'Six PMs In Seven Years': Nigel Farage Unloads After Starmer Resigns | APT

Fellow Dems call for Cherfilus-McCormick to resign or be expelled

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick attends her House Ethics Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol complex on March 26. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Mar 27, 2026 -

Andrew Solender


A growing number of House Democrats are calling on Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) to resign after the House Ethics Committee found her guilty of dozens of charges, including serious financial misconduct.

Why it matters: Some of those lawmakers said they are at least open to voting to expel the Florida Democrat, creating substantial new pressure for her to be ousted from Congress by one means or another.

• Cherfilus-McCormick, who is also under federal indictment, said in a statement Friday: "I look forward to proving my innocence. Until then, my focus remains where it belongs: showing up for the great people of Florida's 20th District who sent me to Washington to fight for them."
• The Ethics Committee is set to meet when the House returns in mid-April to vote on recommending punitive action, which could include fines, censure, or expulsion.

By the numbers: More than half a dozen House Democrats said they think Cherfilus-McCormick should resign after the panel said Friday morning they found 25 of the 27 charges against her were "proven by clear and convincing evidence.

Principal and president of Toronto all-boys Catholic school resign amid sexual assault investigation

By Jessica Schladebeck 

| New York Daily News |
Nov 24, 2018 | 11:25 AM

 

A Toronto police car is seen at St. Michael's College School. Police arrested six students from a prestigious private all-boys Catholic school in Toronto on Monday and charged them with sexual assault related to a video that was posted on the internet. (Tijana Martin / AP)



Two top officials at an all-boys Catholic school in Toronto have resigned amid a police investigation into a case of sexual assault by students as well as criticism over the institution’s handling of the allegations.


St. Michael’s College School in a statement this week announced that principal Greg Reeves and board president Father Jefferson Thompson resigned, both of them “citing a shared desire to move the school forward without distractions” in light of the recent “horrific events of student behavior.”

Toronto Police on Monday arrested six boys, who are all 14 and 15, from the school on total of 18 charges, including assault, gang sexual assault, and sexual assault with a weapon, in connection with a video that’s been shared online.

In the 22-second clip, a group of students can be seen holding a boy down while another two students appear to assault him with a broomstick, according to The Star.

Authorities learned about the incident just last week and believe it happened earlier in the school year. Police are also investigating additional crimes, and suspect that as many four others videos could be circulating on social media, said Toronto Police Inspector Dominic Sinopoli.

St. Michael’s expelled eight students in connection with the assault allegations, thought it’s unclear if any of them are among those who were arrested. The high school is also launching an independent review into the school’s culture and urged students to utilize a new anonymous voicemail should they want to share their own experiences.

The Bill Hybels News Isn’t Just Another Pastor Sex Scandal

Quick to Listen/Episode 122 | 43 min

Willow Creek changed how Americans do church. What happens now? 

CT Editors | August 8, 2018





Image: GLS Site 219 / Flickr 

Last year, Willow Creek Community Church founder and lead pastor Bill Hybels announced he was passing the baton to two heirs and would be retiring in October 2018.

A lot has changed in 10 months.

Since that announcement, 10 women have accused Hybels of misconduct. Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that one of leader’s former assistants accused the Willow Creek founder of repeatedly groping her. And on Sunday, Steve Carter, whom Hybels who indicated would succeed him as teaching pastor, announced his resignation.

All of this occurred several days before Willow’s Global Leadership Summit, an annual event hosted at Willow’s Barrington campus and streamed at hundreds of locations around the world.

As CT, the Chicago Tribune, and now The New York Times have reported on allegations of sexual misconduct and complaints about the Willow Creek board’s response, some less familiar with Willow Creek wonder why the ministry deserves all this attention.

“Willow Creek was revolutionary in that previously, churches assumed that all that was needed to reach unbelievers with the gospel was simply to say it one more time and not do anything particularly different,” said Marshall Shelley, a longtime editor for Leadership Journal.

