Los Angeles lawyer Ray Boucher sued the LA Archidocese on behalf of 500 plaintiffs and now he has revealed that 200 more priests suspected of committing sexual abuse are likely being hidden by the church in California.

According to MSNBC the location of those priests have not been revealed because they have not been convicted of sex abuse. Because no convictions were made laws pertaining to identifying the location of pedophiles doesn’t apply to them.

Boucher says of that situation:

“Many, if not all, of these priests have admitted to sexual abuse. They live within a mile of 1,500 playgrounds, schools and daycare centers.”

After settling Bouchers lawsuit for $600 million in 2007 the L.A. Archdiocese refused to accept any wrongdoing on behalf of its pedophile priests.

The lawyer says the church has now allowed many of their accused priests to retire or hide out until the statue of limitations runs out on their crimes which would make it impossible to file lawsuits against the church.

“By enabling these priests to be hidden for so many years, the church protected them from being prosecuted,” said Boucher.

Officials for the church claim the right to privacy since the priests have not been convicted of crimes, a California judge has called that statement out, ordering that files for many of those priests be revealed in the coming weeks.

Do you think the church needs to reveal the location of accused priests so lawsuits can be brought against them by victims who have been waiting for their day in court?

L.A. Lawyer: 200 Sexual Abuse Predatory Priests Are Hiding In California is a post from: The Inquisitr

Prosecutors in New York are suing Anita Collins after the 67-year-old women embezzled more than $1 million from the Archdiocese of New York and then spent that money on lavish gifts for herself and loved ones.

According to Prosecutors Anita used the money she stole over a nine-year period to buy lavish items from the likes of Bloomingdale’s, Barney’s and Brooks Brothers.

Confronted at work last month the thief admitted her crimes after $10,000 went missing in December, however Assistant DA Amy Justiniano says she continued to lie about having not taken the other $1,063,000.

“She held herself out to be a religious woman going to church every day,” Justiniano said. “Yet, behind their backs she would lie and steal.”

Collins is no stranger to this type of theft, she pleaded guilty twice to larceny cases and had served probation. The archdiocese didn’t start doing background checks until 2003 which saved Collins from being discovered.

In order to embezzle the money Anita Collins wrote duplicate checks in small accounts and cashed them using fake names.

On Monday Anita entered no plea and is currently being held on $750,000 bail.

Do you think that Anita should be thrown in jail this time rather than being given probation?

Church Bookkeeper Steals $1 Million From New York Archdiocese is a post from: The Inquisitr

The crazies of Westboro Baptist Church are at it again, this time announcing that the will picket the upcoming funeral of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterono who died on Sunday at the age of 85-years-old.

Speaking for her family (which pretty much makes up the congregation) Margie Phelps, daughter of Pastor Fred Phelps tweeted:

“Penn State Penn Rape” rings in Joe Paterno’s earns in hell” He partook of sin for fame & fortune.  Worth NOTHING to him now. #PicketFuneral.”

Perhaps if any member of the church knew how to read they would realize that while Joe Paterno was ultimately fired because the administration felt a change needed to be made they would have realized that following the “shower incidence” at Penn State it was Joe Paterno who handed the Jerry Sandusky case immediately over to school investigators. In fact a grand jury cleared the head coach of all wrongdoing in the case.

Earlier reports had stated that Joe Paterno attempted to cover up the incident but those accusations have repeatedly been shown to be rubbish.

Then again the wackadoo’s at Westboro Baptist Church are more about publicity then about god and relgion, they announced in October that they would picket the funeral of Apple founder Steve Jobs and they also picketed the Michael Jackson funeral and various other events including the funeral of a fallen American soldier.

Perhaps what the church is best known for is there “God Hates Fags” signs and their creepy connection to their own family members.

Here’s exactly how crazy the Westboro Baptist Church can be when protesting something as simple as the Grammy Awards:

Do you think the Westboro Baptist Church is made up of a bunch of hate hungry crazies who have twisted the words of the Bible to fit their own outward disgust for people that are not just like them?

