Rector at St. Wilfrid in Huntington Beach under investigation for financial misconduct

From Los Angeles-

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is investigating allegations of financial misconduct against the Rev. Canon Michael D. Archer, rector of St. Wilfrid of York Church in Huntington Beach.

“These allegations were reviewed by both the bishop and a diocesan committee and have been deemed serious enough to warrant an investigation,” Joan Pashley-Baynes and Allison Hainlen, wardens for St. Wilfrid’s vestry, said in a Sept. 2 letter to parishioners. The allegations apparently involve Archer’s handling of expense and discretionary accounts at St. Wilfrid’s, according to a statement from the Right Rev. John Harvey Taylor, bishop of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

“Canon Archer has promised to cooperate fully,” Taylor said Monday. “Under the Episcopal church’s canons, respondents are presumed to be innocent until the facts show otherwise.” Archer could not be reached for comment. The diocese did not release further details about the allegations or what prompted the investigation.

More here-

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/09/11/rector-at-st-wilfrids-in-huntington-beach-under-investigation-for-financial-misconduct/

Cardinal Wuerl Recognizes Calls for ‘New Leadership’ – Proposes Season of Healing

From NCR-

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington on Thursday recognized calls for new leadership in the archdiocese, including from local priests, but did not say whether he was considering stepping down.
In a September 6 letter to the priests of the archdiocese, Wuerl referenced a 90-minute period of prayer and discernment he had held with the priests of diocese three days earlier, before the annual Labor Day cookout.

“Among the many observations was that the archdiocese would be well served by new leadership to help move beyond the current confusion, disappointment and disunity,” he said in the letter.
Wuerl, who has faced growing calls for resignation over allegations of mishandling abuse reports, did not elaborate on his future leadership intentions. Sources have told CNA that Wuerl had hoped to stay on as Archbishop of Washington until the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall general assembly in November.

More here-

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-wuerl-recognizes-calls-for-new-leadership-proposes-season-of-heali 

and here-

http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/09/07/cardinal-wuerl-acknowledges-calls-for-new-leadership/

Bp. Prior on Canon Pipkin’s Case

From The Living Church-

The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, writes to his diocese about accusations brought against the Rev. Canon Michael Pipkin:

I write this day asking for your prayers.

Every person in discernment for a possible call to the episcopate encounters a deep vulnerability — not only for the potential candidate, but for their family as well.

The Episcopal Church in Colorado has removed your Missioner for Missional Management, Michael Pipkin, from consideration in their bishop search.

As such, I ask for your prayers for the entire Pipkin family, as well as the Episcopal Church in Colorado, as they continue to discern whom God is calling to be their next bishop.

Once I became aware that concerns were raised about Michael, which led to his removal, I gathered together the President of the Standing Committee, Tom Cook, the Chair of the Personnel Committee, Judy Shoulak and the Chancellor for ECMN, Doug Franzen. This group counseled that we seek to gather all relevant material regarding these concerns in order to conduct our own independent inquiry.

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/2018/09/07/bp-prior-on-canon-pipkins-case/

Task Force presents updated Safe Church Policies

From ENS-

The Episcopal Church’s decades-long process of refining its clergy discipline process will take a big logistical step forward this summer when an interactive website debuts. The site was developed with the hope of bringing a common understanding of the rules and helping clergy avoid getting into trouble and injuring others in the first place. 

The website is in the beta testing phase, and members of the church’s Executive Council have been invited to join that process. The site is designed to help Episcopalians navigate the church’s Title IV clergy disciplinary process (those canons can be found beginning on page 131 of the church’s Constitution and Canons here).

Council member Polly Getz, who has long-time experience as a chancellor at various levels of the church, explained to her colleagues April 21 that the website is the result of nearly two years of work by a subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons.
The project drew praise from three of the church’s leaders after it was presented to the council.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/04/24/new-interactive-website-aims-to-help-episcopalians-navigate-churchs-clergy-discipline-procedures/

Pastor quits under cloud

From Maine-

Police are investigating allegations against a Southwest Harbor man who recently resigned as pastor of the Tremont Congregational Church and St. Brendan’s Anglican Mission.

In a press release, the Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs, diocesan bishop of the Convocation of Anglican Church in North America, wrote that Wayne Buchanan resigned as pastor of the church on Jan. 7.

“In January, law enforcement contacted Dr. Buchanan regarding a matter unrelated to his ministry as a pastor,” the press release states.

Buchanan, the release continues, has been “removed from his holy orders in the Anglican Church by action of the bishop according to the canons of the church and no longer is a member of the Anglican clergy.”

More here-

http://www.mdislander.com/featured/pastor-quits-under-cloud

Former church leader investigated for sexual misconduct

From Western North Carolina-

Rev. Howard “Howdie” White, former rector of the Episcopal Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville, is being investigated in two states after being accused of sexual misconduct with minors.

Waynesville Police Department began an investigation Feb. 3 after an alleged victim came forward claiming White sexually abused her as a minor during his tenure at the church.

White served as the rector at Grace Episcopal Church from 1984 until he retired in 2006, but before coming to Waynesville he was employed at a private prep school in Rhode Island — St. George’s School.

More here-

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/17168-former-church-leader-investigated-for-sexual-misconduct

Also here-

http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20160217/NEWS/160219357

Faith grapples with art, lust

From St. Louis-

In the middle of the 16th century, Catholic bishops and theologians met sporadically in the city of Trento in northern Italy to discuss the church's response to the Reformation. In periodic meetings over 18 years, the Council of Trent produced documents correcting abuses like indulgences and other corruption.

