[Married] Lutheran minister to become Roman Catholic priest

AP ^ | June 9, 2003

[george wythe]

Much as Martin Luther left the Catholic Church hundreds of years ago because he didn't like the church's direction, a Lutheran minister is becoming a Roman Catholic priest.

The Rev. Leonard Klein, whose last service as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in York is June 29, says the Evangelical Church in America is moving further and further from orthodoxy. Klein, who follows a traditional view of marriage, said issues such as the blessing of same-sex unions should not even be up for debate

The decision was difficult because he is leaving a congregation that he has been happy to serve for 22 years, he said.

"It's certainly a loss," said the Rev. Beth Schlegel, an associate pastor at Christ Lutheran.

Klein, 57, is to attend St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, and is to be ordained after three years.

Klein is married, which will make him an oddity among Roman Catholic priests. The Roman Catholic Church accepts a few married clergymen as priest candidates if they come from a faith tradition close to Catholicism, Klein said. Most are Lutherans and Episcopalians.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[george wythe]

You made good points.

Perhaps the next Pope will provide a solution to this issue by providing limited exemptions (on a case-by-case basis) or allowing one order to ordain married men.

[sinkspur]

I made a mistake in my previous post.

The Church will not allow an ordained permanent deacon to marry.

It should, but it won't.

We've lost three permanent deacons here after their wives died. They all had children still at home, and decided to marry again and give up the diaconate.

[Jhoffa_]

You are woefully ignorant of the discipline of celibacy and it's Scriptural foundation.

So am I, and I freely admit such.

Care to illuminate this a bit for me?

[sitetest]

Dear sinkspur,

"Which they wouldn't do, and shouldn't do, since they're watching married converts waltz into the priesthood and enjoy the full fruits of both."

Yes, but that is a different circumstance, as well. The converts are married BEFORE they are ordained. Ask whether Fr. Neuhaus is now free to marry.

"Actually, it will. The permanent diaconate is one state of Holy Orders."

No, you need to read a little more carefully.

What I said was:

"But what the Church will not tolerate, in any of the Catholic Churches, West or East, is for an ordained man to then marry, and participate actively to both the marital and clerical states at the same time."

Once you are ordained, even to the diaconate, you may not marry, right? And if you are married, and are ordained to the diaconate, what happens if your wife dies? May you marry again?

"We'll never agree about this, but I enjoy the dialogue anyway."

I think that we agree in some areas and not others, but I enjoy the dialogue, too. I think that is because we see that our differences are slight, exist within the bounds of Catholic teaching, not beyond it, and we appreciate the good will in the other.

sitetest

[NYer]

"Someone above said that, according to the Virginia Catholic, the Vatican is no longer suspending Eastern Rite priests who are marrying. (I'm trying to find this somewhere)."

While this does not spell out the new vatican ruling, the story supports your statement.

The Vatican has cautiously opened the door to the ordination of married men as Byzantine Catholic priests in the United States.

The change comes as the Metropolitan Byzantine Archdiocese of Pittsburgh prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary tomorrow at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown. But the new law is not a full return to the church's practice of 75 years ago, when Rome's permission was not needed.

A set of newly approved canon laws for the archdiocese permits bishops to submit the names of married candidates to Rome for approval on a case-by-case basis.

This does not set a precedent for Latin-rite Catholics, which make up the majority of Catholics in the United States.

Married men have always been ordained in Eastern Catholic churches in Europe and the Middle East. But Rome banned the practice in America in 1929 after Latin-rite bishops complained that Slavic priests with wives and children were scandalizing the Irish faithful. That ban led many Eastern Catholics here to convert to Orthodoxy.

But as of today, when the new law takes effect, "it is possible to ordain a married deacon [to the priesthood], with permission from Rome. The door is not closed," said Metropolitan Judson Procyk of Pittsburgh, who has championed the traditional Eastern married priesthood. Eastern Catholic churches are under the authority of the pope, but follow the liturgy and many practices of Orthodoxy.

As in the Orthodox churches, married men may become priests but men who are already priests cannot marry, even if they become widowed. Bishops must be celibate. The Metropolitan Byzantine Archdiocese of Pittsburgh is the only Eastern church in the United States that answers directly to Rome rather than to a primate in Eastern Europe or the Middle East. With about 100 priests and 95 parishes, it extends south to Texas, but most of its 81,000 members are in Western Pennsylvania. It over sees three other dioceses, which cover the nation.

