When Religious Leaders, Parents, Teachers And Others Are Sexual Predators

From South Western Virginia-

When it comes to sexual abuse by religious leaders, however, the practice is not limited to Catholic priests. Youth minister Jeffrey Bondi in Virginia Beach began sexually molesting a 15-year-old female church member when he was 28. He walked because of jurisdictional problems in the case but left that church and sought to become the youth member at Galilee, an Episcopal Church, also in the Tidewater Area.

The father of the girl molested at Virginia Beach says he went to the pastor at Galilee, John Burnley, and told what happened.

“I told him what happened to my daughter, and he said it was all just hearsay,” the father said. “He acted like she was just some loose girl. I said, ‘I’m just trying to warn you because it’s going to be your responsibility if it happens again.’”

More here-

https://www.blueridgemuse.com/node/46077

Emmanuel Episcopal Church feeds hundreds each Christmas

From South Western Virginia-

Marlene Tate didn’t know she used to work for the man who started the Emmanuel Episcopal Church’s annual Christmas dinner until she and her husband Larry attended yesterday.

Her former employer, late parishioner and Bristol businessman Jack Trayer, started the dinner in 1981. That year, many families in the area were struggling due to a recession. Trayer didn’t want them to lack food or comfort on the holiday, so he and rector George Bunn funded a free meal open to all members of the community.

Thirty-seven years later, the tradition is going strong. Marlene and Larry attended the dinner for the first time Monday, they said, because this year has been a hard one.

“Everyone’s been so kind and generous,” Marlene Tate said.

More here-

http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/emmanuel-episcopal-church-feeds-hundreds-each-christmas/article_943239d8-e9fe-11e7-8886-b39e1804f1a9.html

Presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church visits Charlottesville

From Virginia-

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry visited St. Paul’s Memorial Church near the Corner Thursday evening to deliver a message of support and love to a community shaken by the violent events of Aug. 11 and 12.

As the presiding bishop, Curry is the leader of the Episcopal Church, a denomination which has 1.9 million members. He is the first African-American to be elected to the position.

Curry proclaimed he “[wasn’t] getting political at all,” but he clearly emphasized the importance of compassion in the face of such conflict.

“You will never know if I’m a Republican or a Democrat, but this is what you’ll know — I follow Jesus and Jesus said love … The way of Jesus, the way of the cross, of unselfish love, is the way that changes lives and changes the world,” he said.

According to the program, the service centered around a Eucharist of “The Reign of Christ.”

More here-

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/09/presiding-bishop-of-the-episcopal-church-visits-charlottesville

Lexington's R.E. Lee Episcopal contemplates name change

From Virginia (with video)-

 Lexington is a place full of history, where into a house built for him, Robert E. Lee came after the Civil War to be president of Washington College.

“He also, as a good Episcopalian, always attended the Episcopal church wherever he was," says David Cox, the author of “The Religious Life of Robert E Lee." "And that certainly was in Lexington.”

He joined the vestry, and was chosen to lead.

“Yeah, I’m filling the same job. He was senior warden of this church when he died,” says Woody Sadler, the Senior Warden today.

Leaving him with a problem. When Lee died, what was then Grace Episcopal was rebuilt as a memorial. A memorial that – as statues and parks honoring Lee and others are removed and renamed – some think should go back to being Grace Episcopal.

More here-

http://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Lexingtons-RE-Lee-Episcopal-contemplates-name-change-429528233.html