Your Catholic Church at work in the world: 500 Sex Abuse Claims Filed Against Jesuits

More Than 500 Sex Abuse Claims Filed Against Jesuits

Sunday, December 06, 2009

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SPOKANE, Wash. — More than 500 people in the U.S. Northwest filed claims against the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in advance of a November deadline, alleging members of the Catholic order sexually abused them as children.

The Spokesman-Review in Spokane reports the claims against the Jesuits span decades and range from Native Alaskan children to students at Spokane's Gonzaga Preparatory School.

A federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy reorganization of the province set a Nov. 30 deadline for people to file the claims. The organization includes Jesuits in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

The Jesuits already have settled 200 additional sex-abuse claims.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579595,00.html?test=latestnews

Girl claims catholic priest fathered her baby

Girl claims Catholic Priest fathered her baby.

"I'm afraid. I'm on the street. I'm running from people," Hernandez told CBS4's Jim DeFede over the phone. "David said to me that if I go to the media, he would make me disappear and take my baby."

Dueppen last served as an associate priest at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Pembroke Pines. He has been on administrative leave for one month, according to Miami Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta.

Another Jesuit Catholic involved in homosexual rape of orphans

Do there perverts ever stop?

'Dr. Dino' (Kent Hovind) allowed to buy back seized property

The Florida-based ministry of creation-science evangelist Kent Hovind apparently will be able to retain properties set for seizure by the federal government in the tax-related case that sent the founder and his wife to prison

Hovind's son, Eric, who has taken over leadership of Creation Science Evangelism, told supporters the federal government indicated Friday it will work with the ministry to retain properties a federal judge ordered seized as a substitute for payment of fines.

"Upon completion of property appraisals, CSE will begin to negotiate the acquisition," Hovind wrote in a donor letter. "We ask for your patience and prayers during this process."

Snip, read more at WND.com

Another Southern Baptist Pastor Arrested for an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy (criminal solicitation of a minor).

"As a preacher, I am a lover of the Scriptures...."  

Richland County (WLTX) - A man who worked as a subsitute teacher is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy and had porn on a computer.

Samuel Smith, 40, has been charged with criminal solicitation of a minor.

Richland County deputies say on April 29, a teacher at Sandlapper Elementary School found a computer with inappropriate conversations and pornography on it.

Investigators say Smith had substituted in the classroom where the materials were found, and that he had been having improper conversations while online with a 15-year-old boy about sex and alcohol.

Investigators say Smith has been using Craigslist and Yahoo! to run personal ads soliciting relationships and that he had several conversations with the 15-year-old involved in the case.

News19 has learned Smith is a pastor at a church in Northeast Richland County.

And yet another Southern Baptist Pastor pleads guilty to homosexual child abuse

Former Cordova pastor pleads guilty to sex charges involving teenage boys

By Lawrence Buser (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Wednesday, April 29, 2009

A former Cordova church pastor pleaded guilty today to charges that he sexually abused two teenage boys, including one with whom he [molested for 5 years].

Steven C. Haney, 48, who headed Walnut Grove Baptist Church for some 20 years, was placed on probation for eight years and will be added to the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry.

Southern Baptist Minister Arrested for Homosexual Child Sex Abuse

A shocking arrest in Benton.   A church leader is behind bars, accused of sexually abusing a child.  David  Pierce served as the music minister at the First Baptist Church in Benton for nearly three decades.  Right now, he is only facing charges for one crime, but more children have  reportedly come forward and more charges could be filed. 
 
(Bruce Pennington, Saline County Sheriff) "I just want people to be aware that regardless of your stature in this community we're not gonna condone these actions." 
 
Pierce was arrested this afternoon at his home in Benton.   The former minister of music at the First Baptist Church of Benton is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy.   Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington made the arrest. 

Pennington is also a first baptist parishioner, and says he feels personally let down by his former friend.

Snip, full article here: http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0409/616653.html

Independent Baptist Preacher accused of sexual harassment and confronted with the proof- weak deacons do nothing

http://truediscernment.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/three-indianapolis-area-pastors-admit-sexual-indiscretions/

from indystar:

Before the Rev. Jerry Hillenburg could take two steps toward his lectern after the offertory music, Huneycutt began a speech that would turn Sunday morning upside down at Hope Baptist.....listen and watch above.

(The "pastor" Jerry Hillenburg and his sycophant deacons admit he sent the filthy x-rated messages.)

 The messages sent to the former church employee, a woman the pastor had counseled through a divorce last fall, include one in which Hillenburg invites her to join him at a movie theater where he said he was by himself. Another message informs her that "some whore just called me, had my phone number, from some bar, it was wild." Another message tells her: "Text me something dirty."