A surprising victim of the Counter-Reformation was Michelangelo, whose depiction of the "Last Judgment" in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel was altered as a result of the Council's dictate that "all lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust."

In 1564, the council ordered that certain naked figures in the "Last Judgment" considered "obscene" be painted over with loin cloths.

It will be difficult for critics to compare Michelangelo's nudes with the Rev. John Blair's. Just after the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri launched an investigation of the St. Louis priest Tuesday evening, many of his photos of nude models were removed from the Internet.

And yet the diocese's disciplinary board, whose members will decide if Blair's photography constitutes sexual misconduct, will try to answer the same question as Trent's participants 450 years ago: How does the church recognize the beauty of art that depicts God's creation — the human form — without seeming to condone, in the council's phrasing, "a beauty exciting to lust"?

More here-

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/faith-grapples-with-art-lust/article_7f750f85-1d36-569c-9f44-37101a52ba3c.html

Scandal rocks church

From Missouri-

When Father Joseph Carlo of the Christ Episcopal Church in Rolla retired in 1990, he left behind a legacy as a priest who led his congregation to flourish. An internal church investigation recently completed by the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Missouri may leave Carlo with a new legacy.

According to the Rev. Canon Daniel Smith of the Diocese of Missouri, an investigation into reports of alleged sexual abuse of children within the church by Carlo was recently completed. According to Smith, the church has been in contact with five people who claim they were abused by Carlo between 1975 and 1985.

“We believe that(sexual abuse) has occurred,” Smith said about the abuse allegations and the results of the internal investigation. Carlo worked at the Rolla congregation from 1960 to 1990. He went into retirement when he left the Rolla congregation and is believed to be living in Florida. Within the congregation, Smith says the church is focusing on healing — healing for the victims, healing for the families and healing for the congregation. More here-

http://www.therolladailynews.com/news/x503113159/Scandal-rocks-church

Bishop condemns corruption in churches

From New Vision-

The retired Bishop of South Rwenzori Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Zebedee Masereka, has lashed out at the Anglican community in Uganda, saying it is riddled with corruption.

Masereka, who is the pioneer bishop of the diocese, also condemned discrimination on tribal, ethnic, religious and geographical grounds, saying these are some of the symptoms of stunted Christianity.

He said it was becoming increasingly hard for Anglican churches in Uganda to elect bishops and other high-level church leaders who are not native to the dioceses.

Masereka said corruption had invaded the national electoral process and called upon Christians to take over political offices in order to curb the vice.

He was speaking during celebrations to mark the South Rwenzori silver jubilee at the newly-constructed St.Paul’s Cathedral in Kamaiba in Kasese municipality on Sunday.

Masereka, who is also the NRM chairman for Kasese, said he had come face to face with corruption in the ongoing NRM primaries.

He attributed corruption to spiritual weakness and poor family morals. “Corruption starts at home, so instil the culture of uprightness among your children. Family transformation is the only way to a clean future,” he noted.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/18/731201

Pope won't be arrested in UK, protesters admit

From The London Telegraph

Campaigners supported by Prof Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist, had hoped to have Benedict XVI held over his supposed cover-up of child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

But leaders of the Protest the Pope coalition now admit that the Pontiff cannot be arrested as Britain acknowledges him as a head of state, granting him sovereign immunity from criminal prosecution.

It came as the Pope himself announced that he “can’t wait” to arrive in the country next Thursday for the first-ever state papal visit to Britain.

The opponents of the historic event, who represent human rights, equality and secular groups, still plan to hold a march and rally in central London in protest at the estimated £12million cost to taxpayers of the state visit and Benedict XVI’s stance on sexuality, contraception and clerical abuse.

But at an unusual meeting at the “neutral ground” of New Scotland Yard, they assured the Most Rev Peter Smith, the Archbishop of Southwark, that their events would be peaceful and lawful.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/the-pope/7989636/Pope-wont-be-arrested-in-UK-protesters-admit.html

Student's Sewanee suit to get U.S. trial

From Chattanooga-

A September trial is set in a case alleging mistreatment of a freshman who says he had to leave Sewanee: The University of the South with no recourse for defending himself against a rape allegation.

The trial, in U.S. District Court in Winchester, Tenn., could reveal the identities of the student and his parents. The court so far has granted anonymity to protect them from what they say was a false rape allegation that never led to criminal charges.

At issue is whether Sewanee, an Episcopal school, followed its own as well as federal protocols for resolving allegations of sexual misconduct among students.

Colleges and universities that receive federal funding, such as Sewanee, must at least follow the federal protocol, which includes giving "due process to both parties involved" and investigating complaints thoroughly.

But the 45-page lawsuit filed in June 2009 by "John Doe" and his parents claims the school never did that. The lawsuit claims the school "recklessly" pieced together an incompetent investigation that disregarded Mr. Doe's rights and ignored the female accuser's "serious chemical and psychological issues."

Mr. Doe and his parents are seeking a $1 million judgment for, among other things, "injury to reputation." They also want Sewanee to pay $2 million in punitive damages.

Mr. Doe's attorney, Charles B. Wayne, of Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the case.

The university has answered the allegations by denying any negligence in its handling of Mr. Doe's case, court records show. A Sewanee spokesman said that the school does not comment on pending litigation.

More here-

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/may/22/students-sewanee-suit-to-get-us-trial/