Last year, Procyk was set to announce that Rome had approved 50 new canons governing everything from seminary education to sacraments. One would have allowed Byzantine bishops in the United States to ordain married men without special permission.

But a conservative Catholic news organization misinterpreted the change as a revolt against Rome. The Vatican then placed all 50 laws on hold while talks continued between officials of the Vatican's Congregation for Oriental Churches and Byzantine canon lawyers from the United States. The Vatican approved the final text this year. Procyk said that the new law on ordination is not a compromise.

"It is a clarification of where the church is right now," he said. Procyk has no immediate plan to admit married men to SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary on the North Side.

"I have no specific person in mind at this point, but it certainly is likely that, in the future, this will certainly happen," he said. In 1980, the Vatican gave permission for married former Episcopal priests to be ordained as Latin-rite priests. But the first ordination did not take place until 1982 because an administrative structure had to be set up. About 100 of those married men are now priests in the United States.

Pope John Paul II has called for Eastern Catholics to reclaim their own traditions and cast off Western practices they had adopted in order to blend in. As part of that renewal, several years ago Rome released an Eastern code of canon law that authorized each self-governing church to develop laws for its own territory. The new Byzantine laws are the work of a commission that Procyk established in 1995. Reaction so far is mixed and cautious.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, an expert on the Vatican's relationship with the U.S. bishops and editor of the Jesuit magazine America, believes the Vatican is moving to rectify a 70-year-old injustice. In 10 years, he said, Byzantine bishops may no longer have to seek Roman approval to ordain.

"Rome makes changes incrementally. This has to be seen as a first step," he said.

"The question is why the bishops' judgment isn't trusted when they want to ordain married men, while they are trusted to ordain unmarried men. This has nothing to do with logic. I think Rome just doesn't want to give any signals to the Latin rite that change is possible." Among Latin bishops there is curiosity and concern. "You wonder what it will do to their vocations. It will be interesting to see," said Bishop Anthony Bosco of the Diocese of Greensburg. "I think they may introduce this gradually. Put a toe in the water and see how it plays in Peoria."

Vatican officials would not have approved the law unless they planned to approve married candidates, Bosco said. After nearly 20 years of married former Episcopal priests and 30 years of married deacons, Latin Catholics should no longer be shocked by married clergy, he said. But Bosco wonders how the Byzantine bishops will respond to transfer requests from Latin-rite married men seeking ordination.

Byzantine bishops are already hesitant to accept candidates from the Latin church, said the Rev. John Petro, rector of SS. Cyril & Methodius

Seminary.

The mere desire to marry is "not a reason to be a viable candidate," he said. "As we do now, we would ask that they begin attending the liturgy somewhere, join a parish and become an active member of the parish."

Currently, 14 men are enrolled at the seminary. Petro said the students have raised more questions about another new law requiring each graduate to do a year of pastoral field work before ordination.

The Rev. Richard Lelonis, a canonical consultant for the Diocese of Pittsburgh who is a priest in both the Byzantine and Latin rites, doubts that married Byzantine priests will become much more common than married former Episcopalians have become in the Latin church. He doesn't expect a surge in Byzantine seminarians. "The call to the priesthood is bigger than the call to celibacy," he said.

[Tamar1973]

You are woefully ignorant of the discipline of celibacy and it's Scriptural foundation.

You are the ignorant one. Paul made celibacy a recommended by VOLUNTARY status. The RCC, for reasons of its own, made celibacy MANDATORY for priests and bishops.

I feel the Eastern Orthodox Church has a much more reasonable stance on this issue: if a man wants to be a bishop, monk, etc., he must take vows of celibacy. If he simply wants to serve in a local parish somewhere as a priest, his is allowed to marry.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Actually several of the apostles were married. Celibacy was not implemented in the RC Church until the Middle Ages. The reason it was implemented was the Church had become the largest landholder in Europe and they could not afford Priests having legitimate offspring.