Southern Baptist Mega "Pastor" Mac Brunson controls Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and uses them to harass church members who disagree with him

Mac Demands money from church to put him on TV
"Southern Baptist Mega "Pastor" Mac Brunson controls Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and uses them to harass church members who disagree with him.

Southern Baptist-Calvary Chapel Pastor Accused of Sex With a 16 Year Old

Youth Pastor Accused of Having Sex With 16-Year-Old

Lorri Helfand & Rita Farlow
St. Petersburg Times

Published: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 9:03 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 9:03 a.m.
A youth pastor was arrested this week, accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl in a Palm Harbor home.

(snip)
Scott Dewayne Wright, 35, who lives in New Port Richey, turned himself into Pinellas authorities Monday. He was charged with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

(Snip)
Detectives say Wright met the teen in September 2006 when he was a youth pastor at Calvary Chapel in New Port Richey.

The next year, according to authorities, Wright befriended the teen, and at least twice between September and November 2007, he engaged in sexual activity with her.

(Snip)
In 2005, Wright was featured in the St. Petersburg Times in a story about a weekly program for teens at Calvary Chapel.

"We have a youth that is in crisis, and we need to reach out to them before it's too late," said Wright, who headed the program.

Wright later worked for the Crossing Church in Tampa [Willow Creek associated, "seeker friendly" Southern Baptist Convention member] for a period of time, according to the church's Web site. Tuesday evening, a church pastor there said Wright no longer works there.

According to his biography on the Web site, Wright is married with four children. The site, which referred to Wright as "Pastor Scott" said he began working at that church as student director in 2007. It also said that he "has a great drive to take youth on overseas missions trips every year."

Newt Gingrich crosses the Tiber (Becomes a Catholic.) Pictures of Newt Gingrich Wives, Jackie, Marianne and Callista

I am about a day late with this news, but I thought it interesting that Newt Gingrich has finally joined the Roman Catholic "church" that his mistress (now wife) is a member of.

Regular readers will recall that the late Jerry Falwell invited the adulterer Gingrich to deliver the commencement  address in 2007. And while Falwell dropped dead not long after praising Gingrich,  the soon to be Catholic, thrice married Gingrich, delivered the 2007 commencement address to the largely Southern Baptist University.

He was no doubt warmly received.......

Who should decide medical care? The doctor and patient or the state?

Medicaid Suit Could Determine Who Decides Care: Doctor or State

Keep an eye on this one folks. The State wants to dictate the medical care you can receive, and for how long.

Billy Graham grandson to lead famed megachurch Coral Ridge

By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 15, 

A widely-known megachurch founded by an architect of the religious right and seen as a national political force selected a grandson of Billy Graham on Sunday as its new leader.

The overwhelming vote by congregants at Coral Ridge Presbyterian inFort Lauderdale to appoint the Rev. Tullian Tchividjian could represent a softening of the message spread by the Rev. D. James Kennedy, who was pastor at the church until his death in September 2007. (snip)

Tchividjian insists he holds the same theological positions of Kennedy, but he cuts a far different image.

His hair is spiky, his beard sometimes scruffy, his skin tan. He offers a classic prodigal son story of youthful forays into drugs and sex, then his return to the fold. He has said he wants people to know what Christians are for as much as what they are against, and has rejected the idea that politics is the most important way to change the country.

"I think that politics is one strategic area of cultural engagement," he said Sunday. "But I also think that the sphere of art and the sphere of education and the sphere of media and technology are also strategic."

Tchividjian, 36, is the middle of seven children born to Stephan Tchividjian and Graham's eldest daughter, Gigi. He attended Coral Ridge — where Graham delivered the dedication ceremony — and its adjacent school as a young man, but at 16 he dropped out, spending the next five years partying on South Beach, seeking the company of women and getting high. (snip, full article at this  link.)

An Interview with Tullian Tchividjian

Q.You did your MDiv work at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Which happened first—you became Reformed, then went to RTS, or the other way around?

"Soon after God saved me (if indeed I was saved at 21 instead of 5), God gave me an overwhelming hunger and thirst to study, to read, to learn. I wanted to go to college but with only a GED and no SAT scores, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this. So at first, I simply began reading books that my pastor (we were attending a PCA church at the time) encouraged me to read (this included books by Packer, Sproul, Lloyd-Jones, the Puritans, etc.). I really wrestled with the doctrine of election. But after a long hard struggle with the Bible I came to the realization that I could choose not to believe this doctrine but I could not in good conscience say that the Bible doesn’t teach it. It was clear to me that from cover to cover Scripture highlights God’s sovereignty in salvation. After I was convinced of the Doctrines of Grace, however, I became a real pain in the neck. Every non-Calvinist was an idiot, so I thought, and I made sure to tell them. Thankfully, God quickly tempered my zeal and I came to realize that an arrogant Calvinist is an oxymoron."