Westboro Baptist Church To Protest Joe Paterno Funeral is a post from: The Inquisitr

Katy Perry’s parents this week chose to do what any good church pastor does and use the suffering of their daughter to fill the seats of their congregation.

At their first service Perry’s mom, who is a pastor told a packed crowd of 300 worshippers at Ohio’s Church on the Rise:

“I’m sure Katy is trending on the Internet just to get you to church tonight.” Her mom then goes on to add, “I mean, all over the world, who knows how God is bringing them in? The most important thing is you are here and God wants to put the fire in you in 2012.”

It wasn’t just momma Perry getting in on the action, her dad Kieth, also a pastor, talked about how his daughter strayed from her beliefs. Keith talked about her hit “I Kissed a Girl” and then said of Katy Perry:

 ”I love my daughter and I will always love her.”

Keith then added:

“Stop being judgmental and critical. Do not close the doors to your loved ones, especially your children. Just because they do not like what you do or what you are, they are still praying that you stay in the race.”

In the meantime friends close to Katy Perry tell the Sun that Russell Brand wasn’t a welcomed addition to the Perry clan because he would constantly make lewd jokes at the dinner table with Perry’s uber-religious parents. In fact several insiders say part of the divorces reasoning came about because of family differences.

Do you think Katy Perry’s parents on using her divorce to capitalize publicity for their religious beliefs?

Katy Perry’s Parents Call Her Divorce A Message From God is a post from: The Inquisitr

We can’t say it surprises us that a man who thought of using tax payer dollars to start a Government endorsed “day of prayer” in Texas is making an even harder push again to bring church into state, that’s exactly what GOP Presidential hopeful and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is attempting to do.

Perry told his followers this weekend that they must ignore the “politically correct police” and that he and god’s followers must make a “biblically charged” push into the public arena.

During a speech in front of 90 Methodists at First Wesleyan Church he said:

“In the world today, we get often told — particularly people of faith — that you leave your faith at the door or on the steps of a public arena, as those that I refer to as the ‘politically correct police’ who say you can’t bring your faith into public arena.”

Perry went on to note:

“You will be criticized. Do not be intimidated,” Perry said. “Somebody’s values are going to decide the issues of the day. Whatever they may be, whatever policies are being discussed in city council meeting or on the school board or at the state capitol or in our nation’s capital. Somebody’s values are going to be installed, if you will. The question is going to be, whose values? Is it going to be those of us of faith or is it going to be somebody else’s values?”

While the speech was not a radical departure from Perry’s “my religion is way better than your religion” rhetoric he did manage to stay away from claiming that President Obama was waging a “war on religion” a message he has used to almost no success over the last several weeks.

At the conclusion of his speech the churches Pastor Denis Bachman thanked Perry for his stand against separation of church and state and then pointed to the church lawn sign which reads:

“We’re not afraid to say Merry Christmas around here.”

The scary part of Perry’s rhetoric is that he classifies “those of us of faith” as “those of us of Christian beliefs” while completely ignoring a large and ever growing presence of non-Christian Americans.

Do you believe separation of church and state is an important part of our countries makeup?

[Image via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com]

CORRECTION: This article incorrectly stated that Pastor Denis Bachman and his followers “marched out into the street” with signs when in fact the pastor simply pointed out that the sign “We’re not afraid to say “Merry Christmas” around here” existed on the churches lawn. Our original source also stated that he claimed Santa Claus didn’t exist, a mention that was not included anywhere in the churches full text sermon. Our apologies go out to Pastor Bachman and his entire congregation.

Rick Perry Makes Harder Push To Kill Separation Of Church And State is a post from: The Inquisitr

Orange County’s Roman Catholic Diocese won the right to buy the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral this week for a price of $57.5 million.

The bidding war over the facility came after months of speculation and negotiations. The bidding actually managed to reach $59 million from Chapman University however the Crystal Cathedral board preferred the diocese.

Protestant founder Robert Schuller in an open letter to the court system said the university would use the cathedral in the future for nonreligious purposes, a likely reason that the Universities bid was denied.