You're incorrect on several points. The Apostles gave up everything to follow Christ, even those who were married. Suggest you review Matthew 19:27-30 and Luke 18:28-30, Canons XXVII and XXXIII of the Council of Elvira 295-302 AD and St. Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, Book VII Chapter XI which says in part:

'They say, accordingly, that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, "Remember thou the Lord." Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them.

Thus also the apostle says, "that he who marries should be as though he married not," and deem his marriage free of inordinate affection, and inseparable from love to the Lord; to which the true husband exhorted his wife to cling on her departure out of this life to the Lord.'

Your claim about the Church not being able to afford legitimate offspring as the catalyst for the discipline of celibacy being implemented in the middle ages is an oft quoted urban legend. Celibacy and the priesthood even predates Christ.

[sinkspur]

Perhaps the next Pope will provide a solution to this issue by providing limited exemptions (on a case-by-case basis) or allowing one order to ordain married men.

Maybe. But the Church skirts "tradition" through exceptions, like the Anglican dispensation.

There is no question that married clergy would bring a new dimension of cleric to the priesthood; the Anglican converts I've met are better preachers, they're even MORE available than the celibates, and they have experiences they can share that celibates cannot. I haven't heard a single negative thing about any of them.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Review Matthew 19:12, 27-30 and Luke 18:28-30 for starters. Then do a little reading about Melchisedech. The Apostles gave up everything, including the wives of those who were married, to follow Christ. The discipline is praised by both Christ and Paul, who themselves were celibate as were Elias and John the Baptist, as well as many others. In the Eastern Rite married men may be ordained. However, once ordained a priest may not then marry. Those who are married must adopt the discipline of celibacy if their spouse should die, same as the ~200 Protestant ministers who have converted to Catholicism, been granted a dipensation by the Pope and then were ordained.

[nutmeg]

ping

[Tamar1973]

Review Matthew 19:12, 27-30 and Luke 18:28-30 for starters. Then do a little reading about Melchisedech. The Apostles gave up everything, including the wives of those who were married, to follow Christ.

If they divorced their wives, which is not told to us in scripture, they were sinning and Christ certainly would NOT have praised them for divorcing their wives to follow Him. Jesus Himself said that He hated divorce and only adultery was valid grounds for divorce.

The discipline is praised by both Christ and Paul, who themselves were celibate as were Elias and John the Baptist, as well as many others.

If it is voluntary, that is fine. Y'shua and Paul CHOSE celibacy, they never forced it on anyone. There is not a single notation in scripture that makes celibacy a REQUIREMENT for high church office. The RCC had/has its own motives for requiring celibacy that have a lot more to do with money than with imitating Messiah.

[sinkspur]

But as of today, when the new law takes effect, "it is possible to ordain a married deacon [to the priesthood], with permission from Rome. The door is not closed," said Metropolitan Judson Procyk of Pittsburgh, who has championed the traditional Eastern married priesthood.

And now, it appears that the Church is making an exception to elevating an ordained man to another order.

"The question is why the bishops' judgment isn't trusted when they want to ordain married men, while they are trusted to ordain unmarried men. This has nothing to do with logic. I think Rome just doesn't want to give any signals to the Latin rite that change is possible."

.....and things continue to change......

[sinkspur]

The RCC had/has its own motives for requiring celibacy that have a lot more to do with money than with imitating Messiah.

Financial considerations are not the primary motivation in requiring celibacy, but there is no doubt they provide a lesser motive.

Let him accept it who can accept it has been interpreted to mean "You are not called by God to be a priest if you are married." Well, we know that's not true, as the Eastern Rite and the converts have proven.

Next? There is precedent for allowing married deacons to become priests, so the pool of 15,000 married deacons would be a natural source.

[sitetest]

Dear sinkspur,

"And now, it appears that the Church is making an exception to elevating an ordained man to another order."

No, that's not so at all, sinkspur. This is occuring in the Eastern Catholic Churches in the United States, not the Roman Catholic Church. What's happening here is that Eastern Catholics are being permitted, in the United States, to return to their own traditional practices.

And Roman Catholics are continuing our own traditional practices of the general rule of celibacy for priests.


sitetest

[sitetest]

Dear sinkspur,

"There is precedent for allowing married deacons to become priests,..."

It is far, far more likely that this will occur before priests who left the clerical state to marry in the Church are permitted back to the clerical state without first abandoning the marital state.

