confided in his successor, Fr. Fletcher Harper, about their affair. She said Harper violated her confidence, telling the congregation about the affair during a sermon and in a church newsletter.

After a dismissal of the suit and a reversal on appeal, the Supreme Court struck a middle ground, permitting the lawsuit on breach-of-trust points only. Lawyers on both sides claimed victory. (7/23/97) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NEW YORK CITY -- An Episcopal Church investigation confirmed allegations, raised in Penthouse magazine, that Episcopal priests in Brooklyn held sex orgies with youths, including young men brought from Brazil. (The Living Church magazine, 6/29/97) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOUTH CAROLINA. Episcopal Priest on Church Trial. Rev. Antoine Campbell of Charleston was relieved of his duties during a second church trial on charges of misconduct. He was cleared of charges of sexual misconduct in a previous church trial. Source: _San Antonio Express- News_ 3/30/94. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EPISCOPAL TEACHER CHARGED WITH MOLESTATIONS. A Sunday school teacher and church elder at St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church in Harris County has been charged with the sexual molestation of 2 male teens. A third boy, 15, may be a victim also. Assaults began in May 1992 and ended this February after a boy, 16, told his mother that Richard Dick Gray, 59, had molested him. Gray admitted having sex with another boy, 14. Gray was released on $20,000 bond. The 16-year-old is under psychiatric care and cannot testify. One mother invited Gray into her home to be an adult male role-model for her son. While she was away, Gray molested the youth. Gray was also accused of molesting a family member 20 years ago, for which his relatives have severed ties with him. Gray was also arrested 10 months ago for exposing himself to an undercover officer in an adult book store. Source: _Houston Chronicle_ 4/27/94. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EPISCOPAL PRIEST CHARGED WITH SEXUAL BATTERY. An Episcopal priest, Douglas Hodges, 57, was charged with sexual battery, a 3rd-degree felony, in a 1991 incident involving a parishioner in counseling. A Fostoria woman and her husband, who said Hodges had sexual intercourse with her during counseling, had previously filed a civil suit against Hodges, Bishop James Moodey of the Episcopal diocese of Ohio, Trinity Episcopal Church, Fostoria, and the owner of the counseling center. An episcopal official says Hodges is no longer a priest, but declined further comment. Source: _Toledo Blade_ 2/11/93. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PARISH SUPPORTS PORTLAND PREYING PASTOR. Prominent pastor Rev. Willie B. Smith, 64, former president of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, is accused of sexually abusing 3 teenage girls at First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He was charged with 11 counts of 1st degree sexual abuse, a felony, and 1 count of 3rd degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor. Pastors in the community werequick to speak about his "exemplary" work. Two of the victims told police Smith had cornered them in his church office and groped them. A third said she was repeatedly abused by Smith for 16 months, beginning in September 1990. The victims were 12, 13, and 17 at the time of the incidents. Almost every parishioner lined up to hug, kiss and reassure Smith following the arrest. Source: _Oregonian_ 3/13,15/93. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EPISCOPAL PRIEST, "ABOVE REPROACH", SUED, INVESTIGATED. Six women including one filing a $4 million civil lawsuit have accused ByronBruce Newell, 60, former assistant pastor of Falls Church Episcopal Church, of sexual molestation or advances. The plaintiff alleges Newell forced her into sexual activities during counseling sessions at the church for 2 years, telling her that her sexual feelings toward him would bring her closer to God. Episcopal officials said they removed him from his pastoral role and ordered counseling after learning of complaints by women in 1988. However, they only launched a full inquiry last September. Newell, now a fundraiser for Trinity Episcopal School for the Ministry near Pittsburgh, is named in the suit, along with the church, the diocese, the bishop and church pastor John W. Yates ll. According to the suit, Yates told the woman what happened during counseling was her fault, and did not act on complaints from 5 other women that Newell had verbally or physically harassed them. The dean of the seminary insisted Newell "has more than amply repaid our trust. His behavior has been above reproach". Source: _Washington Post_ 3/20/93. