Conservative Babylon

Charged: Daniel Montague “Danny” Acker, Jr., 49, former youth pastor, Westwood Baptist Church, Alabaster, Alabama; former elementary- and middle-school teacher once named Teacher of the Year; and namesake son of Republican Shelby County commissioner Dan M. Acker; with sexually molesting at least 21 girls throughout his 25-year teaching career. After one 12- or 13-year-old girl accused Acker of molesting her two or three years ago, Acker reportedly admitted to molesting another 20 victims (most or all former students) before ceasing to cooperate with investigators. (more…)

Guilty: James Boudreau, 68, retired priest, former pastor or associate pastor at numerous Catholic churches in Ontario (including St. John the Baptist, Guelph; St. James, Oakville; Our Lady of the Assumption, Stoney Creek; St. Gabriel, Burlington; St. John’s, Kitchener; and Canadian Martyrs, Hamilton) of two charges of sexual assault committed against two boys during the 1980s. Sentencing is scheduled for April 13, 2012. Story: TheSpec, January 26, 2012 (more…)

Arrested: Mark Stewart Bullock, 47, Roman Catholic priest, and removed from his post at Church of the Immaculate Conception, Towson, Maryland, after being charged with indecent exposure when he was reportedly discovered completely naked from the waist down in a movie theatre inside an adult bookstore. A hearing is slated for March 6th. Story: Baltimore Sun, January 22, 2012; CBS Baltimore, January 23, 2012

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Died: Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, 88, retired Roman Catholic cardinal who ruled the Philadelphia archdiocese, on January 31, 2012. His death brings to a close the question of whether or not he was competent (the church claimed dementia fogged Bevilacqua’s memory) to testify in an upcoming trial regarding his handling — or rather mishandling and strongly-suspected cover-ups — of three suspected child-abusing priests and a lay teacher once under his command (although Bevilacqua was long suspected of covering up many other sex-abuse cases within the dicoese). Of course, Bevilacqua preferred to blame the long “tradition” of child sex-abuse within the Catholic church — and the long tradition of transferring pervert pedophile priests from one dicoese to another instead of dealing with the abuse head-on — on (you guessed it) homosexuality. Imagine that. (more…)

Claims to fame: Lawyer; former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel & JAG (Judge Advocate General Corps) lawyer, 800th MP Brigade, who was taken to task for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison-torture scandal; Bronze Medal recipient; deputy director, Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), New York; ex-ROTC; Eagle Scout; former Cub Scoutmaster; Catholic; father of three; alleged lesbian impersonator (more…)

This story embodies everything ConBab is about — it contains every element we keep in our mental checklist when asking ourselves: “Is this story right for ConBab?”

The only thing missing is a gay-sex angle (although that certainly isn’t a requirement). On the other hand, the lengths to which this Conservative Babylonian and the Catholic church go to scream from the rooftops that his victim was a woman (and an adult) is just as appalling as what Thomas Euteneuer actually did. As PZ Myers wisely observes: “It’s like they’re saying, ‘At least it wasn’t gay sex, and it didn’t involve a child.’”

Which makes us wonder: How many “adult female” victims coming forward would it take to equal, in the eyes of the Catholic church, the rape of a child? (Never mind the rape of another man; radical righties would say the victim deserved it.)

‘Cause guess what? The exorcism victim isn’t, apparently, the only victim. (more…)

Conviction upheld: Randy Strong, 56, former youth pastor, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Fenton, Michigan; director, Genesee Catholic Consortium Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing; director, Newman Center, meeting place for young Catholics; member, Knights of Columbus Council #8500; member, Ancient Order of the Hibernians; former employee, FEMA and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Convicted in August, 2009, of one count of repeatedly sexually molesting a 10-year-old boy, in whose family home he was living, Strong was sentenced to one year in jail and five years’ probation. He was denied a new trial February 10, 2011. Story: Conservative Babylon, August 17, 2009; Conservative Babylon, October 21, 2009; WHMI, February 11, 2011; People of the State of Michigan v. Randy William Strong, February 10, 2011

