Pastors Misbehaving

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June 2009
- Kissing Priest Marries Galpal
  
  Associated Press | Jun 17, 09 8:34 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In scarcely more than a month, Alberto Cutié has gone from celebrity priest to sex scandal poster boy to Episcopalian—now he can add boring old married guy to his resume, reports the AP. The Miami priest who left the Catholic Church amid a racy photo scandal married his secret girlfriend of 2 years yesterday. A judge performed the ceremony. The Vatican has not removed Cutié from the Catholic priesthood, but he is not yet a full-fledged Episcopal priest. More »
May 2009
- 'Church Is About Forgiveness': Kissing Priest
  
  Miami Herald | May 31, 09 2:49 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - His Catholic parish was scandalized when photos surfaced of the Rev. Alberto Cutié cavorting on the beach with a 35-year-old divorceé, but his new Episcopalian flock greeted his first sermon this morning with a standing ovation, reports the Miami Herald. From the altar of Miami’s Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Cutié told the congregation, which included said 35-year-old divorceé, "I am humbled by your presence here.” More »
- Kissing Fla. Priest Joins Episcopal Church
  
  Miami Herald | May 28, 09 3:03 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Miami priest who sparked a debate on celibacy earlier this month when he was caught kissing and embracing a woman has left the Roman Catholic church to join the more liberal Episcopalians. The latter doesn’t require chastity for priests, and Alberto Cutié is expected to announce that he’ll marry his girlfriend of 2 years, the Herald reports. More »
- Sex-Abuse Report Shames Ireland, Church
  
  Irish Times | May 21, 09 8:28 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The massive report released yesterday documenting the systematic abuse of children in Irish Catholic schools and institutions is "a monument to the shameful nature of Irish society throughout most of the decades of the 20th century," writes Mary Raftery in the Irish Times . The painstaking disclosure of physical abuse and sexual torture is harrowing to read but of "incalculable value"—especially because it assigns blame to the Irish government and the church. More »
- Irish Church Long Shielded Pedophiles: Report
  
  BBC | May 20, 09 12:29 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Sexual abuse was endemic in Irish Catholic institutions until the 1980s, a 9-year government inquiry has found. Over a 60-year period, 2000 children—mostly boys, now over 50—suffered physical and sexual abuses at the rigid schools, the BBC reports. Church officials encouraged beatings and shielded pedophiles in their orders, while inspectors failed to stop the chronic abuse, the report alleges. More »
- Priest Suspects Cuban Spies Snapped Him With Lover
  
  Miami Herald | May 14, 09 7:20 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A celebrity priest photographed cavorting with his girlfriend on a beach has hinted Cuban spies might have been tailing him, the Miami Herald reports. "I knew that during some time I was being followed," Father Alberto Cutié told a Spanish-language TV station. "Being Cuban-American, we have that paranoia that perhaps it could be someone from another government, from another place." More »
- Gay Catholic Archbishop Writes Memoir
  
  Associated Press | May 12, 09 11:58 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Catholic archbishop who resigned in 2002 over a sex scandal with a man has written a book addressing his sexual orientation, reports the AP. Rembert Weakland was head of the Milwaukee archdiocese and a hero to liberal Catholics for his activism, until he resigned at the peak of the clergy’s molestation crisis, after a former theology student revealed that he was paid $450,000 to settle a decades-old sexual assault claim against Weakland. More »
- Miami Priest Admits 2-Year Affair
  
  CBS News | May 12, 09 6:48 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The celebrity priest whose racy photos sparked a Catholic scandal broke his silence yesterday on The Early Show , admitting he’s in a 2-year sexual relationship with the woman in the pictures. Father Alberto Cutié said he’s in love with her and has never had sex with anyone else since taking his vows. But he acknowledged that he’s become “kind of a poster boy” for the debate over celibacy—which he supports, but believes "people should be given the option to marry in order to serve God." More »
March 2009
- Haggards Plug Marriage ... on Divorce Court
  
  Colorado Springs Gazette | Mar 19, 09 1:17 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard and his wife are headed for Divorce Court , the Colorado Springs Gazette reports—but to plug the virtues of marriage and describe how his homosexual affair made theirs stronger. In a taping to air April 1, the New Life Church pastor says he asked Gayle Haggard to divorce him; she refused. “I see what happened as a divine rescue,” she says. More »
January 2009
- 'Fun on Side' Haggard 'Fesses Up to 2nd Affair
  
