Damned Pervert Priests - and other assorted Holy Scumbags

[Fake Messiah]

Dozens of boys say they were abused in a Christian scouting program that vowed to raise godly men

The boys had been taught to obey their elders, and how to pitch tents and build campfires along the creek-lined woods of western Oregon. They could dutifully recite the motto for the Royal Rangers, a Pentecostal version of the Boy Scouts. “Ready for anything,” they chanted in unison.

But no one had prepared them for this: Adults sometimes do bad things to children. And when people in power find out, they don’t always act.

Travis Reger learned that hard lesson around 1984, at age 10. That’s when, he says, a Royal Rangers commander from his Assemblies of God church in Albany, Oregon, fondled him and another boy at a sleepover.

What haunts Reger most is what he says happened after his father confronted the pastor: practically nothing. By the time the Royal Rangers leader was convicted in 1988 of abusing two other children, at least 18 boys said they had been molested by him and a fellow troop leader, according to lawsuits and police records.

“That’s what gets me choked up every time,” Reger said. “The church never did anything.”

The program draws participants as young as kindergartners with a promise to mold them into Christlike men through Bible study and backpacking.

But the Royal Rangers have also shattered childhoods, a danger the organization’s national leaders have known about for decades, an NBC News investigation found. Reporters have spent a year examining sexual abuse allegations within the Assemblies of God, which has 13,000 churches across the United States. Despite dozens of lawsuits and pleas from survivors, the denomination has resisted making child safety policies mandatory — including for the Royal Rangers.

At least 29 Royal Rangers leaders have been accused of sexually abusing boys in their care over the past half century, according to a review of lawsuits, police reports and news clips. The volunteers were often well-regarded: men with master’s degrees, sons of pastors or aspiring preachers themselves. One was a judge in Pennsylvania who pleaded guilty in 2021 to the corruption of minors. They lured their alleged victims under the guise of woodworking projects, rides home from school and games of Dungeons & Dragons.

The men were accused of sexually abusing at least 83 boys in the Royal Rangers and dozens more outside the ministry — though the true total is almost certainly higher. Like other scouting programs, the Royal Rangers have attracted serial predators whose full victim counts may never be known.

Some abuses surfaced only by chance. In Florida, a longtime Royal Rangers leader was arrested in 2000 after his abandoned storage unit was auctioned off. The buyer called police after discovering a photo book of nude children titled “Boys Will Be Boys!” along with Polaroids of a naked child. Confronted by authorities, the man handed over hundreds more pictures and confessed to molesting Royal Rangers over three decades, photographing each victim as a keepsake, according to police records and news reports.

Church officials allowed men convicted of molesting boys to lead Royal Rangers troops, enabling them to harm again, criminal records show. Some Assemblies of God ministers sent suspected abusers to counseling or put them on probation rather than calling police. Others were accused of pressuring children into silence.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/roy...rcna247409

[zebo-the-fat]

It's always the god botherers never the plumbers or engineers!

[Mister Agenda]

I was a Royal Ranger, sounds like I got off lighter than I thought.

[Fake Messiah]

New York Catholic Church agrees to mediation for 1,300 sexual abuse claims

The Roman Catholic Church in New York and more than 1,300 accusers on Monday announced they have agreed to mediation to settle sexual abuse claims that could result in one of the largest payouts ever by the church in the United States.

With civil litigation against the Archdiocese of New York due to come to trial next year, the archdiocese agreed to negotiate settlements over the next two months, said attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents some 300 of the 1,311 accusers whose claims date from 1952 to 2020.

In announcing the negotiations, the Archdiocese of New York acknowledged a "darkness" in its past and said it hoped to achieve a global settlement that would provide victim-survivors with "the most financial compensation possible." The archdiocese said it has laid off staff, cut costs and put real estate assets up for sale in hopes of raising $300 million for victims.

