Shalom All:

My mom shared a few years back that the pastor of the Missouri Lutheran Church
franchise that she attends was removed for sexaul assults.  Now I wonder how
long the public schools/institutions will be able to keep their own
wickedness "in the closet".

Dianne
http://home.centurytel.net/grafted-promise/

April 12, 2004, 3:40PM
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/metropolitan/2501012
Judge approves Lutheran abuse settlement
Associated Press

MARSHALL -- A judge approved a settlement today involving most defendants in a
sexual abuse lawsuit filed by 14 alleged victims against the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and related church agencies.

However, Harrison County District Judge Bonnie Leggat sealed the settlement
details and financial terms pending the outcome of a civil trial that starts
Tuesday against the remaining defendant, the denomination's Northern
Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod.

The settlement came in the case of former Lutheran pastor Gerald Patrick
Thomas Jr., who was sentenced last year to 397 years in state prison for
sexually assaulting boys in this East Texas town.

Included in the settlement were the Chicago-based denomination, the Ohio
seminary that Thomas attended, a candidacy committee in Michigan and the
Marshall congregation where Thomas was pastor from 1997 to 2001.

Scott Shanes, attorney for Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, said
the plaintiffs requested the temporary sealing of the settlement. He said the
details will become public after the case involving the Dallas-based regional
synod is resolved. The case's resolution will have no effect on the
settlement.

Jennifer Ainsworth, attorney for the 5 million-member ELCA, said the
denomination was pleased the case was settled.

"We believe it's in the best interests of the ELCA and the kids," Ainsworth
said. "We believe ELCA took responsibility for any involvement in this and
the kids will be taken care of."

The victims and their families accused Lutheran officials of ignoring
questionable behavior by Thomas. Church officials repeatedly denied
negligence, despite private memos that detailed allegations against Thomas
before his assignment to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Marshall in 1997.

Reminiscent of complaints against the Roman Catholic hierarchy in recent
years, the Thomas case is one of the most serious abuse lawsuits to hit a
U.S. Protestant denomination.

Under the settlement, all money will be put into trust funds for the victims,
and the money won't be controlled by parents or guardians, attorneys said.

A jury of eight men and four women was selected last week before the
settlement was confirmed. The trial will proceed against the Northern
Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod.

Parents and guardians of most victims appeared before the judge to confirm
they were satisfied with the settlement terms. In questioning of the victims'
relatives Monday, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, Edward Hohn, characterized
the settling defendants as "peripheral" and called the synod the "target"
defendant in the case.

While allegedly aware of Thomas' "boundary issues" in seminary, the local
synod did not share details of Thomas' background with the Marshall
congregation later that year, court documents say. Court papers also say that
the church official in charge of pastor assignments at the time had himself
been arrested twice for indecent exposure.

Thomas, 41, was charged in 2001 after a teenager found nude images of friends
on the pastor's computer and tried to blackmail him.

Convicted on federal child pornography charges, he is serving five years at
the U.S. Penitentiary in Beaumont. His state sentence will start after that.