But even this is unlikely in the Roman Church.

sitetest

[Salvation]

** issues such as the blessing of same-sex unions should not even be up for debate**

This person has it more together than some current priests, bishops and cardinals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Coleus]

Good for him..I hope everything works out well.. We have a few in our diocese who are married too.

[Salvation]

That wasn't necessary!

[Coleus]

What do you suppose we do with the Protestants who are "married" and still "abuse" children? Some say it's the celibacy issue of the RCC and yet many married Protestant Clergy abuse children. I guess Satan has his roots in all religions. There is a big coverup going on here with married Protestant Ministers abusing Children. What will happen to them during the Rapture?

726 PROTESTant MINISSTERS ABUSE CHILDREN

http://www.reformation.com/CSA/startPage.html

http://www.cin.org/users/msmith/reformation/baptistsabuse.html

Catholic bashing and pedophile priests
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26955


Minister Rapes Teen
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0530minister-sexcharge-ON.html

Sex scandals also affect Protestant clergy
http://www.freep.com/news/religion/prot5_20020405.htm

U.S. Protestants also facing sex abuse scandals
Expert: Frequency of abuse by Protestant clergy may equal that of Catholic priests
http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/040602/rel_040602027.shtml

Accusations filed against NY ministers
http://www.layman.org/layman/news/news-from-pcusa/accusations-filed-against-ny-ministers.htm

A 14-year-old girl in foster care is raped and impregnated by Deacon Stephen Andrews of the Advent Christian Church in Kennebunk, Maine, a trusted figure. She gives birth. Andrews gets 5 years in prison, 3 of them suspended, despite the protests of the prosecutor.

Salvation Army Captain William Douglas is convicted of molesting, sodomizing and sexually terrorizing young Indian boys in a village in British Columbia. Douglas was acquitted of similar charges in 1985; the judge said he could not accept that a minister would lie.

Born-again Delaware preacher William J. Keichline, Sr. is commended by the legislature for running Mission of Care ministry for the homeless. As a landlord he assaults and rapes a girl for 3 years starting when she is 7, threatening to evict her family if she tells. He gets eight 20 year prison terms for rape, bondage and child pornography.

Included in the study were prominent clergy and evangelists who had made names for themselves through special ministries or "good works."

The profile of the typical minister charged with molesting children: a 45-year-old man (ages ranged from 24 to 80 at the time of arrest), with 4 to 5 named victims, most often boys in their early teens.

Of all the accused, 37% involved female victims, 58% male victims, and 3.2% children of both sexes. (In 1% of the cases, the sex of the victim was not identified.)

Charges for all 190 cases involved a total of 847 victims. Most ministers, however, were suspected of molesting many other children. Conservatively, the 190 clergy had at least 4,000 other victims, for a low estimate of an average of 21 victims each. These children were not included in charges for pragmatic legal reasons, because they had been molested in other cities and times, or because the statute of limitations had been exceeded. Some estimates were anecdotal based on investigations or confessions by the molester.

Convicted ministers averaged 5 victims each, with 133 ministers molesting at least 651 named victims.

Information on the marital status of Protestants, gleaned from newspaper accounts so therefore incomplete, showed that at least 43% were married. This would dispel the idea that celibacy alone triggers ministerial child molestation. Twelve cases involved clergy charged with molesting their own children, stepchildren, adopted children or foster children.

While many see therapy as a panacea for this crime, only about a third of the convicted ministers and priests had had some kind of counseling or psychiatric evaluation, mandated or otherwise.

Typical Profile

The average age of priests charged last year with sexual abuse of children was 50 years. The range was 35 to 73 years.

The average Protestant minister was 46 years, with a similar range.

Lay Catholics and Protestants charged with sexual abuse were typically caught while in their 30's.


Many Previous Records
Shockingly, 11 out of 46 Protestant ministers charged in 1990 with criminal sexual abuse had prior convictions--almost a quarter of the cases:

All prior convictions were since 1985. Most of the men received light sentences enabling them to return to the pulpit--and continued sexual abuse of children--quickly. Churches are not only failing to check ministers' records, but in some instances are knowingly hiring convicted child molesters.

