Conservative Babylon

“When I read … that Catholic bishops were planning a day dedicated to ‘prayer and fasting’ spurred by the current controversy over birth control, I wondered why older, celibate, bureaucratic men are so preoccupied with the reproductive systems of women. I do not remember any such day set aside by the church in the wake of the thousands of cases of molested children at the hands of pedophile priests and the bishops who protected them.”

Trial set: David Keith Allen, 49, former pastor, New Life Church of Restoration (now Crossroads House of Prayer), near Gatesville, Texas, charged with the 2011 murder of his wife, who died in a fire in the couple’s mobile home, from which Allen escaped; for October 29, 2012. Allen is currently being held on a $1 million bond. Story: Conservative Babylon, February 3, 2012; Conservative Babylon, March 19, 2012; KWTX, April 21, 2012 (more…)

Conditional sentence: Monsignor Robert Borne, 63, “found guilty last November of assaulting a teenage boy while the two were on an overnight trip in Griffith, Ontario in 1979,” reports the Ottawa Citizen, which explains: “Under conditions of his sentencing, Msgr. Borne will be allowed to attend mass, make emergency medical visits and have three hours on Saturdays to buy weekly necessities during his five months of house arrest. Msgr. Borne is prohibited from contacting the victim’s family and is forbidden to associate with anyone under the age of 18 without an adult present. (more…)

Sentenced: Francis J. Drabiska, 61, Roman Catholic priest; former pastor, Word of God Parish, Swissvale, Pennsylvania; to seven years’ probation after pleading guilty to one count of theft plus restitution of some $143,000, the amount he was charged with stealing in cash offerings from his parish (although it is estimated as much as $180,000 was actually stolen). “Father Drabiska said he stole for more than a decade,” reported the Post-Gazette in 2011, “and ‘used the money to live a lifestyle beyond his means,’ but the statute of limitations meant investigators could charge (more…)

Released: Donald Grecco, 72, former Roman Catholic priest and pastor of numerous churches in Ontario’s St. Catharines Diocese since his ordination in the mid-1960s, who was sentenced in 2010 to 18 months plus two years’ probation after he “pleaded guilty to three counts of gross indecency in connection with some 24 incidents involving former altar boys from Cayuga and Welland in the mid 1970s and mid 1980s,” reported TheSpec.com at the time of Grecco’s sentencing. During Grecco’s trial, the Star noted: “The mother of the victim who wished to remain unidentified told court (more…)

“While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (UCCSB) continues to rail about ‘religious freedom,’ it cannot face the hypocrisy in its management of sexual abuse cases. Once a fetus reaches term and is born and baptized into the Catholic Church, that child has no guarantee that the Church will protect his or her body or sexuality. Sadly, it would not surprise me if the UCCSB attempted to extend the religious freedom argument to the manner in which they protected and covered up for priests accused of molestation. (more…)

Sentenced: Jared Lee Burkholder, 33, former young families minister and music/choir director, and son-in-law of pastor William Rench, Calvary Baptist Church, Temecula, California, “to three years’ probation and 180 days jail time to be served in the work release program” and “$20,000 in restitution to the church,” reports the Press-Enterprise, after apparently changing his previous not-guilty plea to guilty to charges of burglary, grand theft and embezzlement of some $20,000 from the church’s safe over the course of a year. Story: Conservative Babylon, February 15, 2012; (more…)

“…Santorum says giving Mitt Romney the nomination would be the same mistake as the GOP made in 1976 when Gerald Ford took the ticket instead of Ronald Reagan. You see, Ford was a moderate (aka, closet liberal), while Reagan was a God-fearing conservative of which Santorum says he is a mirror image.

“But is Santorum talking about THE President Ronald Reagan? That Reagan raised taxes, was divorced and remarried, liberalized immigration laws, (more…)

Arrested again: John H. Brothers, Jr., 43, former youth pastor, Hyland Baptist Church, Henderson, Kentucky, on “eight charges of first-degree burglary, eight charges of sexual assault on a child, and seven charges of sexual assault,” reports the News Star. “Brothers was wanted in Colorado for crimes against a child. … Brothers was arrested in 2011 in Kentucky on charges of first-degree sexual abuse of two juveniles who were members of his former church, Hyland Baptist… (more…)