Rather than just continue to sling religious language at the world, Willow’s leaders realized that “our culture is spiritually blind and is not going to respond to positively to a message that has grown overly familiar or has grown stale,” said Shelley. “Willow Creek said ‘We need to communicate in a way that is going to get people’s attention. Not say it the way we’ve said it thousands of times before but say it in a way that they’ve never heard it before.’”

This insight grew the ministry of the church and spawned the Willow Creek Association, a network for like-minded churches thousands of congregations strong. It’s this latter ministry that organizes the annual Global Leadership Summit, which is simulcast around the world at hundreds of locations.

Shelley joined associate digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss what influenced and drove Hybels to do church the way he did, what inspired the church’s leadership and business mentality and focus, and what’s next for Willow in the wake of allegations of misconduct against its founder and former leader.


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All Chilean Catholic Bishops Resign On Mass due to sex abuse scandal

Sydney (Australia) Adventist Hospital Physician Resigns From Australian Medical Association Over Same-Sex Marriage Statement

September 18, 2017: A prominent pediatrician at Sydney Adventist Hospital resigned from the Australian Medical Association after the body endorsed same-sex marriage.

Dr. Robert Hardwick claimed that the AMA’s stance supporting same-sex marriage “completely overlooks the best and largest studies that have documented considerable long-term adverse outcomes for children raised in same-sex marriages.”

He called the AMA’s position “flawed, deceitful, unscholarly and unscientific.”

“They have only referenced very poor quality, biased studies to back up their claims,” said Hardwick.

The Australian reported on August 29 that the physician’s resignation follows that of Chris Middleton, a former president of AMA Tasmania.

Middleton renounced his life membership in the AMA’s roll of fellows because the organization publicly supported same-sex marriage without consulting its membership.

The AMA controversy mirrors tension over a similar statement from the New South Wales Law Society which critics claim led the public to believe that all of the 29,000 solicitors in the body support same-sex marriage.

Legal action may be taken against the law society as pressure builds over the alleged misrepresentation.

Robin Speed, a solicitor in Sydney, has demanded that the organization clarify that its membership “is not in unison on the issue and may vote as they choose.”

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Two Catholic U.S. bishops resign in child sex abuse scandal

By Isla Binnie


VATICAN CITY | Mon Jun 15, 2015 12:11pm EDT


By Isla Binnie


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of two U.S. bishops 10 days after a local prosecutor filed criminal charges against their diocese for failing to protect children from a sexually abusive priest.

Archbishop John Nienstedt of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and one of his deputies, auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche, resigned over their links to Curtis Wehmeyer.

Wehmeyer, who has been dismissed from the priesthood, is serving a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to criminal sexual conduct with two minors and possessing child pornography.

The pontiff accepted the resignations the week after approving an unprecedented Vatican tribunal intended to judge bishops for covering up or failing to report sexual abuse, which has caused worldwide scandal for more than a decade.

Minnesota prosecutor John Choi brought the charges against the archdiocese on June 5. Hundreds of civil cases have already been filed against it for allegedly failing to supervise priests or ignoring sexual abuse by the clergy.

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, an independent group that helps tackle the issue in the Catholic Church, said the resignations were "disgracefully overdue".

"Today's news from Minnesota is a sobering reminder that the real source of accountability in the Catholic abuse crisis continues to reside outside the church," Doyle said.

"Nienstedt and Piche would still be in power if not for (Choi's) recent indictment of the archdiocese."

Nienstedt said in a statement he was leaving because his leadership had "drawn attention away from the good works (of the Church)."

"I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults," he said.

Piche said people of the archdiocese needed healing and hope. "I was getting in the way of that and so I had to resign," he said in a statement.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), called for a detailed investigation of the alleged cover-up.

"There were dozens of Church staff who could and should have stopped many of these abusers' crimes by simply calling 911. But they protected themselves and their jobs by staying silent. They too should be ousted by the Vatican," SNAP said.