Five of the 23 nonordained Protestant church workers charged last year had had run-ins with authorities, including one discharged from the Navy for molesting boys.
In 22% of the cases, cover-ups shielding Protestant ministers were reported, in a variety of denominations. These included out-of-court settlements, defrocking a suspected child abuser but not notifying authorities about the abuse, "spiritual support," complicity, congregations applauding accused abusers, and telling reporters "The whole church knows he's not guilty," and "We're solidly behind him." "Satan can get his claws into anyone," said the friend of an Episcopalian rector accused of 73 counts of sodomizing and abusing mentally and emotionally handicapped boys before church functions.

The most blatant cover-up involved a Salvation Army minister who was permitted to keep his job and given continuing access to children after back-to-back arrests for sexually abusing children at the church.

"CHURCH EVANGELIZERS PREYED ON LOW-INCOME KIDS.

Men from a rural Baptist church known for its aggressive evangelizing of children are suspected of molesting as many as 22 boys & girls. The associate pastor, volunteer bus driver & a third church member are believed to have fondled some & raped others, ranging in age from 3 to 10, on church buses & property. Charges involving 10 victims were brought against Associate Pastor Timothy Lee Leonard, 32, of North Sharon Baptist Church near Grass Lake, & volunteer Sunday school bus driver, church deacon Mark Foeller. Three other church members are being investigated. The suspects went to low-income housing projects or trailer parks in 4 counties, telling parents they would "take the children to church & teach them about God", according to Det. Robert Fitzpatrick, Jackson Co. Men would walk up to children in their yards, coaxing them with treats to come to weekend services or summer Bible school. Leonard was relieved of church duties involving children in August, after police started investigating him when a doctor reported suspected abuse in a child with a sexual disease. He also worked as instructor & gym teacher in the North Sharon Christian School, enrolling about 65 students. "
We have to keep our kids _safe_ from Baptist pedophiles!
Buzz Kelly

* BRONSON MINISTER ARRAIGNED.

First Congregational Church minister David Covert Moore was charged with 5 counts of criminal sexual conduct of 4 children under the age of 15. In July he checked himself into Pine Rest Christian Counseling Services in Grand Rapids. Source: Jackson Citizen Patriot 8/29/92.
* AIR FORCE CHAPLAIN RAIDED. Deputies raided the home of Veterans Administration chaplain Rev. Donald G. Phillips, of Butler County, seizing 500 video tapes, movie equipment and restraints following a tip that he produced pornographic movies with young girls. The Baptist minister recently received the highest recognition awarded a VA chaplain, "the Award for Excellence in Chaplain Service". Source:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/19/92.

* BAPTIST VOLUNTEER CONVICTED.

Granite State Baptist Church volunteer David Kirsch, 39, of Salem, was convicted of sexually assaulting 6 young girls through the church from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Source: USA Today 9/25/92.

* MINISTER & GIRLFRIEND INDICTED.

Trenton pastor Franklin Tucker, 37, Final Call Ministry, was indicted for molesting his girlfriend's daughters, 9 & 15. His girlfriend was indicted for forcing her daughters to recant the allegations to police. The abuse came to light when the 9-year-old told a school official, who contacted police. Source: Trenton Times 9/15/92.

* CIVIL SUIT: 11-YEAR-OLD MOLESTED.

A family in Dare County, North Carouna is suing Methodist minister Carl M. Eller for abusing their daughter, 11, as well as the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, a bishop and a reverend for knowing of his history of sexual misconduct but doing nothing about it. The family says she was molested when her father, a carpenter, was installing cabinets in the parsonage. Eller pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal assault on a female. However, the family said that in 1987 Eller had molested or made lewd comments to 4 women at his church, and forcibly kissed and touched 2 girls age 13. Three women had lodged formal complaints with the church, but the only action was to transfer him from Aurora to Hamlet. Source: News & Observer 1/15/92.

* BAPTIST PASTOR RESIGNS AMID SCANDAL.

Asheville Baptist pastor Michael R. Stewart, 34, of Oakley, resigned following his arrest in a prostitution sting. Stewart's name was among 400 on a full-page ad that month promoting family & traditional biblical values. Source:
Citizen-Times 6/30/92.

* CHURCH SUED FOR NEGLIGENCE.