Speaking to various volunteers at the church the  Los Angeles Times heard a common theme that they were “devastated” and felt “thrown under the bus” by the churches decision to sell the building.

The diocese will allow the church to lease core buildings for 3 years at which point they will then be turned over to the Orange County’s Roman Catholic Diocese.

If the congregations leaders would have accepted the bid from Chapman University they could have leased those same facilities for up to 20 years.

Do you think the Crystal Cathedral leaders made the right choice in accepting the more constraint driven option they had on the table?

Crystal Cathedral To Be Sold To Catholic Church After Bidding Frenzy is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hobby Lobby Stores are attempting to buy the Crystal Cathedral Church for $47.5 million after the religious organization recently said they needed to raise nearly $50 million to pay back creditors. Hobby Lobby recently donated the 170-acre Rancho Capistrano property to Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church.

The Hobby Lobby offer to buy the church isn’t the first they have received, while they have said they will raise the needed cash to save their building over the next four months they have still received the following offers:

Greenlaw Partners LLC and Chapman University ($46 million), Romanc Catholic Diocese of Orange County ($50 million), My Father’s House International Church in Norco ($50 million).

In a statement about their purchase offer Mart Green, son of Hobby Lobby CEO David Green said they want to buy the 40-acre property in Garden Grove and lease it to King’s University.

The statement also reveals that the Van Nuys-based seminary would have the option to sublease any or all parts of the property as needed.

The Cathedral recently shuffled around their church board during Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearings, attempting to remove all Schuller family members from the board (Robert Schuller founded the church and was recently removed from his voting position on the churches board) and during a court hearing the churches lawyer Mark Winthrop said the church was relying on a “faith-generated belief” that funds would be provided in order to save the church from being purchased by an outside group.

The church is best known for the popular televangelist show “Hour Of Power” which helped initially give a boost to the church in your home TV movement.

What do you think about Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. buying Crystal Cathedral?

Crystal Cathedral Church Gets $47.5 Million Purchase Offer From Retailer ‘Hobby Lobby’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Vegas couple Patricia and Bruce Wright made a pact to take their own lives in front of the same Florida church where they wed 40 years ago.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal the couple were discovered by the churches pastor early Sunday morning with a shotgun and rifle next to their bodies.

The plan did not go according to plan, Bruce, 60, died on the scene while his 57-year-old wife was rushed to the hospital but died shortly after arrival.

Family members say the couple rarely communicated with them, while one nephew said of the situation:

“It was a romantic tragedy,” while adding, “Life started for the two of them there, and that’s officially where life ended for them.”  He went on to note, I don’t want to say they were black sheep because they weren’t, but they were odd sheep.”

The couple never had children and spent their time living in Alaska, Washington and Florida before moving to Las Vegas. It appears that they traveled back to Florida only for the purpose of ending their own lives, although no suicide note has been discovered.

[img: ABC7]

Couple Commit Suicide Outside Of Church Where They Were Married is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wow, I realize that church attendance might be down but isn’t this a little extreme, or maybe it’s a hellva cool idea; but the gang at Lifechurch.tv obviously think it’s a great idea.

It seems that the church has a yearly get together where the sermons are geared around movies being used as the lens through which they “contextualize” Christian values.

This year the lucky movie is Tron: Legacy and as you can see by the images they really got into the passion of the event.

The sets, built by enthusiastic volunteers, include a number of black-light enhanced locations and items from the film, including Flynn’s arcade, several (disappointingly non-functional) light-cycles and even an End of Line bar, complete with tonic water (but alcohol-free) drinks that glow. Apart from promises of eternal salvation, you’d be hard pressed to find a more effective way to coax geeks into a church. Despite the flashy decorations, rest-assured (or be disappointed) that no one will be praying to Tron, at least in theory.

via Geekosystem

Let the countdown to the cease and desist letter begin now.

Church goes all Tron: Legacy on its parishioners [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Who woulda thunk it it eh; but it seems that the Pope, yes that Pope, is all cool and down with this thing called Social Media. Even though he warns against becoming obsessed or addicted to all those shiny doodads his message for the Church’s World Day of Social Communications was surprisingly warm toward Social Media.