(snip, interview at link.) 

GRIEF COUNSELING PSYCHOBABBLE

GRIEF COUNSELING PSYCHOBABBLE (Friday Church News Notes, March 13, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -

 Grief or bereavement counseling is big business. The Grief Recovery Institute claims that “hidden grief costs U.S. companies more than $75 billion annually.” Whenever tragedy strikes today, from plane and car crashes to shootings and bombings to wild animal attacks to divorce and untimely deaths, you can be sure that grief counseling is not far behind. 

he firefighters who sought for survivors after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11 were given extensive grief counseling. After the shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007 that killed 32 people a memorial fund was created to provide grief counseling and other aid to the “survivors.” After an ape viciously mauled a woman in February 2009, grief counseling was offered to the doctors and nurses who provided medical care. The logical question is whether all of this grief counseling is proper and effective and how did people get along for thousands of years without it, and the answer is that it is nothing more than psychobabble that can cause more harm than good. 

Dr. Tana Dineen, in Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry Is Doing to People, gives the following warning: “A battalion chief in a large metropolitan fire and rescue agency, writing about the ascendance of the CISD movement in his field, noted a comment made decades earlier by a hook and ladder captain. ‘We used to have steel men and wooden wagons; now we have steel wagons and wooden men.’ He is one of an increasing number of people who are expressing concern that such procedures undermine the natural support and adaptation that keeps those with jobs like firefighting resilient. 

Adding support to this concern is the growing scientific literature that finds that the debriefing movement appears to have no appreciable preventive or palliative effect, and may, in fact, be responsible for an iatrogenic effect of causing the problems it claims to treat” (p. 184). “[James] Pennabaker, critical of this simplistic approach [e.g., pop grief counseling] says: ‘Not everyone progresses through stages in grieving or coping. In fact, as many as half of all adults may face torture, divorce, the loss of a loved one, or other catastrophe and not exhibit any major sign of depression or anxiety’” (p. 207).

“Another researcher, George Bonanno, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University, offers his empirical analysis of the so-called grief-work hypothesis: the widely held assumption that venting negative emotions and ‘telling your story’ are necessary for regaining mental health. ... ‘There’s really no evidence that these things are effective--and there’s even some to suggest that they can actually be detrimental,’ says Bonanno” (pp. 207, 208).

"Jesus is the only answer."

First funeral held in South Alabama killings

Michael McLendon, 28, shot and killed 10 people, including five of his family members before committing suicide at a metals plant where he used to work. Six people were gunned down at his uncle's house -- two blocks away from where Jenkins lives.

Sonya Smith, 42, was shot and killed as she walked out of a Big Little Stores gas station in Samson on Tuesday. Mourners remembered her as a loving wife and mother of three who wouldn't hesitate before helping someone in need.

  

"We're all asking how could a deranged gunman come and bring so much pain, so much grief to our community," Rev. Donnie Earls told the hundreds gathered for Smith's funeral at Shady Grove Assembly of God Church in Coffee Springs.

"Even in times like this -- in horrific times -- only God has the answer," he said.

Mourners in this rural Bible Belt community said burying the people who were taken from them so suddenly and violently was the first step toward moving forward, but it would take time.

Wade Smith said his wife of 16 years was the "backbone of our family," and losing her at the hand of a random killer made the pain even more difficult.

"Why didn't he just take his own life if he wanted to do anything and leave all these other families alone?" Smith said while holding his wife's photo and a red rose following her burial in the church cemetery.

It started raining as he spoke, and Smith said it felt like his wife was "crying down from heaven on everybody and all the families that are going through this."

"I got angry," he said, hugging the framed picture to his chest to keep it dry. "The sadness has turned to anger, so you've got to turn to Jesus. Jesus is the only answer."

Former Fundy's cry out for access to the counselors of the World.

Former Fundy's cry out for access to the counselors of the World, but thinking what? That it might make things all better?

"I’m not sure how to apply what I’m wanting to talk about here, but it seems to be a big problem I’ve started to notice. Many ministry kids grow up being told they’re living in a glass bowl, and many times they are. They feel like they have to be perfect all the time. They learn early on to put on a face showing how they’re strong, and spiritual, and how their family has it all together. They never get attached to friends like many other kids do either because they move around, travel from church to church ministering, or because they’re afraid that if anyone finds out the truth about them and their family then the gossip will get around. 