One of several girls who said Alva minister Rev. Robert Bruce Brigden molested her is suing the First Presbyterian Church for failing to check his background before hiring him. Allegations of sexual crimes were made at his former position in Kansas. Charges allege that he molested Alva church girls, ages 4 to 14. The church posted his bond. Source: _Tulsa Tribune

* PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER GETS 40 YEARS.

Rev. Robert Bruce Brigden was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting young girls in his congregation, convicted on 8 counts of lewd molestation & 1 count of rape by instrumentation involving a girl, 7. Bridgen, 57, was accused of molesting 11 girls, aged 4 to 14, during the 4 years he was at the Alva church. His congregation put the church up as bond, insisting he was innocent. He was placed in protected custody. Brigden blamed his arrest on a girl, 4, whose parents were the first to take the children's allegations seriously. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Brigden wrote his wife about the 4-year-old, whom he described as "4 going on 400 years old", saying she invited him to spend the night in her bed, & was mad that he declined. Source: Tulsa Tribune 8/92, Tulsa World 9/3/92, _Daily Oklahoman_ 6/14/92.

* CHURCH VOLUNTEER CHARGED WITH CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.

Church volunteer Seven Jon Long, 41, was arrested for sodomy and taking pornographic pictures of young girls under 12 from Assembly of God Church in Rogue River, where he was a youth volunteer. He told detectives his pictures were art. Source: Daily Courier, Grants Pass, 4/17/92.

* CONVICTED PASTOR "RIGHT WITH LORD".

Rev. Virgil Carpenter, 48, pastor of Bible Missionary Church in Ontario, was convicted of sodomy & sexual abuse of a girl, 9, over a 1-1/2 year period. A jury convicted Carpenter of 2 felony counts of sodomy & 4 felony counts of sexual abuse. He faces 5 additional felony charges in 2 upcoming trials. "I'm really not worried," he told supporters who had gathered in the courtroom before the verdict. "I'm right with the Lord." Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times 10/11/92.

Troubled Newark reverend removed
Sex offender loses Shiloh Baptist post

Wednesday, May 07, 2003
BY WILLIAM KLEINKNECHT
Star-Ledger Staff

A convicted sex offender from Florida who was hired as pastor of Newark's Shiloh Baptist Church has been removed from the position, a state official said yesterday.
Joseph Delmar, spokesman for the state Division of Youth and Family Services, said the church informed the agency that its leaders voted Thursday to remove the Rev. Chavalis T. Williams as pastor.

DYFS was involved because Williams, as pastor, was a board member of Shiloh Rainbow Academy, the church's day care center. The agency had warned the academy that Williams could not be allowed on the day care's premises.
"We have been informed by Shiloh that the Rev. Williams is no longer employed by the church," Delmar said. "Our concerns for the safety of the children have been met."
A number of church members said John Sabb, chairman of the church's board of deacons, informed the congregation of Williams' removal at a special meeting Monday night.
Sabb declined to comment.

In 1999, Williams, then known as Chavalis Bonsell, pleaded guilty to arranging for two teenagers to have sex in front of him and others while working at a facility for troubled teens in Jacksonville, Fla. At the time of his arrest, he was on probation after pleading guilty to an earlier charge of beating his wife.

After pleading guilty to charges of child abuse and using children in a sexual performance, Williams was sentenced to six months in jail and 30 months of probation.
Shiloh's leadership knew he was a registered sex offender in Florida and hired him in mid-March, provoking outrage among some members of the congregation. Many members of the church pressed the leadership to rescind his $45,000 annual contract.

Since being hired, Williams commuted from Florida and had only been at the church on two or three occasions, relying on associate ministers for Sunday sermons. He told the congregation he was planning to relocate to New Jersey.
Williams previously declined repeated requests for a comment on his past and could not be reached yesterday.
The controversy over Williams' pastorship divided the once close-knit church, which is on Davenport Avenue in the city's North Ward and will soon be celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The church's leadership and many members of the congregation strongly supported Williams, a 27-year-old known for his inspiring sermons. Leaders of the church were irate that some members had leaked his past to the media.
But another group felt the church had been taken in by a con artist. They said Williams denied that he was a registered sex offender in Florida when he was confronted by church members and appeared to be trying to collect his pay as pastor without living in New Jersey.

Why weren't these stories given national press coverage? Why is there a coverup of Christian pedophile ministers' crimes against America's children???