The Next Catholic Scandal

We now know that the sex abuse crimes involving Catholic clergy first reported in large numbers in the United States may have been committed in equally high numbers in Europe. Amazingly, in these two relatively sophisticated places, parents, nuns, teachers and both religious and civil authorities -- Catholic and non-Catholic -- were willing to be blind to the often obvious occasion of sin. And they ignored the Catholic laity in the pews, preferring instead to make deals with Rome, or at least to respect its jurisdiction.

More disturbing, though, is that Catholic leaders continue to trivialize the growing scandal of sexual abuse in Africa and Asia. What started as a hurricane of sex scandals in the First World may well become a tsunami of charges from the Third World.

The rumblings from India and (especially) Africa, where the Catholic Church is seeing its greatest growth, are growing louder. The news from these places exacerbates our shock and concern: The sexual abuse of children by clergy is now coupled with widespread reports of rapes of nuns -- young women recruited from India's and Africa's poorest families.


More at http://www.salon.com/news/catholicism/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/04/23/next_catholic_priest_abuse_scandal

Poster's comment: I wonder if church conservatives will blame this on homosexuality too?

who are really responsible.

As we all know the Catholic Church is the source of all evil in the world. It’s funny to bash Catholics. They do funny things their religious leaders wear funny clothes.

January 10, 2007 Colorado - A youth minister who had worked at First Christian Church since 2000 and was arrested on allegations he sexually assaulted two girls, was found dead in his home Tuesday, authorities said.

John Graler, 53, was arrested Monday for investigation of felony charges of sexual assault, sexual assault on a child and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, Moffat County sheriff's investigator Sgt. K.C. Hume said.

May 22, 2007 New York- Rabbi Alan Horowitz was caught. He was in violation of his parole since June, 2006. He was captured in India and will be extradited back to the US. Rabbi Horowitz is a level three sex offender.

Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, is a convicted sex offender, an ordained Orthodox rabbi and an adolescent psychiatrist. He is married with one child and seven step-children.

Allegations of child abuse have followed Horowitz for decades. In Maryland, he was convicted in 1983 of performing an unnatural sexual act on the 12-year-old boy who was his patient. Allegedly, Horwitz has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel to New York in the past twenty years. Alan J. Horowitz is a rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D., a graduate of Duke University, and a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) publications.

In 1990 and 1991, Horowitz was charged with sexually abusing two boys under the age of 11, a boy less than 14 years old and a girl under the age of 17. On July 27, 1992, Horowitz pled guilty to sodomizing a nine-year-old psychiatric patient as part of a plea agreement. The charge was but one of the 41 pending sex-related charges involving multiple children that had been pending against him. Horowitz was sentenced to ten to twenty years in prison.

Rabbi Horowitz was released on conditional parole November 1, 2004 from Oneida Prison, NY.

June 7, 2007 Lynn Haven Florida - A 25-year-old middle school coach and youth minister has been arrested by Lynn Haven Police on sexual battery charges involving a 14-year-old girl. James Simmons of 408 East 5th Street in Lynn Haven was jailed on a charge of sexual battery on a person over the age of 12.

Police Chief David Messer says the incident occurred four days ago at Simmons’ home. He's employed at Merritt Brown Middle School as a softball and wrestling coach. He is also a youth minister at North Bay Baptist Church on Virginia Ave. in Lynn Haven.

June 7, 2007 Pompano Beach, Florida, Broward deputies say Thiago Fernandes, 24, confessed to sexually assaulting three young boys after an 11-year-old boy informed his parents that Fernandes grabbed his buttocks and threatened to rape him Sunday during evening worship services at the First Christian Church.

June 30, 2007 California - A former Camarillo church youth minister has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation and sexual assault of three teenage girls and possession of child pornography on his home computer, authorities said Friday.

Mark Holland McDowell, 46, was arrested at his Camarillo home Thursday in connection with the molestation and sexual assault of the girls when they were 13 and 14 between 1991 and 1999, authorities said.

October 7, 2007 North Carolina — The American Hebrew Academy's former director of campus life is facing charges that he had sex with a student, police said. Rabbi David Alan Stein, 35, is expected to turn himself in today, Greensboro police Sgt. A.T. McHenry said. Stein left the school in the spring, shortly after police began their investigation, police Capt. Gary Hastings said.

Since then, Stein has been in San Clemente, Calif., living with his parents and working at an insurance company, McHenry said. Stein is charged with eight counts of having sex with a student, McHenry said.