“Let’s put this ‘religious liberty vs. contraception’ controversy in a slightly different light. What if, instead of Catholic institutions — hospitals, colleges, charities, etc. — there were in this country large Muslim organizations of the same sort employing sizable numbers of non-Muslim women? (more…)

“Santorum’s kids were living in Virginia while his Pennsylvania school district paid $55,000 to reimburse that state for their education through the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. Jon Delano, a political operative-turned television anchor in Pittsburgh, recalled that the arrangement dominated news coverage for weeks, with Santorum’s old foils revelling in the chance to call out hypocrisy. … (more…)

Inquest held: regarding Denis Connolly, 55, board of trustees senior member and rugby referee, St. Michael’s College (an exclusive, private Catholic boys’ secondary school founded by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit [The Spiritans, a.k.a. the Holy Ghost Fathers], whose mission includes the creation of “an environment … which will not only provide students with an informed understanding of the Catholic Faith, but which will also motivate them to live their (more…)

Convicted: Kesha Fortune-Haynie, 41, co-pastor with her husband, Vince Haynie, of Rhema Word of Faith Empowerment Ministries (affiliated with “prosperity gospel” televangelist Frederick K. C. Price), Chico, California, “of two counts of mail fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme,” per the U.S. Dept. of Justice. Between April and December, 2007, Fortune-Haynie, through her company, Empire Mortgage, (more…)

Charged: Sr. Maria Gomez Valbuena, 80, Roman Catholic nun, Sisters of Charity, Madrid, Spain, with involvement in a baby-stealing ring during the 1980s in which infants were allegedly stolen from hospitals and then sold to adoptive parents — presumably with the goal of taking infants away from “‘undesirable’ left-wing parents” in order to place them with “‘approved’ right-wing families.”

The Daily Beast (noting that Valbuena was interviewed “about alleged child trafficking (more…)

Icky Ricky has “suspended” his presidential campaign. (He has to say “suspended” instead of “quit,” so he can keep collecting donations.) (more…)

Arrested: Duluem Amakaeze, son of the late M.N. Amakeze, founder of Community of Yahweh Worldwide (formerly Holy Sabbath of Christ the King Mission International), a Messianic Jewish sect in Nigeria, on suspicion of arson after a fire at the church’s Nnobi, Anambra, headquarters. Since the death of its founder, the church has been at the center of a battle for power between Duluem Amakaeze and his older brother, Chidiebele Amakaeze; the latter has been accused by the founder’s widow of “constant harassment by her son and his collaborators who have seized her husband’s (more…)

Sentenced: Betty Barnes, 78, former accountant/secretary, Terry Road Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida, to two years’ house arrest and full restitution of the $161,204 she embezzled from the church over a period of five years, beginning in 2006. Story: News4Jax.com, April 6, 2012

Not guilty plea: Jared Lee Burkholder, 33, former young families minister and music/choir director, Calvary Baptist Church, Temecula, California, to charges of burglary, grand theft and embezzlement related to the theft of about $20,000 from the church’s safe over the course of a year, which church employees say they witnessed on surveillance video. Story: Conservative Babylon, February 15, 2012; Murrieta Patch, (more…)

BOY SCOUTS
OF BABYLON

Dead: George Bredemann, 69, Roman Catholic priest formerly of St. Teresa Church, Scottsdale, Arizona, and St. Catherine Church, Phoenix, and former Boy Scouts of America executive, in the Buckeye, Arizona state prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence for sexually molesting boys. Story: Phoenix New Times, October 25, 1989; Arizona Republic, August 1, 1994; Phoenix Gazette, August 5, 1994; Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, 2002; Arizona Republic, April 1, 2002; Arizona Department of Corrections, April 3, 2012; Phoenix New Times, April 6, 2012 (more…)

Charged: Christian Coady, 44, Sunday school teacher & financial secretary at East Park Baptist Church, Decatur, Ilinois, with six felony counts of criminal sexual assault, five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and two counts of child pornography. Coady is accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl (whom he is beleved to have molested inside the church) and possessing nude pictures of her. The Herald-Review reports: “He was also charged with felony aggravated battery for allegedly kissing on the mouth another teen female against her will. (more…)

“The Cantens used their prominent standing in a close-knit Cuban-American community to ruthlessly exploit vulnerable elderly investors who trusted them with their life savings,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “They portrayed themselves as a pious couple closely involved with educational and religious organizations, while in reality they were living lavishly off money from defrauded investors.”