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jeffrey Black, former rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri, knows the pain that child sexual abuse can cause a church. In May 1993 a 15-year-old parishioner came forward and indicted the church's music minister for molestation. The minister confessed, and the church terminated him after seventeen years of service. (1993) Music minister confesses to molestation Report in Christianity Today _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CHURCH SUED FOR CHOIRMASTER'S ASSAULTS. St. George's Cathedral & the Anglican church are being sued over a choirmaster's sexual assaults on choirboys. John Gallienne is serving a 6-1/2 year sentence for abusing boys. Now 17 plaintiffs are suing, claiming damages, plus interest & costs. The suit in part claims church officials were aware of Gallienne's misconduct & held at least 5 meetings over a 6- year period to discuss them, yet took no action to protect boys. Source: _Ottawa Citizen_ 11/11/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WOMAN SUES EPISCOPAL PRIEST. A Fostoria woman is suing Rev. Douglas Hodges, of Trinity Episcopal Church, Bishop James Moodey & the owner of a counseling center, alleging the priest forced her to have sex as "treatment". The abuse occurred at a counseling center & the church. Shelley & Daniel Lebay seek more than $700,000 in damages. Source: _Columbus Dispatch_ 10/9/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ANGLICAN PRIEST SUSPENDED WITH PAY. Owen Sound minister Jim Francom was suspended With pay from St. George's Anglican Church after being charged in July with rape & assault of a girl under 14. The assaults were alleged to have occurred in London, Ontario between 1975-1984 Source: _Ottawa Citizen_ 8/18/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PROMINENT EPISCOPALIAN REMOVED. Nationally known Rev. W. Graham Pulkingham, now living in Virginia, was suspended temporarily from the Episcopalian priesthood after admitting he initiated a sexual relationship with a man he was counseling, destroying the man's marriage. Church officials asked everybody to pray. Source: _Denver Post_ 8/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EPISCOPAL PRIEST SETTLES. Episcopal Rev. Paul Robinson agreed to pay $575,000 in damages to Mary Tenantry, mother of 5, for luring her into an extramarital affair while counseling her. Source: _Reuters/Boston Globe_ 8/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ANGLICAN BISHOP CHARGED FOR SOLICITATION. Anglican Bishop Owen Dowling, 57, of Canberra and Goulburn, was recently charged with soliciting a male off-duty cop for prostitution. Source: _Christian Century_ 5/13/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RAPIST-MINISTER GETS 12 YEARS FOR INCEST. Suspended associate rector of a Tucson Episcopal church, Stephen P. Apthorp, 56, pleaded guilty in Massachusetts to repeatedly raping his stepdaughter between her 10th and 16th birthday, an estimated 830 incidents of abuse. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Charges included indecent assault and battery, rape and distribution of pornographic materials to a minor. The assaults began in 1980 when a Lincoln, Mass. congregation asked him to leave because he was abusing alcohol, ignoring their problems, and "using the women of the parish like they were some kind of fringe benefit", Apthorp said. He was suspended from the Tucson church. His contract as a counselor for Tucson General Hospital's Westcenter was not renewed. He gave nationwide worships and lectures based on a book of advice for clergy with alcohol and drug addictions. The 21-year-old victim, who publicly identified herself as Mimi Coleman, noted the betrayal made her suicidal, gave her eating disorders and nightmares, shameful feelings over sex, continuing gynecological problems, feelings of someone always watching her, feelings of panic whenever she sees a man in a clerical collar, and feelings that she is a freak. "Never have I seen him practice what he preached, and I heard him preach a lot." Source: _Arizona Daily Star_ 3/13/92; _Boston Herald_ 5/7/92; _Lincoln Journal_ 5/14/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SEXTON GETS 35 YEARS. A sexton at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Whitehall Township was sentenced to 35-70 years in jail for molesting boys. Adam Tannous, 61, of Allentown, agreed to plead guilty to 7 merged charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, after originally being charged with more than 4,000 crimes. One victim said Tannous bragged of having sex with 400 boys over the past 40 years. He was removed as pastor of St. George's Episcopal Church in Hellertown in 1970 because of similar allegations. In 1972, he was arrested on a morals charge in Emmaus. He was "treated", not jailed, then expelled from the ministry. Despite this record, St. Stephen's hired him in 1976 to be custodian, saying he was rehabilitated. Many victims say Tannous caused them alcohol problems by plying them with liquor. Source: _Express-Times_ 12/17/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TOP EPISCOPAL PRIEST RESIGNS AMID SEX SCANDAL. The highest-ranking U.S. Episcopal priest, who ironically headed a national committee examining the church's position on sexuality, resigned in October following charges he sexually abused young men in his congregation. Rev. Wallace A. Frey, rector of St. David's Church in DeWitt, is married with 2 grown children. A church official said he had been involved in "sexual misconduct over a lengthy period with some male, young adults & a teenager under his pastoral care". The official said the number of victims appears to be "less than 10". Source: NYT News Service/_Chicago Tribune_ 10/7/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

