A Teenage Girl Allegedly Abducted by a Man at Church

From: WFFA News

A teenage girl allegedly abducted by a man police described as an "obsessed" former boyfriend was found safe this afternoon and the man was taken into custody, police said.

Ruby Zavala, 14, and her alleged captor, Jesus Ramirez, 23, were found in an area near Mount Pleasant, Texas, that has been the focus of a search for the last 30 hours, ABC News' Dallas affiliate WFAA reported.

Mount Pleasant Police Chief Wayne Isbell told ABCNews.com earlier today that authorities believed Ramirez was upset with his ex-girlfriend, spurring him to kidnap the teen, her mother and her sister said Sunday from Saint Michael's Catholic Church in Mount Pleasant.

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Pope Benedict Remaining In Vatican For Security

From: The Inquisitr

Pope Benedict’s decision to live out the rest of his life inside the protected walls of the Vatican is a calculated maneuver to avoid prosecution and stay safe.

Church experts tell Reuters that by remaining inside the walls of the Vatican the church will provide Benedict with the same rights he received as the head of the church.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/528437/pope-benedict-remaining-in-vatican-for-security-immunity/#imVTw32YlAA2Jp1B.99 

Photo Credit: The Inquisitr

Politico Playbook - Breaking - Conclave Electing New Pope

From: Mike Allen's Politico Playbook

BREAKING: “Conclave electing new pope could start before March 15 – Vatican,” by Reuters’ Philip Pullella in Vatican City: “The conclave to choose Pope Benedict's successor could start earlier than expected, giving the Roman Catholic Church a new leader by mid-March, the Vatican said … [T]he Vatican was still in a state of spiritual and bureaucratic shock, groping for ways to deal with a situation without precedent for at least six centuries. Some 117 cardinals under the age of 80 will be eligible to enter the secretive conclave to elect Benedict's successor. Church rules say the conclave has to start between 15-20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, which it will on Feb. 28. … Cardinals around the world have already begun informal consultations by phone and email to construct a profile of the man they think would be best suited to lead the Church in a period of continuing crisis. The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected and then formally installed … before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services …

Pope Benedict XVI's Shocking Resignation - Vatican

From: The Guardian

Pope Benedict XVI stunned the Roman Catholic church on Monday as he announced his intention to carry out the first papal resignation in almost 600 years, prompting shock from even his closest confidants and acerbic judgment from critics of his eight year-long reign.

In an address read out in Latin before a group of cardinals in the Apostolic Palace, the 85-year-old pontiff said he had decided that, due to his "advanced age" and deteriorating strengths, he would be stepping down as head of the Catholic church on 28 February.

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Churches - Fight the Flu - Don't Shake Hands

From: WCSH6 News

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (WJAR) -- The flu epidemic has changed the way some churches are performing services.

At St. Sebastian Church in Providence, Rhode Island a few things are different here for Sunday mass.

"To refrain from shaking hands during rite of peace, I invited them to just turn and verbally exchange a greeting," says Monsignor John Darcy.

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Vatican Thanks Media for Uncovering Church Abuse

From: Reuters

The Vatican's new sexual crimes prosecutor on Tuesday acknowledged that the U.S. media "did a service" to the Catholic Church through its aggressive reporting on child abuse that helped the Church "confront the truth".

The rare acknowledgement came from Father Robert Oliver, a canon lawyer from the U.S. diocese of Boston, speaking at his first public appearance since becoming the Vatican's "Promoter of Justice" last week.

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Cardinal Mahony Removed From Public Church Duties

From: Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez on Thursday announced dramatic actions in response to the priest abuse scandal, saying that Cardinal Roger Mahony would no longer perform public duties in the church and that Santa Barbara Bishop Thomas J. Curry has stepped down.

Gomez said in a statement that Mahony -- who led the L.A. archdiocese from 1985 to 2011 -- "will no longer have any administrative or public duties."

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Photo from Los Angeles Times

Stolen Church Van Crashes into building

From: WAVY News

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Portsmouth Police say a man stole a church van on Sunday then crashed it into a downtown building.

Jan Clark with the Portsmouth Police Department said an officer saw the van hit a pole in the 600 block of High Street and tried to stop the suspect. The suspect sped off and crashed into a building in the 800 block of High Street.