From Pope Benedict XVI’s speech:

In the digital world, transmitting information increasingly means making it known within a social network where knowledge is shared in the context of personal exchanges. The clear distinction between the producer and consumer of information is relativized and communication appears not only as an exchange of data, but also as a form of sharing. This dynamic has contributed to a new appreciation of communication itself, which is seen first of all as dialogue, exchange, solidarity and the creation of positive relations. On the other hand, this is contrasted with the limits typical of digital communication: the one-sidedness of the interaction, the tendency to communicate only some parts of one’s interior world, the risk of constructing a false image of oneself, which can become a form of self-indulgence.

Young people in particular are experiencing this change in communication, with all the anxieties, challenges and creativity typical of those open with enthusiasm and curiosity to new experiences in life. Their ever greater involvement in the public digital forum, created by the so-called social networks, helps to establish new forms of interpersonal relations, influences self-awareness and therefore inevitably poses questions not only of how to act properly, but also about the authenticity of one’s own being. Entering cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal encounters with others, provided that attention is paid to avoiding dangers such as enclosing oneself in a sort of parallel existence, or excessive exposure to the virtual world. In the search for sharing, for “friends”, there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful, and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself.

…It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.

The Pope is cool with Social Media is a post from: The Inquisitr

Do any of us raised in religious environments not sympathize?

A 7-year-old boy in Weber County, Utah lead police on a car chase last Sunday morning. Police responded to reports of a “child driving recklessly” and indicated that the rugrat ran a stop sign before his apprehension. The officers tried unsuccessfully to stop the child, who reached speeds of about 40 mph, before he stopped in a driveway and ran into his house.

Under questioning by his father, the kid admitted he didn’t want to go to church. (I feel you, brother.) Police were unable to arrest the child or issue citations due to his age, but did urge the dad to keep his keys somewhere less prone to being thieved.

Video below, but someone really needs to add the Cops theme to it.

7 year old steals car to avoid church is a post from: The Inquisitr

It would seem that the Vatican is carrying out two investigations of American nuns and whether their drive to live in the modern world is being carried too far.

At a time when the number of nuns has dropped to 60,000 from a high of 180,000 forty years ago the American nuns have started entering professions like: teaching, law, and social work. Part of that modernization as well has been the eschewing of the typical nun garments for regular clothes, which also includes blue jeans.

The pressure on nuns from the Vatican has been increasing since the launch of a Vatican ordered Apostolic Visitation, a formal inquiry into the activities of women’s religious institutions that is being lead by Mother Mary Clare Millea. Mother Mary is an American nun living in Rome. As well a doctrinal assessment has been ordered by the Vatican to look into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group of women’s religious orders in the US, for not toeing the line on issues such as the primacy of the Vatican.

Other nuns are also expressing disquiet about the new scrutiny from Rome. Sister Mary Traupman of Pittsburgh long ago left the convent but remains loyal to her faith as a lawyer. She still remembers the years of struggling with the long restrictive habits. "All this for the church," she said this week. "And now we’re being investigated."

Some nuns are refusing to cooperate. Sister Sandra Schneiders, who teaches theology at Berkeley, told The New York Times that the Vatican authorities are out of touch. "Our vision of our lives and their vision of us as a workforce are just not on the same planet," she said. And in a leaked email to colleagues she said investigators should be treated as "uninvited guests".

Source: The Independent :: US nuns on the run from Vatican inquiry

American nuns too modern for the Vatican is a post from: The Inquisitr

Someone caught the couple getting busy in their church’s confessional earlier this month. Evidently, the cries of “oh, God!” sounded a bit more passionate than the norm.

Police arrested the pair, who said they’d had too much to drink and “didn’t realize they’d gone too far.” Hey, it happens.

Lucky for them, though, the bishop has granted his forgiveness. Of course, the couple had to revisit the confessional to atone — which may have explained the lust-stricken look on the young lad’s face as he wistfully whispered every last Hail Mary.

In related news, an Italian church has just ordered a deep cleaning of all its kneelers.

Holy Sex! is a post from: The Inquisitr