New South Wales Anglican priest Eric William Griffith, 50, of Gratton, was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to 3 counts of indecent assault & 4 counts of gross indecency against a boy, 14. Source: _Courier-Mail_ 11/15/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1991: Rev G Snow, 38 jailed for sexually assaulting a 10 year old boy. Police found two suitcases filled with indecent photographs of boys and men in Snow's vicarage. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1990: Rev Gordon Haggarty, TV vicar and celebrity jailed for lewd and libidinous practices at Edinburgh Crown Court. He bound, blindfolded and gagged girls in his care aged from 8 to 12 years, then took photographs of them. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1989: Rev William Thompson 45, Headmaster at an Episcopal church pleaded guilty to charges of child ponrography and molesting 7 boys aged 11 to 16. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

REV. WILLIAM EDWARD THOMPSON, JR., 45, charged with 21 counts of child sexual abuse, pleaded guilty in a plea bargain. The married father of 4 sons was headmaster at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Catonsville. He was charged with child pornography and molesting 7 boys, ages 11 to 16, in his home and on church property. A social worker reported him. (The Maryland Sun, 4/8/89) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a precedent-setting decision, the Anglican church made a secret out-of-court settlement of damages to an altar boy molested by a parish priest 4 years ago. REV. CHARLES GRIGGS, 61, former rector of St. Bede's, near Winnipeg, pleaded guilty in 1986 to charges of molesting a 13 year old. He received a 2 year suspended sentence and was ordered to receive counseling. Anglican officials offered wide and glowing support for Griggs after his confession. An uproar resulted when Archbishop Walter Jones allowed Griggs to continue as rector following his conviction, saying Griggs' confession of sin was sufficient repentance. Jones removed him from his post a month later. Griggs left the priesthood and lives in rural Manitoba. Molestings occurred after church services and at the priest's home. The family says former diocese bishop Barry Valentine had received complaints about Griggs prior to assaults on their son, but did nothing. Bishop Valentine, now in Baltimore, MD, says he received " only one " complaint, and immediately removed him as director of a diocesan summer camp. The Anglican Journal editorialized: " Similar incidents, just as serious, have received little or no publicity because ecclesiastical authorities have stepped in, quietly removed the priest from the parish, appeared with him in court and arranged for psychiatric help. But although such action protects the church's image, it gives little public warning to priests of the consequences they face for a breach of trust, and nothing to alert society that it has an alarming problem in its midst." (Anglican Journal, May 1989) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1988: Church of England Vicar Michael Walter, already having served time for indecently assaulting little boys yet allowed to continue his clerical career by the church, is found guilty of further assaults on children. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1988, Winchester, England. 2 Anglican vicars, a choirmaster, a solicitor and an already convicted child molester all jailed at Winchester Crown Court on 21 specimen charges of sexual abuse of boys as young as seven which were carried out on them at church outings, at the YMCA and in churchyards. The men made the children take an oath never to breathe a word of what was going on and paid them 1.00 for each session. Sometimes the children's private parts were beaten with a fly swatter. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1988: Vicar Trevor Ward jailed for 7 years for using pornographic books to corrupt boys as young as eleven. Ward arranged sex 'threesomes'. Ward admitted offences of indecent assault, gross indecency and buggery over an 8 year period.

source

46 posted on 01/06/2003 7:28:04 AM PST by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: sinkspur
It's interesting that those who are most vociferously in favor of mandatory celibacy for other men here on FR are not celibate themselves.

