epiScope

Repentance

Houses of God:  Bishop Seabury Church
WORLD Magazine
May 31, 2008, Vol. 23, No. 11

Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, Conn., counts itself among the "Connecticut Six," some of the first Episcopal churches in the country to break with their diocese over fidelity to Scripture and the ordination of gay clergy. The church voted itself out of The Episcopal Church (TEC) after Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith endorsed the 2003 consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly partnered homosexual. It joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a mission of the conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Early this month the Episcopal diocese announced it had suspended Bishop Seabury's priest, Ronald Gauss, and on May 7 served Gauss and 12 former and current church leaders with a lawsuit. TEC claims that the property of the 780-member church belongs to the diocese and that by voting itself out of the diocese the church has vacated all property rights. The diocese also installed David Cannon as its "priest-in-charge" at Bishop Seabury. But when Cannon arrived to take over, he found Bishop Seabury's doors locked.

It’s all here …

Defrocked pastor reinstated by Ugandan bishop
Sam Pascoe was ousted last year for having a relationship with a church member
By MARY MARAGHY
My Clay Sun
052308

Grace Anglican Church's former pastor, the Rev. Sam Pascoe, has been reinstated as an Anglican priest under an Ugandan bishop effective June 1.

"Sam has modeled true repentance for a real failure, and we, as believers, need to model and demonstrate true forgiveness," said the Rev. Neil Lehbar of Church of the Redeemer on Baymeadows Road in Jacksonville, who has been friends with Pasco for 30 years. "I'm grateful for Sam and Beth's [Pascoe's wife] determination to grow personally and stay faithful to Christ. His return to ministry will be a work in progress."

Lehbar invited Pascoe to share his story at the 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. services June 1 at his church. Pascoe, former pastor of Grace Anglican Church, will also celebrate communion for the first time since his defrocking in February 2007 for having an inappropriate relationship with a church member.

On June 8, Pascoe will be a guest preacher. He hopes to land a full-time pastor position at a church somewhere.

It’s all here …

No contest

Former Boca church youth director pleads no contest to sex charge
By DWAYNE ROBINSON
Palm Beach Post
March 16, 2008

A priest who resigned as a youth director of a Boca Raton church last year after he was charged with soliciting sex pleaded no contest to the allegations Thursday.

The Rev. Michael Royce Penland, 47, will not go to jail as a result of the June 28 charge of soliciting sex from an undercover male officer in a park restroom in Waynesville, N.C., his attorney said.

"I think he's relieved it's over," North Carolina attorney Albert Marvin Messer said. The court did not issue a judgment of guilty or not guilty, Messer said.

After Penland's plea, which doesn't admit guilt while also not contesting the charges, the former St. Gregory's Episcopal Church youth ministry director must pay court costs and stay away from recreational property in Haywood County, N.C., where he was arrested in June.

It’s all here …and odd, because the Asheville (NC) paper reported a guilty plea on Friday. Anybody know which it was?

Guilty

Priest pleads guilty to charges from sex sting
Josh Boatwright
Asheville (NC) CITIZEN-TIMES
March 14, 2008

WAYNESVILLE – An Episcopal priest found guilty Thursday of soliciting sex from undercover Waynesville police officers is the last of seven men to make guilty pleas after being charged in a sting operation last summer in park restrooms.

Michael Royce Penland, 46, pleaded guilty to soliciting crimes against nature and was ordered to pay court costs and stay away from Haywood County recreation property, according to the Haywood County clerk of courts office.

Penland resigned from his position as a youth minister at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church in Boca Raton, Fla., in September, following his arrest, according to church meeting records.

It’s all here …

Misconduct in Oz

Anglican Church reserves decision on paedophile
The West Australian (Australia)
1st March 2008

An independent Anglican Church tribunal today reserved its decision over whether to defrock a convicted paedophile priest.

Robert Francis Sharwood, 62, of Brisbane, was jailed for 12 months in November 2006, after being found guilty of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in Brisbane more than 30 years ago.

Sharwood was released from jail in November last year, attracting calls by child protection advocates for him to be immediately stripped of his holy orders.