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never catch up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Sentenced: James Cox, 70, former church deacon & executive director, Honey Creek Episcopal Retreat Center, Waverly, Georgia, to five years’ probation, a $1,000 fine and banishment from Camden County and four surrounding counties, after pleading guilty to second-degree cruelty to children. Cox was originally charged with sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography in 2007, “after church officials reported finding photographs of nude girls on his computer.” Story: WKMG, March 23, 2007; Augusta Chronicle, February 8, 2011 (more…)

There’s something about the name “Apostles of Infinite Love”… Oh, never mind — just read the story:

The Brooklyn nun who claimed she had been raped by a rather large black man is now admitting she made the entire thing up to hide a consensual sexual relationship she was having with a shop worker inside the convent. (more…)

Claims to fame: Republican Florida state rep from Miami; chair, Governmental Operations Committee; vice chair, Education Appropriations Committee; vice chair, Insurance Committee; chair, Republican National Hispanic Assembly; former committeeman, Republican Party of Florida; former executive director, Republican Party of Miami-Dade County; Catholic; dude with a curious string of bad luck (which, of course, is not his fault!) involving mistaken identities, mail trucks, and money (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Arrested: Francis M. Buckner, Jr., 38, employee, Vernon Parish School Board, and children’s worship volunteer, East Leesville Baptist Church, Leesville, Louisiana, for possession of child pornography. Story: Louisiana State Police, January 19, 2011; Leesville Daily Leader, January 20, 2011 (more…)

Because there’s no way we can track every sex crime and scandal in the Roman Catholic church — so we’ll just give you the headlines. Of the following, however, the more interesting cases may end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Archdiocese of Milwaukee
• The Back Story of a Sex Scandal, WLS, January 4, 2011
• Pursued by St. Paul attorney, Milwaukee Archdiocese files for bankruptcy protection, KARE11, January 5, 2011
• Archdiocese gets until Feb. 7 to file financial data, Journal Sentinel, January 5, 2011
• Milwaukee Catholic Archdioces Gets Bankruptcy Filing Extension, WTAQ, January 6, 2011
• Grass Roots: How far does cost of Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy reach?, Capital Times, January 6, 2011 (more…)

We’re still catching up with the Conservative Babylon Class of 2010 — some we covered previously, some Babylonians we missed entirely, but all of whom deserve recognition (read: exposure) as holier-than-thou right-wingers who can’t seem to live up to the impossible “family values” standards they demand of everyone else. (No, we don’t know how many parts there will be to our catch-up.) In no particular order…

Too Bad the Legal System Doesn’t Move as Fast as Church Tribunals: Charged with 20 counts of felony theft for embezzling nearly $400,000, Donald Armstrong, 61, former Episcopal priest & rector, Grace and St. Stephen’s Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, pleaded no contest in September. He’d already been defrocked in 2007. (more…)

Backstory: “Michael McDonnell Stole from the Church Because He Was Abused by a Priest And, Anyway, He Needed the Money for His Girlfriend’s Breast Implants,” January 5, 2011

This story just writes itself — on headlines alone:

“Bucks County church thief with big-breasted girlfriend gets up to two years in prison,” Trentonian, January 6, 2011

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Arrested: “Choi” (or “Choe”), 60, and “Cho”, 52, vice (or associate) pastors, Somang Presbyterian Church, Seoul, South Korea, for assaulting 63-year-old head pastor Kim Jie-chul in a brawl that left Kim hospitalized with a broken cheekbone and other injuries. Another minister had to break open a door to stop the fight. The vice pastors “’seemed to have a grudge against the head pastor after they had been excluded from some pasturing [sic] work,’ a police officer said. … It is reported that the churchgoers have been in discord since Kim became the chief pastor of the church after the church’s founder Kwak Sun-hee stepped down in 2003. Two more brawls between worshippers and pastors have previously been reported.” Choi has since resigned — or been fired, depending on who’s telling the story. Story: Korea Times, January 4, 2011; Korea Joongang Daily, January 5, 2011 (more…)

There are some sentences you just don’t hear every day, and this is one of them, from The Trentonian (”Bucks County man who stole $100K from archdiocese for breast implants to be sentenced”), January 5, 2011:

Sentencing is set for tomorrow for the Bucks County social worker who said he stole $100,000 from the Catholic church because he was abused by a priest as a boy and needed the money to buy implants for his girlfriend’s breasts.