September 27, 2007 Florida- A youth minister at a Christian church in Largo has been arrested on charges that she performed sex acts on a 16-year-old boy in her youth group, authorities said Wednesday. Noel Marie Wood, 28, who also served as a missions director at the Real Life Christian Church of Pinellas, faces two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

November 5, 2007 - Marshal Seymour, a 40-year-old, married volunteer youth minister at the First Baptist Church at the Mall, turned himself in at the Polk County Jail late Friday night after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of sexually abusing several teenage boys he met through the church.

April 3, 2008 Arkansas- Jonathan Giles, 24, has been arrested on charges of statutory rape, solicitation of a minor and sexual battery by an authority figure.

He resigned from Spring Creek Baptist Church, where he was one of three pastors, the day the investigation began. His primary role at the church was interacting with more than 70 teens and preteens.

Apr 12, 2008 – A deaf youth minister in Louisiana has been arrested and taken into custody for indecent behavior with a student.

April 16, 2008 Illinois - Youth minister arrested on sex charges After investigation, Batavia church leaders asked for man's resignation

May 12, 2008 Delaware -- Newark Police arrested 53-year-old, Rabbi Jack Sparks at his home in Newark this morning on one charge of child endangerment.

Rabbi Sparks is the head of the Albert Einstein Academy, a private school located north of Wilmington at 101 Garden of Eden Road, in Talleyville. According to police, the charge stems from Sparks befriending a 15-year-old male and ultimately taking the teen to a store where he encouraged him to pick out a pornographic magazine. Police say Sparks told the teen he would buy the magazine for him so he could "have a good time."

May 21,2008 Florida - Detectives of the Sarasota Police Department have arrested a youth minister of a local church for Lewd and Lascivious act on a teen boy. 24-year-old Jesse Knowlin is the youth minister at Bethlehem Baptist Church on 18th Street in Sarasota.

July 19, 2008 Georgia - A youth minister and magician who claims he has performed at a long list of metro Atlanta schools was arrested Thursday and charged with child molestation. Jeffrey Alan Wasley, 37, is accused of molesting a 7-year-old boy Monday in the men’s restroom of the Target store at 740 Ernest Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw.

August 18, 2008 California- 25 year old Andrew Belant, a teacher’s aide at Jacoby Creek Elementary School as well as a Youth Minister at Eureka First Presbyterian Church in Humboldt County, California is facing 20 counts of child molestation, alleging he molested 4 boys, ranging in age between 9 and 13 years old. Belant has plead not guilty to the 20 charges. It is alleged that Belant molested the boys mostly at his home.

August 19, 2008 - First Baptist Church of Mabank youth minister Joshua Neal Ponder, 32, was arrested Aug. 13, for sexual assault of a teenager. Mabank Police Chief Kyle McAfee said Ponder confessed to charges related to a 16-year-old male victim.

October 2, 2008 New York - An upstate rabbi barricaded himself inside his home early yesterday after FBI agents came to arrest him for allegedly sexually abusing his daughter. The feds had to break down two doors to collar Israel Weingarten, 58, who was hiding in his bedroom. Weingarten molested his daughter in 1990 when she was 9 years old, and continued until she was 18.

October 9, 2008 Florida – Rabbi Baruch Lanner was released from prison back in January of this year. He is currently residing in Boca Raton, FL. Please warn your children to stay away from this man. Allegations surrounded Rabbi Baruch Lanner for years. The allegations include kissing and fondling scores of teenage girls in the 1970s and '80s, repeatedly kicking boys in the groin, and reports of taking a knife to a young man in 1987, and propositioning girls in 1997 at the yeshiva high school where he was principal for 15 years. He was convicted back in 2002.

Rabbi Raphael Butler, who was the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union who supervised Baruch Lanner for 19 years, was accused by many of covering up for Lanner. When questioned about the allegations Butler responded to the New York Jewish Week as saying: "he has never heard any specific allegations against Rabbi Lanner, though he has heard the rumors for many years. "It's like chasing shadows," he said with frustration.". . . "our method of dealing with the rumors has been to have a bet din, as an independent entity, evaluate the charges, and we abide by all its decisions."

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, founding director of NCSY, was also aware of the allegations and did nothing. Rabbi Stolper acknowledges there were several complaints from young women many years ago about improper behavior by Rabbi Lanner. Rabbi Stolper says he sought to deal with the allegations but found no real substance to the charges. Stopler also said he heard reports of Rabbi Lanner's improper behavior with girls or, in at least one case, kicking a boy in the groin, Rabbi Lanner has remained in a leadership role and in regular contact with young people through NCSY. "He has had such a magnificent impact" on so many young people, Rabbi Stolper says in defense of Rabbi Lanner, "despite some obvious sickness that is not sexual but has to do with needing to be in control."