It happened all while Brigid White and her family were at mass at Saint Paul's Catholic Church. White says looking at the crash scene it's hard to believe this happened to her family's car.

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Pope blesses Twitter, Facebook to spread Church teachings

From: CNET

The pope has friended the online social networks in a big way.

Pope Benedict XIV, who only recently joined Twitter himself, is calling on his followers to use social-networking sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest to spread their faith to nonbelievers.
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Security at Church: It's official... The Pope has now endorsed social media... Now I just need to work on getting him to tweet this webiste!

New Sexual Abuse Claims Against Catholic Cardinal in Los Angeles

From: The Washington Post


{Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, for more than 25 years the savvy shepherd of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, retired nearly two years ago to a renovated yellow house behind his childhood parish, pledging to stay in the spotlight by continuing to fight for the rights of immigrants.

But the cardinal now finds himself in a most unwelcome spotlight, one that he sought for years to avoid. Internal church personnel files released this week as part of a civil court case reveal that he and his top adviser knowingly shielded priests accused of child sexual abuse from law enforcement. In one letter, the cardinal ordered a clergyman to stay in New Mexico, where he had been sent for treatment, to avoid the possibility of being reported to the police in California.}

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/us/mahony-shielded-abusive-priests-documents-show.html?_r=0

Security at Church: I came across this article this morning. As I read through the story, my attention was drawn to the fact that the charges against Cardinal Mahony were NOT related to his direct actions in sexual abuse; however, related to the accusation that he shielded priests and their actions from the police.

Unfortunately, I am starting to see a pattern related to this topic. This is a similar complaint to the story we shared regarding The Rock Church in California. It is also similar to some of the allegations against Sovereign Grace Ministries in Louisville, KY (formerly Gaithersburg, MD). This begs the questions “where are we going wrong within our churches”? How can we prevent this from happening in the future?

As I have stated before on this website, my goal is to shed light on events happening in churches across the country and provide my thoughts along with resources on how to protect your local church from similar events happening at your place of worship. I have no intention of highlighting any one specific church, denomination or religion. Whether it is a Catholic Parish, Baptist Church or Non-denominational place of worship we can all learn from the experiences of others.

Man Who Lost Leg in Crucifix Mishap Sues Church for $3M

From: The Washington Post

ALBANY, N.Y. — David Jimenez was so elated over his wife’s recovery from cancer that he offered to clean the large crucifix outside the Hudson Valley church where he spent many hours praying for her to beat the disease. On Memorial Day 2010, he was scrubbing grime off the cross when the 600-pound marble statuary toppled over, crushing his right leg.

The then-43-year-old immigrant from Mexico was flown to Westchester Medical Center, where doctors had to amputate his injured leg. He’s suing the Roman Catholic church where he was hurt, and early next year his $3 million lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial.

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Body Found Under Car at Tampa Church

From: Bradenton Herold

TAMPA, Fla. — Police are investigating after a body was found beneath a car in the parking lot of Christ the King Catholic Church in Tampa.The body was discovered early Thursday. The vehicle was parked directly in front of the church, which is on South Dale Mabry Highway.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/08/16/4160791/body-found-under-car-in-front.html#storylink=cpy

Note: The Republican National Convention will be taking place in Tampa this week.

Philadelphia Church Official Sentenced to at Least 3 Years in Prison

From: New York Times

PHILADELPHIA — Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” said Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina as she imposed the sentence, which was just short of the maximum of three and a half to seven years.

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Bishop Wants More Security

From: The Star

{THE Catholic Church has called on the government to intensify security at places of worship to protect them from attacks by terrorists. Bishop Philip Sulumet of the Kakamega diocese yesterday reiterated on the need for realignment of security organs to confront the new threats by organised terror grouping. ''This will prevent further attacks to the Christian faithful who have been left scared with a lot of unanswered questions. A number of them are now scared of going to church for prayers and have resorted to offering prayers from home or watching televisions to follow prayer sessions,” said Sulumet.}

Read More: http://www.the-star.co.ke/local/western--nyanza/84366-bishop-wants-more-for-churches

U.S. Priest Found Guilty In Church Abuse Case

From: Reuters

"A monsignor who oversaw hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was found guilty on Friday of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, making him the first senior U.S. Roman Catholic Church official to be convicted for covering up child sex abuse."