Don't be coy, who are you talking about.

47 posted on 01/06/2003 7:31:12 AM PST by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: RonF
What part of "voluntary life long commitment" do you not undestand?

For ALL Christians, our natural state is being bound to sexual abstinence unless we choose to marry in the Church. Chastity is voluntary for NOBODY (FYI: chastity for the married is fidelity to each other and to humanae vitae, chastity for the unmarried is zero sexual relations, celibacy also adds that one has voluntarily committed to NEVER marry).

Those who do NOT volunteer to be married are morally obligated to a life of absolute abstinence.

Ordination is voluntary - and those who volunteer to be ordained know that they are commiting themselves to a celibate life (can NEVER marry).

Marriage is voluntary - and those who volunteer to be married know that they are commiting themselves to life of fidelity.

48 posted on 01/06/2003 7:32:55 AM PST by Notwithstanding
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
All those pesky details.... you are not playing along according to the rules (which state that only the "RCC" priesthood can be critiqued in public).
49 posted on 01/06/2003 7:37:42 AM PST by Notwithstanding
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER; sinkspur
I'm sorry,I just know you are the expert on this subject to which sinkspur responds in a Pavlovian dog manner.I thought I would alert him that I was calling on you to watch lest his responses were,as usual,less than reflective of the fullness of Catholic teaching on the subject.

My questions to him were:Show us where in the Gospels any apostle had a wife when Jesus chose him. And,I asked him if Jesus ever promised to,or charged,the multitudes or the disciples with the specific things he promised and assigned the Twelve.I notice that Ronaldus answered and sinkspur has never responded anyhow.

50 posted on 01/06/2003 8:17:26 AM PST by saradippity
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Comment #51 Removed by Moderator

To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
Thanks for an interesting post. I do note a few things:

1) Many of these are not Episcopalian priests

2) Many of these do not involve children

3) Many of these are not homosexual liasons,

and most importantly,

4) Episcopalians get the cops involved, and only a couple of these have indications that higher church officials tried to hush up the incidents and then move the offender off to another parish.

It is gratifying to see a great deal of secular law enforcement involved in these, which we have not up to this point seen in the RCC incidents.

Oh, and I'm not clear on how all of this refutes the initial posting you were responding to, which was Episcopal crimes generally include embezzlement and adultery, not child sexual abuse (although it does rarely occur.). Seems to me that if you cull out of this listing all the incidents that don't involve Episcopal priests and children, you are left with fewer than a dozen cases over the last 15 or 20 years. Given the 1000's of Episcopal parishes in the USA, I'd have to say that the assertion made was not contradicted.

52 posted on 01/06/2003 8:49:58 AM PST by RonF
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To: Notwithstanding
Any Church that has "USA" as part of its name [as in ECUSA] makes me nervous.

The various provinces in the Anglican Communion are organized geographically and I think all of them have the name of the country or countries they are composed of in their name, even the Church of England.

After the United States achieved independence, the Anglican Church in the United States had a problem. All the bishops, etc. in the U.S. had as part of their ordination vows pledged fealty to the King of England, as he is theoretically the head of the Church and at that time exercised his powers of approvals of bishops and archbishops, etc., a lot more directly than the Queen does now. It was inappropriate for American bishops to make such a vow. So the first American bishops were ordained as bishops by Scottish Anglican bishops, and a new church was organized. It's had a few names, but the current one is the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.

53 posted on 01/06/2003 9:00:32 AM PST by RonF
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To: RonF
Unless Google is wrong in their statistics the Episcopal Church in the United States has less than 4% of the members the Catholic Church has.That figure among a whole lot of other facts needs to be considered when discussing this issue intelligently.
54 posted on 01/06/2003 9:06:40 AM PST by saradippity
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To: saradippity
My apology for what may have been perceived by you as a lack of charity on my part.