November 2008 -NEW YORK (AP) - It started as a radio program discussion about a taboo subject: child molestation among members of the insular world of
Orthodox Jews.

Since he broached the subject on his radio show this summer, says a
state assemblyman, dozens of people have come forward with stories
about children being molested in the Orthodox community, which
strictly follows Jewish law.

Dov Hikind says as many as four people a day have come to him over the
past three months with painful accounts of secrets often kept for
decades, accusing more than 60 individuals.

Hikind says he would eventually consider unmasking accused sexual
predators but wants to focus now on setting up a broader framework for
addressing the issue.

His campaign has set off a firestorm in the Orthodox community, where
people are reluctant to involve secular authorities. One rabbi said he
got death threats for speaking out.

"In our community, people don't talk about the things that they've
come to my office" and revealed, said Hikind, himself an Orthodox Jew.

Among other faiths, the subject has meant turmoil in recent years for
the Roman Catholic church. For decades, church leaders often
transferred predatory clergy among parishes without telling parents or
police. Victims have won millions in settlements from dioceses.

Hikind said he won't breach victims' trust by disclosing his private exchanges to prosecutors - or to a lawyer who subpoenaed him in a civil case against a school accused of concealing abuse.

However, he has been working on devising mechanisms within the Orthodox world for reporting sex abuse and sharing information on school staffers' previous positions. He aims to present a plan to rabbis this winter.

Studies have found Orthodox Jews account for as much as 10 percent of Jews nationwide, and a far greater share in parts of the New York metro area.Some 37 percent of the more than 516,000 Jews in Brooklyn are Orthodox, according to the UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish social-service group.

Critics have said sex abuse claims are sometimes handled quietly in Orthodox rabbinical courts, rather than being reported to authorities.

However, some sexual abuse cases involving Orthodox Jewish schools have spilled into the secular legal system in Brooklyn.

In one case, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko was charged with sexually abusing boys at an Orthodox school. He admitted no sexual wrongdoing but pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge. Kolko was sentenced to three years of probation and has been dismissed from the school, said his lawyer, Jeffrey Schwartz. The school's lawyer didn't
immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Six former students are suing the school, saying it covered up Kolko's misdeeds. Their lawyer subpoenaed Hikind this month, seeking to find out whether he learned anything relevant to the case during his impromptu fact-finding.


December 16, 2008 South Carolina - A Midlands man went to jail on charges he tried to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. When Greg Ethridge was arrested in Greenville, police there say he told them he was a youth minister at a church in Irmo, but the church is saying otherwise. The First Baptist Church of Irmo acknowledges Ethridge is a member. But, according to Detective Floyd, Ethridge represented himself as an employee of the church who worked with youth.

"At this time we do not have all the information regarding the circumstances of this story. For the sake all parties, we will not have any information to share at this time, while we continue to care for and minister to the families involved. We can state that the individual in question is not an employee of First Baptist Irmo."

January 29,2009 Oklahoma - An Owasso church youth minister has been arrested after being charged with sexual battery. Twenty-three-year-old Sean David Whisenhunt was arrested Thursday by Owasso police. He's accused of abusing a male teenager by inappropriately touching him.

March 27, 2009 Franklin Township New Jersey, Kevin Carlino -- who had been the paid youth minister for the Malaga Assembly of God -- was arrested at his residence Friday by agents for the FBI for knowingly downloading child porn.

April 7, 2009 Tennessee - Matthew M. Jernigan, 23, faces two counts of child rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of aggravated sexual battery by an authority figure following an investigation by Rutherford County Sheriff’s Detective Jim Tramel.

According to warrants taken out by the detective, Jernigan performed oral sex and other lewd acts on at least two boys who were less than 13 years old. He met the boys while performing his duties as a youth ministry volunteer at Heartland Baptist Church, located on East Jefferson Pike.

April 22,2009 Indiana - A youth minister was arrested Tuesday on several child sex-related charges involving three teen girls. Franklin police said Jonathan James Hartman, 29, of Indianapolis, a co-youth minister at the Salvation Army Church in Greenwood, repeatedly had sex with three girls over a period of three years beginning when they were 13. Last week, one of the girls, now 15, told police that she was pregnant with Hartman’s child.

June 19,2009 South Carolina - A former youth minister at a West Columbia church as been arrested and charged in a sex crimes case involving three victims.

William Ralph Wilson III, 30, of Irvin Jumper Road, Gaston, is the former youth minister at Chapel of Redemption Church, 5181 Platt Springs Road. He was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of committing a lewd act on a minor under the age of 16, the Lexington County Sheriff's Department said.


