Posted on 02/14/2007 8:32:32 AM PST by Alex Murphy
NEWTON — A Vernon man who police have accused of failing to register as a sex offender was a local pastor for the Reformed Catholic Church, prompting a surprised and saddened archbishop to suspend him from his duties and privileges on Tuesday.
The Rev. Sean-Michael Lyons, 44, a Sussex County resident for more than six years, was arrested Friday and charged with the violation of Megan's Law. Newton Memorial Hospital, which was surprised to hear of the arrest, had last week suspended Lyons without pay from his job as a mental health clinician, pending the outcome of the investigation.
Lyons is listed as a pastor with the Damien of Molokai Chapel in Lake Wallkill and for the Tri-County Independent Catholic Pastoral Centre in Matamoras, Pa. Those listings were taken down from the Web site as of Tuesday afternoon.
"The Reformed Catholic Church is stunned and deeply saddened to learn of the recent arrest of Sean Michael Lyons," said Monsignor H. Eduardo Gonzales, on behalf of national Archbishop Phillip Zimmerman.
"It is the decision of the presiding Archbishop to suspend Rev. Lyons of all clerical faculties and privileges pending the completion of all investigations. Everyone involved in this process will be held in prayer."
The church is a branch-off from Roman Catholicism that says it traces their succession back to Peter in 38 A.D. Their Web site says the church celebrates Mass in the liturgical structure of Roman Catholicism, "however in regards to social justice, we are an inclusive church. We accept all people and hold no bounds or limits to people seeking the love of God."
Although they are a "newly formed rite, we remain in, and honor, the traditions of the Orthodox Catholic churches and the old Catholic Church of Utrecht, Netherlands."
Vernon police reported Lyons moved from California to Mexico in 2000 and relocated to Vernon in October of that year. Lyons posted $5,000 bail on Friday pending a future court appearance.
There was no phone listing available for Lyons and no answer to a phone call at the number listed for his parishes.
Lyons' original charges involved lewd acts in California during the 1980s, but San Diego District Attorney Garland Peed said he could not comment on the specifics until he reviewed the case file.
Peed has ordered the file out of storage to assist Sussex County authorities, and expects to have it in his office later this week.
The timing of Lyons' arrest, after had he resided in the area for six years, remains unclear.
"All I know is that our prosecutor's office contacted us," Vernon Lt. Daniel Zill said.
The Sussex County Prosecutor's Office declined to speak about what sparked the arrest.
"That's part of an investigation process," First Assistant Prosecutor Bill Fitzgibbons said. "I can't discuss it."
Lyons was hired by Newton Memorial Hospital in April after he presented state-issued certifications and passed an extensive background check, hospital spokesman John Brand said.
The hospital works with Sterling Testing Systems, a New York-based company that specializes in background checks, for all its employees.
Newton Memorial Hospital is in the "top echelon" of precise background checks and showed due diligence before hiring Lyons, but a prior record can slip through when someone is migratory or has not reported to their status to police, said Edward Shenker, executive vice president at Sterling Testing Systems.
"This is by far the exception to the rule," Shenker said of the Lyons case. "We never, ever state to any client there is a 100 percent likelihood of getting everything. The good news is 99 percent of the time these guys get caught."
Sterling's checks gave no indication of any criminal record for Lyons, he said.
The company also checked all variations of Lyons' name, especially since "Sean-Michael" may or may not always be hyphenated. In other cases, it is not uncommon for twin brothers to use each others' names or sons to use their father's name to circumvent the law, Shenker said.
"Criminals will do just about anything and go to any length in order to seal their identity," he said.
Although they are a "newly formed rite, we remain in, and honor, the traditions of the Orthodox Catholic churches and the old Catholic Church of Utrecht, Netherlands."
The "Old Catholic" churches broke with Rome after Vatican I over the issue of Papal infallibility.
They're now basically analogous to continental European liberal Episcopalians, including ordaining women and winking at homosexual sins. IOW, they're more like liberal Protestants than anything else.
One more traditional/orthodox group, the "Polish National Catholic Church" (which is really Polish-American, not Polish), which wasn't part of the original Old Catholic schism but later entered full communion with the Old Catholics, has now broken with them over these issues and is now moving closer to returning to the Roman fold.
It's called "discussing current news".
Doing what? Article doesn't say. And his conviction was in the 80's in Calif long before Megans Law. I'll wait to hear the whole story.
I'm glad to see at least one other Catholic who thinks reunion with the Polish National Catholic Church is possible.
And I do believe that they were actually expelled (PNC) from the Union of Utrecht for refusing to ordain women, though they probably would have left on their own.
(source Touchstone Magazine)
**Reformed Catholic Church**
New term to me.
**Reformed Catholic Church**
New term to me.
In other words, NOT Catholic.
In other words, NOT Catholic. >>
In other words, protestant.
So...this guy gets busted over 20 years ago, moves across country, and is now a priest, who works as a clinician in a hospital? That takes, like, a Master's, right? Sounds like the guy rehabilitated, but the past caught up with him. How old was he then? Like 20? Seems like society really needs to re-read last Sunday's Catholic readings: Is. 43;16-21 ("Remember not the things of the past...See, I am doing something new") and Jn. 8 ("I do not condemn you; go, and from now on do not sin anymore."). As for the "Reform Catholics", aren't they a pretty big Old Catholic group?
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