The Gospels do not speak explicitly of any Apostle being married at the time they were chosen by Christ. While Peter's mother in law is mentioned in Matthew 8:14, his wife is not mentioned by name and it is implied in Matthew 19:27-30 and Luke 18:28-30 that others may have been married but gave up their wives to follow Christ. However, there is no mention by name of any wife of an Apostle. I believe that you already know that.

One can find mention of Peter's wife as she was led to her death, while Peter watched, in St. Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, Book VII Chapter XI:

They say, accordingly, that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, "Remember thou the Lord." Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them.

Thus also the apostle says, "that he who marries should be as though he married not," and deem his marriage free of inordinate affection, and inseparable from love to the Lord; to which the true husband exhorted his wife to cling on her departure out of this life to the Lord.

55 posted on 01/06/2003 9:14:31 AM PST by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: Ronaldus Magnus
Far from being a law forced upon the medieval priesthood, it was the acceptance of celibacy by priests centuries earlier that eventually led to its universal promulgation in the twelfth century. Even today, the binds it's married clergy in a vow of continence.

That would be news, I'm sure, to the many dozens of Anglican and Episcopal priests who have been received into the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church under the "pastoral provision." Nowhere has it ever been said that those *married* Roman Catholic priests have to give up marital relations with their wives.

56 posted on 01/06/2003 9:44:46 AM PST by valkyrieanne
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER; sinkspur; RonF
Incidents involving adults (hetero or homo) have been removed. Non-priests or non-Episcopalians have been removed. I also removed those who were acquitted, successfully appealed, or otherwise vindicated in court. (False accusations of child abuse DO occur.) These are the scumbuckets left whose offenses involved minors.

Notice the Episcopal/Church of England pond scum (and I am an Episcopalian, but have no love for child abusers of *any* denomination) at least got scraped off the boots of society by the criminal justice system.

That's why the Catholic situation *has been* such a major scandal - that there have been so few prosecutions and lawsuits, given the huge volume of cases. The Geoghan case was extraordinary *because* he was convicted.