June 9, 2009 Tennessee - A youth minister and former substitute teacher in Springfield, Robertson County faces allegations he sexually abused a 16-year-old female student. Lt. Jimmy Grogan with the Springfield Police Department confirms 43-year-old Timothy Felts was arrested and charged with five counts of sex abuse by an authority figure. Felts is a youth minister and North Springfield Baptist Church and was formerly employed with the Robertson County School System as a substitute teacher at Springfield High School.

June 21,2009 Tennessee - A youth minister in Clarksville has been arrested and is accused of taking advantage of three teenage girls. Jonathan Giles, 24, has been arrested on charges of statutory rape, solicitation of a minor and sexual battery by an authority figure.

He resigned from Spring Creek Baptist Church, where he was one of three pastors, the day the investigation began. His primary role at the church was interacting with more than 70 teens and preteens.

July 2, 2009 Tennessee - A youth volunteer at a church in Tennessee has been arrested for raping a child younger than 13. A search of Hollifield's residence has allegedly uncovered more than 3,000 images on a computer including at least 100 images involving an underage male engaged in sexual activities,

Police say, 45-year-old Randall Thomas Hollifield, of Powell, is accused of performing oral sex on the boy and then forcing him to perform oral sex on him as well.

July 2, 2009 Kentucky- A grand jury indicted 47-year old Gordon Lunceford on 13 sex related charges, including six counts of 3rd degree rape, one county of first degree sexual abuse, five counts of third degree sodomy and one county of second degree sexual abuse.

Kentucky State Police began investigating Lunceford last year after two victims came forward to say they were victimized in the early 1990s. Lunceford was a youth minister at a church in Anderson County at the time. A church employee at First Baptist Church in Lawrenceburg says Lunceford was employed by that church until December of 1992 but would not comment on the allegations of abuse.

Detectives say Lunceford has also been a youth minister at churches in Madison and Franklin counties. They have not been contacted by anybody as to possible misconduct during Lunceford's time at those other churches,

August 25, 2009 Kentucky - A Tri-State youth minister has been arrested on sexual abuse charges. Police say Jacob Conder, 22, is accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl. Police say the suspected sexual abuse took place at Wing Avenue Baptist Church on August 7, 2009. Condor is listed on the church's website as the current youth director.

August 25, 2009 Virginia - A Southern Baptist youth pastor arrested Aug. 13 on sex charges involving a teenage girl now faces more than 30 additional charges involving a second teenager. Police originally charged Jack Duffer, 40, youth minister at Seaford Baptist Church near Hampton, Va., with one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. After his arrest, police say, a second victim came forward. On Friday, Aug. 21, police charged Duffer with 17 additional counts each of both charges. They stem from incidents authorities say occurred on several dates at two separate York County locations in 2008.

September 16, 2009 – Arizona Youth pastor Joshua O’Bannion of Gilbert, AZ, was arrested September 9 for alleged sexual contact with a 14-year old in the youth group at Christ Life Church. According to the linked article, Bannion subsequently admitted to three incidents of sexual contact with the girl.

October 7, 2009 Maryland - A youth minister and Sunday school teacher is under arrest for sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl. Now Baltimore County Police wonder if there are more victims.



October 21,2009- Colorado A former Longmont youth pastor convicted last year of sexually exploiting a teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of violating the conditions of his probation, according to the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office.

November 12, 2009 Indiana - A youth minister who touts him as an "at-risk youth specialist" and "certified gang consultant" was arrested on felony sex charges earlier this week after two women accused him of offering jobs in exchange for sex.

November 22, 2009 Florida - A South Florida youth minister is behind bars, accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl from his church.

Russell Lewis, 28, is a minister of music at the Church by the Glades, located at 400 Lakeview Drive in Coral Springs.



December 10,2009 Ohio -Christopher Evans The Clermont County youth minister is charged with sexual battery for an incident involving a 15 year old girl.

January 20,2010 Kentucky - - A former youth pastor is facing some disturbing charges in Clarksville. 47-year-old Ronald Williams was arrested after police got an anonymous tip. He is accused of threatening two teen girls in order to get them to perform sex acts for him over the internet.

February 2, 2010 Colorado - Douglas County resident William "Bill" McLaughlin, 45, was arrested on Dec. 17, 2009 by the Douglas County Sheriff’s office on multiple felony counts, including sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.

In December 2009, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office began investigating McLaughlin, a former volunteer youth minister at the Denver Church of Christ. The sheriff’s office received information that McLaughlin had a sexual relationship with a child who was involved in the church.

February 25, 2010 Michigan - A Port Huron man who police said volunteered to chaperone several youth ministries for several at area churches has been arrested.