A payout of $300 million would rank as one of the largest ever by a U.S. archdiocese. Anderson said the total payout could surpass the record $880 million paid to a similar number of accusers by the Los Angeles archdiocese in 2024. That settlement was mediated by retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel Buckley, who will also mediate the New York case.

The church said its effort to compensate victims was "complicated" by its ongoing legal struggles with Chubb Insurance Companies, which it said has refused to pay sexual misconduct claims for policies that the church had taken out for decades before 2000.

Chubb in turn accused the archdiocese of tolerating and covering up child sexual abuse for decades and called for more transparency, saying the archdiocese has refused to share "what they knew and when."

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government...025-12-09/

[Fake Messiah]

51 priests named in AG’s report detailing sexual abuse in Diocese of Grand Rapids

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has released a report detailing allegations of sexual abuse involving dozens of priests from the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

No criminal charges have been issued in connection with the report’s findings.

The 336-page report, released Monday morning, was made public to “acknowledge the reports of abuse from victims and to report the Department’s findings,” according to Nessel’s office. This is the fifth of what will eventually be seven reports detailing sexual assault allegations involving Catholic priests at the six Dioceses and the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Monday’s report names 51 priests who were alleged to have committed sexual misconduct against either children or adults since Jan. 1, 1950.

No criminal charges were filed as a result of the investigation into the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Nessel told reporters Monday that, of the cases that had complainants willing to cooperate in the investigation, many of them either included priests who have died or the statute of limitations had already expired.

https://www.wilx.com/2025/12/15/51-pries...nd-rapids/

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Longtime children's pastor Joe Campbell arrested on child sex abuse charges

Joe Campbell, a Pentecostal preacher who for half a century ministered to thousands of children across four states, has been arrested on child sex abuse charges, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday.

Campbell was charged with one count of first-degree rape and one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16, according to the charging document. U.S. marshals arrested him Wednesday morning at Camp Bell, his children's camp in Elkland, Missouri, and took him to the Greene County jail in Springfield, where he was awaiting transfer to Oklahoma. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chi...rcna210316

[Fake Messiah]

At least a dozen lawsuits filed in 2025 against Lafayette Diocese over alleged sex abuse

At least 13 lawsuits were filed in 2025, one as recently as Dec. 17, against the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, alleging sexual abuse by priests and other employees against minors across Acadiana, bringing the total pending lawsuits filed since June 2024 to about 50.

The Louisiana Supreme Court in June 2024 upheld a Louisiana law giving abuse survivors a three-year window — until June 14, 2027 — to sue for damages.

One of the lawsuits was filed in August by Ken Seward of Virginia, the husband of a deceased victim who allegedly reported her abuse to diocesan leaders under three bishops. Instead of being fired, her alleged abuser was sent to counseling and later promoted to monsignor. The victim’s entire file with the diocese allegedly disappeared.

Two of the most recent lawsuits allege abuse by former priest Gilbert Gauthe, a defrocked Acadiana clergyman who is believed to be the first priest in the country to be criminally indicted for sexually abusing hundreds of children.

Gauthe pleaded guilty to molesting 34 children and was sentenced in 1985 to 20 years in prison. He was released after serving only 10 years and today lives in Dickinson, Texas, between Houston and Galveston.

https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/new...34341.html

[Fake Messiah]

Ex-gay pastor, sexually abused a young man during Pray the Gay Away spiritual sessions.

Grammy-winning gospel singer and pastor accused of sexually abusing a young man

Donnie McClurkin, a Grammy-winning gospel singer and pastor, sexually abused a young man over several years and wrote an apology email declaring himself a “dirty 'old man,'” according to a new lawsuit.

Giuseppe Corletto says in the lawsuit that he was struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his faith when he sought out McClurkin in 2003. The lawsuit says Corletto, then 21, went to McClurkin’s church in Long Island, New York, after reading his autobiographical book, which described how God helped him overcome the “curse” of homosexuality.