PHILADELPHIA - Fr. Robert K. Orr, 55, an Episcopal priest convicted ... Inquirer 6/7/99, 3/11/99 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DANBURY, CT. - Fr. Bruce Jacques was removed as a priest ... No criminal charges were filed against Jacques. [Blame the prosecutors.] AP, 11/10/98 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ST. PETERSBURG, FL. - A family is suing the Episcopalian Diocese of Southwest Florida and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Punta Gorda, charging a deceased assistant priest molested their son ... Sun-Herald, 2/17/99 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VINELAND - Fr. Thomas Berlenbach... removed from his post at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Feb. 1997. The county prosecutor would not comment on whether Berlenbach was ever investigated on criminal charges, but said no investigation is pending. [Why not?] AP, 1/30/99 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ WILLIAMSBURG, VA. - Plaintiffs in a sexual molestationlawsuit against Bruton Parish Church are alleging that a former priest abused children and had a sexual relationship with a male teen-age baby sitter. ... No criminal charges have been lodged against Jones or Grubb, but prosecutors said they are continuing to investigate the case. [What is *with* these prosecutors?] AP, 10/14/98 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PORTAGE, WI. - Episcopal Church officials here and in Ft. Worth, Texas, allowed a now-imprisoned man to become a priest despite accusations of sexual misconduct during his seminary training, police records show. Defrocked priest Eugene Maxey, 43, now serving 20 years in Wisconsin, admitted to police that he abused four boys at Nashotah House ... (10/5/97) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ WYNCOTE, PA. - A suburban Philadelphia Episcopalian priest is facing child pornography charges... (1998) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ANGLICAN PRIEST SUSPENDED WITH PAY. Owen Sound minister Jim Francom was suspended With pay from St. George's Anglican Church after being charged in July with rape & assault of a girl under 14... _Ottawa Citizen_ 8/18/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RAPIST-MINISTER GETS 12 YEARS FOR INCEST. Suspended associate rector of a Tucson Episcopal church, Stephen P. Apthorp, 56, pleaded guilty in Massachusetts to repeatedly raping his stepdaughter between her 10th and 16th birthday ..._Boston Herald_ 5/7/92; _Lincoln Journal_ 5/14/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TOP EPISCOPAL PRIEST RESIGNS AMID SEX SCANDAL. The highest-ranking U.S. Episcopal priest, who ironically headed a national committee examining the church's position on sexuality, resigned in October following charges he sexually abused young men in his congregation. Rev. Wallace A. Frey, rector of St. David's Church in DeWitt, is married with 2 grown children. A church official said he had been involved in "sexual misconduct over a lengthy period with some male, young adults & a teenager under his pastoral care". The official said the number of victims appears to be "less than 10". Source: NYT News Service/_Chicago Tribune_ 10/7/92. [This particular scumbucket appears to have gotten away without criminal charges too. Blame the prosecutors.] _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ New South Wales Anglican priest Eric William Griffith, 50, of Gratton, was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to 3 counts of indecent assault & 4 counts of gross indecency against a boy, 14. Source: _Courier-Mail_ 11/15/92. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1991: Rev G Snow, 38 jailed for sexually assaulting a 10 year old boy ... _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1990: Rev Gordon Haggarty, TV vicar and celebrity jailed for lewd and libidinous practices at Edinburgh Crown Court. He bound, blindfolded and gagged girls in his care aged from 8 to 12 years, then took photographs of them. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1989: Rev William Thompson 45, Headmaster at an Episcopal church pleaded guilty to charges of child ponrography and molesting 7 boys aged 11 to 16. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ REV. WILLIAM EDWARD THOMPSON, JR., 45, charged with 21 counts of child sexual abuse, pleaded guilty in a plea bargain... (The Maryland Sun, 4/8/89) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ REV. CHARLES GRIGGS, 61, former rector of St. Bede's, near Winnipeg, pleaded guilty in 1986 to charges of molesting a 13 year old. (Anglican Journal, May 1989) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1988: Church of England Vicar Michael Walter, already having served time for indecently assaulting little boys yet allowed to continue his clerical career by the church, is found guilty of further assaults on children. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1988, Winchester, England. 2 Anglican vicars, a choirmaster, a solicitor and an already convicted child molester all jailed ... _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1988: Vicar Trevor Ward jailed for 7 years...

57 posted on 01/06/2003 10:10:47 AM PST by valkyrieanne
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To: sinkspur
It's not whining; it's my opinion.

When it's delivered as you do--constantly, everywhere, on threads only vaguely related to the subject, in shrill language--I consider that whining.

I'll say what I think on a discussion forum, Antoninus. If you don't like it, just pass over my posts.

Hey, if you want to spout a continuous stream of nonsense, I can't stop you. I will, however, continue to call you on it. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another dissenter but worse because you actually hold an office in the Church. You should be defending the teaching and disciplines of the Church, not attacking them in a public forum.
58 posted on 01/06/2003 11:22:29 AM PST by Antoninus
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To: valkyrieanne
Nowhere has it ever been said that those *married* Roman Catholic priests have to give up marital relations with their wives.

Not true. It may not be said very often as a part of polite conversation, but a dedicated commitment to continence by both spouses is a requirement within the pastoral provision for the reception of married protestant ministers into priestly ordination within the Western Rite. The basis for this can be found in Canon 277 and a more detailed explanation of its development in "The Pastoral Provision: Ordination of Married, Protestant Ministers" Canon Law Society of America proceedings #51 by Richard Hill, S.J.. This is a contributing factor, I'm sure, to the vast majority of converting ministers choosing ordination to the diaconate or a lay pastoral role (it would be for me!).

59 posted on 01/06/2003 11:33:21 AM PST by Ronaldus Magnus
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To: Antoninus
As far as I'm concerned, you're just another dissenter but worse because you actually hold an office in the Church. You should be defending the teaching and disciplines of the Church, not attacking them in a public forum.

Nicely put.
60 posted on 01/06/2003 11:35:03 AM PST by Desdemona
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