Nicholas Arthur Carnes, 37, was taken into custody on Feb. 16 after an ongoing a child pornography investigation led police to his home. Police did not specify which churches or what position Carnes may have held with the youth ministries. Local 4 has learned that he worked at two churches from 2000 to 2006.

March 23, 2010 New York – A rabbi was arrested outside his synagogue in Gilbert, Arizona, over his alleged involvement in a child rape that occurred ten years ago in New York, according to information released Tuesday by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Bryan Bramley, 45, was arrested in the parking lot of the Temple Beth Sholom Synagogue in Gilbert by members of the U.S. Marshals' Child Predator Apprehension Team and New York detectives. Rabbi Bramley is accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in March 2000 in New York City.

March 24, 2010 Texas- Jasper Police arrested a local youth minister Friday and charged him with possession of marijuana and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Dwight L. Bullock was arrested Friday by Jasper police while conducting an investigation into multiple child molestation allegations. Bullock is a youth leader at Moore Chapel CME Church,

April 1, 2010 Texas A 25-year-old former youth ministry director has been charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl he met at church.

Matthew Jonas Overstreet, who worked at several North Texas churches, was arrested a month ago after a Plano girl told detectives she had been sexually assaulted in December. Police said the incident followed years of Overstreet sending the girl sexual messages.　

This is a three-year sample gathered in an about an hour, The three hundred cases of sex abuse by Catholic Priests extend over twenty years. I’m not trying to defend them I’m trying to make the point that the sensationalism about the Catholic Church is either based on bigotry or ignorance. It’s your hat, you put what ever name on it you like!

but it's all about the sensationalism, isn't it? Because sex coupled with Catholicism is what is selling right now. Really, any religion coupled with sex sells. The "shock value" of the M$M is disgusting.

More disturbing to me is the common denominator in your samplings; all of these perpetrators were in some position of trust to these youth. That, to me, gives these particular crimes a truly vile tone. And THAT'S what should be being investigated/reported. Not the actual denomination.

Except for the Orthodox Jewish incidents, the organizations behind the other sexual abusers didn't cover up the abuse, buy off the victims, and transfer the abusers to new assignments where they could continue to abuse young people. The Catholic Church's biggest problem isn't the abuse itself but the coverup. -- Wanet

was a secretary at a Baptisit Church. The son of one of the wealthiest members was the youth minister. He was in his thirties and unmarried because he never found the right girl. A lawyer came to the church with allegations of sex abuse and offered to settle quietly. The church agreed, then the next law suit came in and then another. The church put the Youth minister on paid leave.

Then the police showed up with a search warrant. They found box boxes of child porn in the youth ministers office and a poster sized picture of naked boys inside the door of his closet. The church was destroyed and argued that they tried to cover it up for the good of the church.

I'm not saying that it was right. I'm saying there is nothing new under the sun. People want to protect thier jobs. When the sex abuse scandal broke with the boy scouts they covered it up. When the sex scandal broke for the Mormons they covered it up. I'm only trying to say that the exclusive focus on the Catholic Church is about more than sex abuse.

so·phis·ti·cat·ed (s-fst-ktd)

adj.

1. Having acquired worldly knowledge or refinement; lacking natural simplicity or naiveté.
2. Very complex or complicated: the latest and most sophisticated technology.
3. Suitable for or appealing to the tastes of sophisticates: a sophisticated drama.



Main Entry: so·phis·ti·cat·ed
Pronunciation: \-tə-ˌkā-təd\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Medieval Latin sophisticatus
Date: 1601

1 : deprived of native or original simplicity: as a : highly complicated or developed : complex <sophisticated electronic devices> b : having a refined knowledge of the ways of the world cultivated especially through wide experience <a sophisticated lady>
2 : devoid of grossness: as a : finely experienced and aware <a sophisticated columnist> b : intellectually appealing <a sophisticated novel>

— so·phis·ti·cat·ed·ly adverb
synonyms sophisticated, worldly-wise, blasé mean experienced in the ways of the world. sophisticated often implies refinement, urbanity, cleverness, and cultivation <guests at her salon were usually rich and sophisticated>. worldly-wise suggests a close and practical knowledge of the affairs and manners of society and an inclination toward materialism <a worldly-wise woman with a philosophy of personal independence>. blasé implies a lack of responsiveness to common joys as a result of a real or affected surfeit of experience and cultivation <blasé travelers who claimed to have been everywhere>.

In fact, one could say that "religious" and "sophisticated" are antonyms.

The only "sophisticated" people in the God business are those that exploit their followers successfully--that is, they aren't burned at the stake outright, but manage to coax "donations" out of their flocks of "sheep".