McClurkin began to molest Corletto during “pray the gay away” spiritual sessions, the lawsuit says, and the abuse escalated over the next several years. During this period, Corletto worked as McClurkin’s assistant and regularly traveled with him, according to the lawsuit.

Corletto “struggled to process these incidents of sexual abuse, as [McClurkin] was both his mentor and employer, making it difficult for him to speak out about the abuse he had suffered,” the lawsuit says.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gra...rcna236379

[Fake Messiah]

'It certainly has shaken my faith': Neronha delivers long-awaited clergy sex abuse report

Six-and-a-half years after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence agreed to turn over records dating back to 1950 of alleged sexual molestation of children by priests, Attorney General Peter Neronha has finalized his investigators' report.

Among the findings and conclusions:

The Catholic Church in Rhode Island, in a determined effort to "hide scandal," allowed "dozens of priests" to abuse "hundreds of children," unstopped even in the face of credible reports, Neronha told The Providence Journal on Wednesday, Jan. 7, in an exclusive interview on the day he conveyed the long-awaited report to the diocese.

Neronha said what stood out again and again was the "inadequacy" of the church's response to allegations and the refusal of church higher-ups in Rhode Island – including then-Bishop Thomas J. Tobin – to meet with and talk to his investigators.

Summarizing his own response to the findings, Neronha said:

"Look, I was raised a Catholic [and] I find it horrible and sad in so many ways. It's obviously horrible and sad for the children who are victimized. ... You don't unwind sexual abuse. There's no healing from it."

The 192-page report, with hundreds more pages of backup materials, is not yet public and will not be for at least 10 days, to give the diocese a chance to absorb it, respond to it and take any legal action it might deem necessary.

The files the diocese promised to provide included, but were not limited to, those involving a "list of 50 credibly and publicly accused clergy" that the diocese had made public several weeks earlier.

Victims and advocates alleged that the list was not by any means exhaustive, that it omitted names and failed to fully document the assignment histories of each clergy member, show when they had come into contact with children during their careers, and reveal who knew what about each allegation – and when.

The attorney general said the report names the accused priests and the list is longer – by at least 10 names – than the list of "credibly accused" priests made public by the diocese in the summer of 2019.

Asked if the investigation had, indeed, found any accused priests still serving in the ministry, Neronha said yes, there was one. When "we brought it to the Diocese attention, they removed him from the ministry and added his name to the list."

"I think they've come a long way ... and we lay that out in the report," Neronha said. "This is not the diocese of 10 or 15 or 20, let alone 30 or 40 years ago. But nevertheless, there are some things that could be improved ... [that] are outlined in one of the chapters of this report."

He gave one example: He said that the diocese, to his knowledge, still subjects victims seeking to report abuse to polygraph tests, which can't be used in court but convey "more skepticism than it should."

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/...548819007/

[Fake Messiah]

I've seen this person mentioned in the news for the last few days, and I didn't pay much attention because I thought it was rather trivial—a big merchant of Christianity has been porking another woman on the side and now all his claims how Christian rules should govern your life seem like bullshit—but instead of fading away, I see it growing. It's like something catastrophic happened. I mean he could even quote Dostoevsky!

Even CNN and NYT recently published lengthy articles detailing how he betrayed his teachings through his marital affairs.

Yeah, it's shocking that yet another professional Christian is a fraud. Another case of: "do what I say, but not what I do."

Here's some of that CNN article:

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After confessing to an extramarital affair, a popular evangelical author faces angry Christians known for ‘eating their own’

Philip Yancey has sold millions of books and become a sought-after speaker because he tackles tough questions of faith that many Christians prefer to avoid.

But after confessing this week to an eight-year extramarital affair, the evangelical author faces a difficult question that even he may not be able to answer:

Will evangelicals extend the same grace to him that he so often wrote about in his books?

The initial answer to that question is a no, according to some evangelical pastors and commentators who reacted with shock and sadness to Yancey’s confession. They doubt whether many Christians will rally around the man who encouraged so many others struggling with their own failures of faith.

