Priest Fired, Altar Burned Over Scene Witnessed by Passerby

Travis Clark, 37, allegedly filmed himself having sex on the altar
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 10, 2020 9:30 AM CDT
Altar Burned After Priest's 'Demonic' Actions: Report
Rev. Travis Clark.   (St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office)

Peer inside a church window lately? Bet you didn't see the pastor having sex with two women on a church altar with stage lighting, cameras, and sex toys. But a passerby apparently saw just that inside a Catholic church in Louisiana on Sept. 30, the Times-Picayune reports. Court documents say the pastor, 37-year-old Travis Clark, and his two companions were arrested on obscenity charges. Police justified the charge by saying the three had committed "obscene acts [that] occurred on the altar" at Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River, "which is clearly visible from the street." Clark was released on a $25,000 bond, while Mindy Dixon, 41, and Melissa Cheng, 23, posted $7,500 bonds. Each faces up to three years if convicted.

Seems the women work as professional dominatrices, and Dixon wrote Sept. 29 on social media that they planned to "defile a house of God." As for Clark, he's been fired at Saints Peter and Paul, and the Times-Picayune reports that church officials have removed the altar and burned it. Side fact: Clark recently became chaplain of Pope John Paul II High School in Slidell, replacing Rev. Pat Wattigny, who had stepped down after sending inappropriate texts to a student. Now an attorney for the two women has blasted the arrests, saying the sex occurred away from public view, and the Archbishop of New Orleans is also upset: Clarks' "desecration of the altar in Church was demonic," he said Friday, per the Catholic News Agency. "I am infuriated by his actions." (More Catholic Church stories.)

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