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Thursday: Maryland Church Shooting: 2 DEAD!

From: The Baltimore Sun

{Howard County police are investigating three shootings — two of them fatal — that occurred Thursday evening in and around St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City.

Two women were found shot in an office at the church; one was dead and one critically injured. Police also found a man dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods near the church. There was a gun nearby.}

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Double Shooting at Texas Church - Murder/Suicide

Breaking News! Two Dead in double shooting at Catholic Church in Texas!

From: KSAT News

{Helotes, Texas - Helotes police say the double shooting at a Catholic church there was a murder/suicide.

The shooting occurred just after 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church off Riggs Road and Highway 16.

Helotes police Lt. Elliot Rodriguez said police received a call for shots fired at the church and when they responded, they found the front door locked and they could see two bodies inside.}

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Sexual Predator Training Helps Catch Priest

From: Reuters

{A Catholic priest already charged in state court with possessing thousands of pornographic images of young boys is due in a Pittsburgh courtroom on Friday on new federal charges, authorities said...

A parish employee who had undergone training to identify sexual predators allegedly saw Sorensen viewing child pornography on his computer and called the church child abuse hotline.}

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My Thoughts: What caught my attention in this article was the part about the parish employee who had received training to identify sexual predators. I think this is a very important point that so many churches overlook. Sexual sin and sexual abuse is a concern that is plaguing our churches and places of worship. Take the time to give your church membership and leadership the proper protection it needs. 

A second item of interest in this article was the fact that this was the second set of charges that this priest was receiving for child pornography. A good learning point is to insure that your church leadership is included in your screening when doing background checks. It is a good habit to re-screen everyone every couple of years. 

Chicago Priest, Beaten And Robbed Inside Church

From: Huffington Post

{A veteran Chicago priest was beaten and robbed inside the Far South Side church where he has served as a pastor since 1977.

Rev. Daniel Mallette, pastor emeritus at St. Margaret of Scotland Church, located in the 9800 block of South Throop Street, awoke around 12:30 a.m. in the church's rectory to two male intruders standing over him, demanding he give them money, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The intruders proceeded to beat and rob the Rev. Mallette, 80, when he apparently did not move fast enough to their liking.}

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Sexual Abuse in Church - Part 2

From: Carl Chinn - "Think About It" (reposted with permission)

NOTE: With last week’s news out of Penn State University, a lot of media attention has gone once again to the Catholic Church. As a non-Catholic, I once again reject the notion that this issue of sexual abuse is a Catholic problem. I am keeping this important subject posted for another week with another story from this past week, plus some additional bullet points.

The additional bullet points were offered by my good friend Vic Meyer out of Tulsa, OK. Vic has served a security role in church for many years, and has been baptized by fire into the subject of sexual abuse in a church. I know of nobody else who has walked through that fire like Vic, and he has come through it with lessons learned for all of us.

Vic Meyer adds the following. As I read his comments, I thought of the Penn State fiasco. How different it would have been for them if they had followed these three simple bullets at the very first hint of trouble. Take note;

· Successful child predators operating in spiritual settings could not operate without the absolute trust of those who surround them. Trusting friends and co-workers are necessary cogs in the gears that make the predator successful. Those friends and co-workers will be required to give them a pass on policy infractions, dismiss troublesome details, think the best when suspicion is in order and defend when the victim accuses.

· The process of gaining trust is called “grooming” and involves everyone who could stop the predator. The predator counts on those groomed to find the crime so repugnant that they refuse to believe either the victim or the evidence. For that reason the predator will always be among the most faithful and trusted.

· There is nothing romantic or consensual about adult on child personal/sexual relationships. It is a crime. Always involve the authorities and eliminate the “groomed effect” from your in-house inquiries by selecting people with no relationships to the accused.

-------

On Thursday 11/10, news came out of Corpus Christi, TX that the pastor -- related to the victims through marriage -- had sexually assaulted teens at his church. Jose Humberto Herrera (now 58-years old) had pastored the Iglesia Bautista Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd Baptist) Church in Alice for 10 years. During that time, 2 teenage girls and their brother worked at odd jobs around the church.

Herrera has admitted to the abuse of the girls, and denied abusing the boy. The girls were 15 and 16 at the time of the assaults. The victims were his step-grandchildren. He is charged with all three crimes.