Too many times the father and sometimes the mother are so involved in ministry and counseling everyone else in the church that they never realize that they’re children are wearing this mask and hiding what they really are. 

When they become disappointed or hurt they have no one to talk to about it so they just hold it all in. They go to church and hear preaching that tells them psychologists are of the world and are anti-christian so if they need to talk to someone, they need to just go to the pastor. They’re told that if they’re feeling depressed they need to minister to others and their depression will go away. They hear over and over not to become bitter against those that have hurt them and just to forgive them but never figure out how to fully forgive someone."

We'll just let Sharon Osborne speak to that, if we may. After all, she's certainly spent her life trying the counselors of the World.

"I've lost count of the number of them that have been in this house,' she says cheerily. 'I've had therapists. Ozzy's had therapists. The kids have had therapists. They've all trooped in and out. I like to think that I've taken something from all of them, but, at the end of the day, how do you know?

'What I do know is that none of them has given me any sense of serenity, and that's what I crave. I like the idea of that acceptance and calm that religion brings.' "

Of course Mrs. Osbourne has that part wrong. It isn't religion, it is Jesus Christ. 

Former Fundys Team Blog

There's a new blog on the block. Former Fundy's Team Blog. Go there by clicking here.

Go easy on them. They are young people who have not really found anything they are willing to suggest in place of their former beliefs. But I thought some of my readers might find it interesting to take a peek at the mindset of some of the younger set who have left Biblical Fundamentalism.

Chilling free speech case underway in Knoxville, TN: Judge vs Knoxville News Sentinel

Judge questions media intent on Web commentary

Lawyers in fatal carjacking want tougher regulation

By Jamie Satterfield (Contact)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
A Knox County judge on Friday questioned whether news organizations opposing proposed limits on anonymous commentary on their Web sites were more worried about cold hard cash than chilled free speech.

"It's a commercial site," Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner said during a round of legal sparring with News Sentinel attorney Richard Hollow. "It's a site run for commercial purposes. … This is not the Internet. This is a site created by you in which you invite comments. This is something you control."

Defense attorneys representing four suspects in the January 2007 fatal carjacking of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, asked the judge to either bar media Web sites from allowing online readers to post comments on stories about the case or require news organizations to police the commentary by requiring posters to provide verifiable identifying information.
A Knox County judge on Friday questioned whether news organizations opposing proposed limits on anonymous commentary on their Web sites were more worried about cold hard cash than chilled free speech.

"It's a commercial site," Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner said during a round of legal sparring with News Sentinel attorney Richard Hollow. "It's a site run for commercial purposes. … This is not the Internet. This is a site created by you in which you invite comments. This is something you control."

Defense attorneys representing four suspects in the January 2007 fatal carjacking of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, asked the judge to either bar media Web sites from allowing online readers to post comments on stories about the case or require news organizations to police the commentary by requiring posters to provide verifiable identifying information.
(snip-article at link)

James Dobson resigns as Focus on the Family chair

Feb 27 12:35 PM US/Eastern
By ERIC GORSKI
AP Religion Writer
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96K28PG2&show_article=1

DENVER (AP) - The Associated Press has learned that James Dobson has resigned as chairman of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family.
Jim Daly, president and chief executive officer of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry, said Friday that Dobson will continue to host the organization's flagship radio program and speak out on moral issues.

The departure of the 72-year-old Dobson as board chairman is part of a succession plan. He founded the group in 1977.

Dobson began relinquishing control of the group six years ago by stepping down as president and CEO.

Writer Says "Feminism turned me into a failure"

As a successful playwright this woman should have the world at her feet. So why, at 36, does she feel bitterly unfulfilled?

By ZOE LEWIS
Last updated at 2:07 AM on 10th February 2009

Though I never thought I would be saying this, being a free woman isn't all it's cracked up to be. Is that the rustle of taffeta I hear as the suffragettes turn in their grave? Very possibly.

My mother - a film-maker - was a hippy who kept a pile of dusty books by Germaine Greer and Erica Jong by her bedside. (Like every good feminist, she didn't see why she should do all the cleaning.) She imbued me with the great values of choice, equality and sexual liberation.

As a result, I fought with my older brother and won, and at university I beat the rugby lads at drinking games. I was not to be messed with.

But, at nearly 37, those same values leave me feeling cold. Now, I want love and children, but they are nowhere to be seen.

When I was growing up, I was led to believe by my mother and other women of her generation that women could 'have it all', and, more to the point, that we wanted it all. To that end, I have spent 20 years ruthlessly pursuing my dream of being a successful playwright. I have sacrificed all my womanly duties and laid it all at the altar of a career. And was it worth it? The answer has to be a resounding no.