  CNN | Jan 30, 09 5:24 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Disgraced evangelical pastor Ted Haggard has confessed to another "compulsive" relationship, this one with a young male volunteer in his former church. "I felt like God's plan was for sexuality to be in a monogamous, heterosexual marriage. But I had these other things going on," Haggard told Larry King yesterday. The church volunteer said Haggard's actions in 2006 made him feel "really uncomfortable" and drove him to drink. More »
- Wife Knew Haggard Was Hot for Guys
  
  Associated Press | Jan 28, 09 4:53 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Ted Haggard told his wife early in their 30-year marriage that he struggled with his attraction to men, she tells Oprah in an appearance with her husband due to air today. Gayle Haggard says she was shocked by the disclosure, but believed he was "winning the battle" before a scandal involving a male prostitute led to his resignation from the New Life Church in 2006. More »
- Haggard Faces New Gay Sex Accusations
  
  KRDO.com | Jan 24, 09 8:46 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Evangelical preacher Ted Haggard had a long extra-marital affair with a male parishioner before his downfall, KRDO reports. The churchgoer says the New Life Church paid him hush money after the affair several years ago. The church confirmed the accusation after learning that the man possesses a recording of a conversation between himself and Haggard in which the preacher admits the relationship is inappropriate and begs for forgiveness. More »
- HBO Doc Unveils Down-and-Out Haggard
  
  Newsweek | Jan 11, 09 5:47 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - A new HBO documentary on Ted Haggard catches the disgraced minister at his most candid and vulnerable, Newsweek reports. Emmy-winning director Alexandra Pelosi shot the film impromptu, capturing Haggard the failed insurance salesman as he struggles with gay feelings and looks out the window at his old church. But hasn't gone back, he says: “The Church has said go to hell." More »
December 2008
- Haggard: I Still Struggle With Sexuality
  
  Associated Press | Dec 19, 08 11:45 AM CST
  
  (AP) - Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says in a new documentary that he still struggles with his sexuality yet is committed to his marriage for the sake of his children. "The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me, and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more," he says. More »
June 2008
- Former Obama Pastor in Church Power Battle
  
  Time | Jun 5, 08 2:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama's former Chicago church is in turmoil over a battle to retain power by firebrand preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Time reports. A rift has opened between Wright, who was supposed to retire from the church he nurtured for 36 years, and his hand-picked successor, whose qualifications he's now questioning. More »
- Boo Hoo: Firebrand Priest Suspended
  
  Chicago Tribune | Jun 4, 08 6:38 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The controversial Catholic priest who mocked Hillary Clinton in a guest sermon from the pulpit of Barack Obama's church has been suspended from his own parish, reports the Chicago Tribune . Father Michael Pfleger was ordered to take a weeks-long leave of absence by Chicago's cardinal, "to reflect on his recent statements." Pfleger didn't agree that the leave was merited, the cardinal noted. More »
April 2008
- After Pope Meets Victims, Vatican Considers Change
  
  New York Times | Apr 18, 08 6:21 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Just a day after a Washington meeting where Pope Benedict XVI talked with victims sexually abused by Catholic priests, a Vatican official said the church would consider changes to canon law dictating how the church deals with such offenses, the New York Times reports. Cardinal William Levada holds Benedict’s old post as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. More »
- Abuse Victims Find Some Peace With Pope
  
  CNN | Apr 18, 08 3:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Victims of sexual abuse yesterday exited a long-sought meeting with Pope Benedict XVI moved by his compassion and inspired by hope. "He apologized," one of them told CNN after the talk in a Washington chapel. "He seemed to intrinsically understand what we were talking about." Benedict listened to personal accounts of abuse by priests and prayed in what was believed to be his first-ever meeting with victims. More »
- Pope to Church: Pedophilia Was 'Badly Handled'
  
  Associated Press | Apr 16, 08 7:53 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI had strong words for America's Roman Catholic bishops today, asserting that the clerical sexual molestation scandal had been "very badly handled" in many cases, the AP reports. "It is your God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged," he said. More »
- Pope Will Address Abuse Crisis During US Visit
  
  Associated Press | Apr 8, 08 9:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI will address the clergy sex-abuse crisis during his visit to the US next week, a top aide tells the AP. The pontiff, who begins the six-day trip Tuesday in Washington, "will try to open the path of healing and reconciliation" during a mass for clergy members April 19 at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. More »