How those two excuses possibly go together in the same sentence is beyond us. Maybe giving his girlfriend bigger boobies was supposed to cheer him up and help him get past the abuse trauma…?

McDonnell, by the way “worked for the Philadephia Archdiocese for years as the coordinator of the Bucks County Council on Alcoholism.”

Here we catch up with the Conservative Babylon Class of 2010 — some we covered previously, some Babylonians we missed entirely, but all of whom deserve recognition (read: exposure) as holier-than-thou right-wingers who can’t seem to live up to the impossible “family values” standards they demand of everyone else. (No, we don’t know how many parts there will be to our year-end catch-up.) In no particular order…

Yeah, Yeah, They’re Always “Shocked”: We don’t know what happened with Stephen Brown, a married “volunteer youth spiritual leader,” “security provider,” and what’s known among the IBF crowd as a “bus minister” at Grace Independent Baptist Church, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, since — but we do know he was arrested for downloading child pornography in February. Well, that, and that Brown’s pastor was shocked — shocked, he tells you! — by the whole ugly business. And ugly it must have been, considering they held Brown on a steep $1 million bond. (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Captured and arraigned: Samuel Adegbohungbe, 32 (described by the Nigerian Observer as “middle-aged”), pastor, Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria, and his girlfriend, Modupe Afolayan, charged with faking Adegbohungbe’s own kidnapping in order to collect a ransom of N200,000 (US$1,300) from church members. Story: Naijan.com, December 24, 2010 (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Sentenced: Farrukh Ahmed, 48, former administrator, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills (a $2,000 donor to California’s anti-gay Proposition 8), Chino, California, to 270 days in jail, three years’ probation and restitution of $25,000, as part of a plea bargain. Ahmed pleaded no contest to one count of felony grand theft related to upwards of $750,000 missing from church funds; his lawyer still insists he is innocent, and suggests that Ahmed was made a scapegoat because of his Pakistani-Muslim background. (Numerous right-wing sites, such as ManhattanDeclaration.org, were quick to reprint stories about the “former Muslim” embezzling from the “Christian” church.) Story: Chino Valley Now, January 5, 2010; Inland Empire Courts, November 19, 2010; Inland Empire Courts, December 20, 2010 (more…)

Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sins of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.

Awaiting sentencing: Wilfred Edwin Dennis, 75, former Anglican priest “who left the mainstream Anglican Church to join a breakaway group, called the ‘Anglican Catholic Church,’” Adelaide, South Australia, slated for February, 2011, for “his third set of child sex offences.” First convicted in 1970 of sexually assaulting two altar boys, he was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months’ supervised parole, and then was reinstated by the church. “Between 1975 and 1976 Dennis abused another altar boy and between 1977 and 1978, abused another two altar boys. Dennis, now 75, is still serving a 20-month sentence” for the assault on his first victim, a 15-year-old boy, whom he sodomized in the “robing room” of his church, “but has not been sentenced for the 1977-78 offences after being found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and four of unlawful sexual intercourse.” “It’s astonishing that he went back to the ministry having gone to jail for abusing an altar boy,” said South Australian District Court Judge Sydney Tilmouth. While he was on trial in 2009, it was reported that Dennis had told John Hepworth, former Archbishop of the Anglican Catholic Church of Australia, that he had “molested more than 40 boys after one tried to blackmail him,” after which Hepworth “contacted police and helped to organise Dennis a lawyer.” Story: Adelaide Now, August 18, 2009; Sydney Morning Herald, February 25, 2010; ABC News, April 8, 2010; ABC News, December 15, 2010; Adelaide Now, December 18, 2010; Broken Rites, undated (more…)