(Snip-article here)

Call for pope to step down over Holocaust denier

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jgFF3BlptqEHC3CmOBvNZ86jLpkw

ROME (AFP) — Attacks on Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust denier escalated Monday, with one theologian calling on him to step down as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Criticism following the pope's January 24 announcement has been particularly cutting in Germany, where denying the Holocaust is a crime punishable with a jail sentence.

"If the pope wants to do some good for the Church, he should leave his job," eminent liberal Catholic theologian Hermann Haering told the German daily Tageszeitung.

"That would not be a scandal, a bishop has to relinquish his position at 75 years, a cardinal loses his rights at 80 years," he said. Pope Benedict is 81. (Snip-see above link for article)

Karen Godin's instructions to Pastors

Note from the editor: Karen Godin (screen name JeriFletcher)  directs a singing group made up of her  children and terms that "a ministry." Karen is also a member of White Washed Feminist, a support group for people who are "coming out of patrio-centric Christianity."

"Our desire is that our ministry will challenge fathers to turn their hearts to their children, and the children's hearts to their fathers.(Mal.4:6) But lately we have been seeing several parallels between the family in the home and the family of God. Many things we see in the home regarding relationships may be useful in the church family, as well as in our personal relationship with God the Father.

It seemed natural to me, when wondering what is causing believers to doubt their salvation, to examine what sort of diet, care and teaching they had received in the church over the last few decades. (I guess I get this from my interest in nutrition, and from my favorite doctor- Doug Kauffman, of "Know the Cause" television fame.)

First, I asked myself, What do preachers know about babies nowadays? I mean, we have a generation of mothers that don't know what the basic needs of a baby are, so, I am sure that there are men in pulpits that have never cared for, nor trained up a child. Yet, as a minister to God's people, he should know something about the proper care and feeding of infants.

1. Babes need swaddling. As this is comforting to a new babe, so will comforting be beneficial to a new child of God.
2. Babes need to bond with their mama. Newbies need to learn Christ. Feed them the gospel of John. They need to learn the kind voice of their Shepherd.
3. Babes need milk- and they need milk for a while! This means, there's no hurry to wean them. The milk has everything a baby needs to develop a healthy immune system. In this case, a strong defense against the doubts of the devil is the best foundation you can lay in a new babes life.
4. Do not try to hurry the babe's progress. The baby is a blessing. The baby should be appreciated for what he is, not valued for his monetary contributions, or, his ability to serve you and alleviate some of your burden of responsibility.
Rather than saddle new believers with responsibilities, hoping this is the key to growth, let the child grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. Let him be a glory to God in every state of his growth. Every age of every child should be a unique blessing to the family of God. There should be no pressure to become instantly mature!

Have you ever wept when you learned that you have inadvertantly made a bad choice and compromised your child's health?
If so, then you will understand the reason for this message."

From Karen's blog instructing pastors.

A young pregnant wife is murdered by her husband, Karen Godin blames that on the Independent Baptist Church teachings

Before you have the Godin Family come and sing in your church and collect a "love offering" from your congregation, you might want to be aware of what she believes about Baptists churches. Click the below print screen to read.



"The Bible does not tell Christians to ignore. Quite the opposite! The Bible warns us "Beware! Watch! and, I Warn of Wolves"
It says Beware of men, Be Wise as serpents, and Be a testimony. (Matt 10:16-20
That's answering with wisdom-speaking- not ignoring."

Karen Godin's thoughts regarding Biblical headship

07-10-2008, 09:53 AM

"what does that mean? They adore their wives? I keep hearing that.


I mean, doesn't that really mean, that as long as things go his way, he adores you? If you really analyze this, you will only be adored as long as you are biblical. And the folks like this that I know, interpret the Bible to mean that whatever you learn must come from your husband. And these ladies agree with that. So they're...adorable.:)


For instance. Family visits a church. Becomes aware of this undercurrent in the teaching. The aren't comfortable with it, so they leave. Will would say, "its not essential to the gospel...why not just put up with it? Who says we are allowed to pick and choose where we will worship? We are to serve where God puts us!"


Fine. If you do choose to stay, you will be taught that if you don't comply with all their beliefs (which they think are biblical) then you are in rebellion. Which is the sin of witchcraft. Which means that your wife is a witch and you are weak.


So, the adored wives are those who line up. If you do not line up, you cannot expect to be adored.


I would rather be respected, as a sister in Christ with the same Holy Ghost anointing, than be "adored".