“Christians have become the best at eating their own,” Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, lead pastor of the Sheridan Church in Oklahoma, told CNN.

Years before social media, Yancey went viral for his columns in Christianity Today, the evangelical magazine, and with his books, such as 2002’s best-selling “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”

A slender, bespectacled man with a sandy-brown afro, Yancey embodied the thoughtful, erudite evangelical. He could quote Dostoevsky as well as Deuteronomy. He sprinkled his books with candid admissions about his personal struggles, such as growing up as a “born and bred racist” in the segregated South before evolving into a man who championed racial justice.

But his public persona took a hit Tuesday when he issued a statement published in Christianity Today. In the statement, he confessed to an affair and said he would retire from writing, public speaking and social media.

“To my great shame, I confess that for eight years I willfully engaged in a sinful affair with a married woman,” Yancey said. “My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage. It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families.”

He said he realizes that his moral and spiritual failure will disillusion readers who “trusted in my writing,” and that “I grieve over the devastation I have caused.”

Yancey had been scheduled to speak Wednesday evening at a church service in Pasadena, California, but canceled his appearance.

Yancey’s revelation is just the latest scandal to rock the evangelical world. Many involve famous evangelical men accused of sexual infidelity, sexual harassment or other behaviors that some Christians would classify as sins. That list includes men like Carl Lentz, the former pastor of Hillsong Church, the Rev. Bill Hybels, a megachurch pioneer, the late evangelist Ravi Zacharias, and further back, televangelists Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker.

Bass, author of “A Beautiful Year,” a book of mediations based on the Christian calendar, said she suspects many evangelicals will turn on Yancey.

“They will say that his open theology was a result of moral sinfulness, and the two things are always connected in their mind…” she said. “The failing in his personal life will probably be used as a way to undercut his more generous theological message.”

Lahmeyer, the Oklahoma pastor, said pastors and Christian leaders often labor under the burden of expectations. Lahmeyer said he doesn’t know Yancey’s private life but added that in his experience, Christian leaders must learn how to “replenish themselves” to avoid emotional droughts that lead to sin.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/08/us/ph...ristianity

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[Fake Messiah]

Spain's Catholic Church signs deal on sexual abuse compensation

Spain's Roman Catholic Church has reached an agreement with the government to compensate victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The accord follows complaints that religious leaders had failed to tackle the issue adequately.

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards are estimated by the government to have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Church figures. The move follows similar redress schemes in other nations where abuse has been uncovered.

"A democracy should not allow the existence of victims who have never been compensated [and] whose situation, on the contrary, had been covered up," said Justice Minister Félix Bolaños after signing the agreement.

He added that the agreement sought to "pay off an historic, moral debt that we had with victims of abuse within the Church".

A 2023 study by the Spanish ombudsman's office, which investigates public complaints, estimated that 1.1% of the population had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of members of the clergy or individuals linked to the Church - the equivalent of 440,000 people.

Reparation can be symbolic, psychological, or economic, according to the agreement. In each case, the Church is responsible for its execution.

The amount of financial compensation that could be paid out is not specified.

However, the ombudsman has suggested following the lead of other European countries.

In Belgium, an average of €6,000 ($7,000; £5,210) has been paid to victims in such cases, although the late Pope Francis described that amount as "too small".

Ireland's redress board paid out an average of around €63,000 to victims.

Sexual abuse by members of the clergy first received significant attention in the US and Canada in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, the issue began to grow, with stories emerging in Argentina, Australia and revelations of widespread historical abuse in Ireland.

By the early 2000s, sexual abuse within the Church was a major global story.

Spain, a Catholic country, was affected by relatively few scandals in that time.

However, investigations by the media have brought the issue to light more recently.

In the most recent high-profile case, the bishop of Cádiz, Rafael Zornoza, resigned in November, following an accusation of abuse dating back to the 1990s.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78e99pzr25o.amp