It’s all here …

Holy Trinity Anglican Church sweeps priest's sins under carpet
Alison Sandy
The Courier-Mail (Australia)
February 29, 2008

BRISBANE'S Holy Trinity Anglican Church has been dubbed the "Unholy Trinity" after it was revealed a pedophile, an alleged pedophile and a practising priest with his own seedy past are leading its Sunday services.

Following revelations in The Courier-Mail this week that convicted pedophile priest Robert Sharwood, who was released from jail only three months ago, has been allowed to sing in the choir with children, it has now been discovered that Canon Barry Greaves, who will stand trial on child sex charges in August, participates in bible readings.

Their role in the Fortitude Valley church has been approved by the Parish Council, headed by rector Trevor Bulled, who was convicted of indecent behaviour in a public toilet almost 20 years ago.

It’s all here …

"Rude awakening"

Greenwich church hopes to restore 'circle of trust'
By Hoa Nguyen
Stamford (CT) Advocate
February 25 2008

GREENWICH - Officials at Christ Church Greenwich are searching through old employment files to find any trace of two pedophiles said to have assaulted choirboys when they worked at the church three decades ago.

The records have so far yielded no information on the two men, Tim Carpenter, a senior warden at the church, said yesterday.

"Nobody knows what the deal is," he said. "This was a rude awakening for us."

It’s all here …

Abuse

Church Choir Director Hired a Pedophile, Prosecutors Say
February 20, 2008

NEW HAVEN (AP) — A former music director at a prominent Greenwich church who was convicted of possessing child pornography hired a pedophile and failed to tell the authorities when that man sexually assaulted a choirboy, prosecutors disclosed on Tuesday.

The music director, Robert F. Tate, faces 9 to 11 years in prison under federal guidelines when he is sentenced on Thursday, prosecutors said in court papers.

Mr. Tate, 65, was choir director for 34 years at Christ Church, an Episcopal church, and he created a music program that gained an international reputation. Former President George H. W. Bush attended the church while growing up, and funeral services for his parents were held there.

It’s all here …

Object lesson

Director: Man 'highly recommended'
By Patricia Breakey
Oneonta (NY) Daily Star
February 19, 2008

The director of a century-old boys camp in Delhi said there was no indication a former choir director had an interest in child pornography.

Charles L. Burks, 28, formerly of Slingerlands, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in federal court in Albany last week on his guilty plea to a charge of receipt of child pornography.

James Adams, Lake Delaware Boys Camp director, said Monday that Burks was well-known in the choir world and came highly recommended to the camp.

It’s all here …and an object lesson in why those background checks are important--even though this one apparently didn't turn up the problem...

A step too far?

Our view: Little gained by exposing abusers on sex offender list
Opinion
Duluth News Tribune
February 13, 2008

A former Duluth Catholic priest — former in the sense that he is no longer a priest, no longer Catholic and no longer living in Duluth — convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy 12 years ago has resurfaced as an office-holder in the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota.

Also, the Minnesota Episcopal Church has allowed a former priest of its own who molested an 8-year-old boy in Texas to lead a retreat in Collegeville, Minn.

Is the Episcopal Diocese hiding something or sheltering other sexual offenders under the cover of the cloth?

It’s all here …

Texas priest convicted

Episcopal chuch [sic] court covicts [sic] priest of sexual misconduct
The Associated Press
Feb. 12, 2008

HOUSTON — An ecclesiastical court has found a retired Episcopal priest committed sexual misconduct while he was a school chaplain.

The religious court of the Houston-based Episcopal Diocese of Texas found the Rev. James L. Tucker guilty of immoral behavior and conduct unbecoming of a clergyman, diocese spokeswoman Carol Barnwell said Monday.

Tucker, 80, was a chaplain at Austin's St. Stephen's Episcopal School in the 1960s.

It’s all here …

Verdict

Church court finds priest guilty of molesting boys
Former St. Stephen's chaplain will likely be defrocked
By Eileen E. Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
February 08, 2008

A church court has returned a summary judgment against the Rev. James L. Tucker for misconduct after hearing testimony from three men who testified that Tucker had repeatedly molested them in the 1960s while they were students at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in West Austin, according to one of the victims.

The nine-member ecclesiastical trial court convened in Houston on Thursday to hear testimony against the Episcopal priest, who worked as chaplain of St. Stephen's from 1958 to 1968. Tucker, who retired from active ministry in 1994, did not attend the ecclesiastical trial.

It’s all here …