Choi described "a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behaviour" stretching back decades at the highest level of leadership in the archdiocese, which has 187 parishes and 90 schools.

Victims told investigators that Wehmeyer gave them beer and marijuana or cigarettes, showed them pornographic images and touched their genitals in a camper parked on parish grounds or while camping, according to the complaint.

He is also awaiting trial on charges of assaulting a third child.

The archdiocese was charged with three misdemeanour counts of contributing to the need for protection or services for the minors who were the victims of sexual abuse and three misdemeanour counts of contributing to the minors' delinquency or status as juvenile petty offenders. The archdiocese also faces a related civil complaint.

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Bernard Anthony Hebda of Newark as apostolic administrator to run the archdiocese until a new archbishop is appointed.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales and Isla Binnie, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Bishop John Nienstedt in Dallas, Texas, in this file photo taken June, 13, 2002.
REUTERS/RICK WILKING/FILES

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BREAKING NEWS: BLACK POPE TO RESIGN IN 2016

*Note: You may want to turn down the volume between 0:13 - 0:40 to avoid listening to loud electronic music;  Other than that the video is highly informative! 

kytekutter

Published on May 25, 2014

Adolfo Nicolás is the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and he has announced that at end of this year he will convoke General Congregation 36 which will be held in 2016 where he will also retire. These meetings are huge deals, there have been only had 35 in the over 450 year history of the Society of Jesus. This points at the Vatican making rapid moves toward their New World Order and ecumenical plan of global domination. I'm also wondering why this has failed to reach the media and even alternate news media.

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Adolfo Nicolas to resign as Superior General of the Jesuits in 2016

romereports

Published on May 20, 2014

http://en.romereports.com
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Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt steps aside while ‘inappropriate contact’ investigated

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/10/23/catholic-church/nienstedt-breaks-silence-no-offending-priests-in-archdiocese


By David Gibson | Religion News Service, Published: December 17


Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt, already under fire for failing to take action against priests suspected of abuse, announced Tuesday (Dec. 17) that he is stepping aside temporarily after a minor accused the outspoken archbishop of touching his buttocks during a group photo after a 2009 confirmation ceremony.

In what he called “a difficult letter for me to write,” Nienstedt says he learned of the allegation during the weekend. He said he does not know the young man and he presumes his accuser to be “sincere in believing what he claims.”

But he rejected the charge as “absolutely and entirely false.”

“I normally stand for those photos with one hand on my crozier (staff) and the other either on the right shoulder of the newly confirmed or on my pallium (the short stole), which hangs from my chest,” Nienstedt explained. “I do that deliberately, and there are hundreds of photographs to verify that fact.”

The age of the accuser has not been disclosed. Catholic children can be confirmed between the ages of 7 and 16, after they receive First Communion, though confirmation usually takes place when they are about 13 years old.

“I have never once engaged in any inappropriate contact with a minor,” he added. “True, I am a sinner, but my sins do not include any kind of abuse of minors.”

A statement from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said that as soon as the allegation was made, it was reported to police as required by civil law and church policies. Nienstedt decided to temporarily step aside, pending the outcome of the police investigation, after consulting with the pope’s ambassador to Washington.

Nienstedt could return to his duties right away if he is cleared; there is no timetable for the investigation, though the archbishop wrote that he hopes it can be “can be thorough but quick.” He said he will have no further public comment on the matter until it is resolved.

Nienstedt acknowledged that he has been a lightning rod for criticism because of his “strong stands” on a range of culture war issues. He has been especially outspoken against gay marriage, which Minnesota legalized earlier this year in part because of what political observers say was a backlash against Nienstedt’s harsh rhetoric.

In September, Nienstedt said he believes gay marriage, contraception, sodomy and pornography are the work of Satan, and in 2012 he wrote to the mother of a gay man to say her “eternal salvation” depended on accepting church teaching against homosexuality.

But for much of this year Nienstedt has been on the defensive over reports — contained in church documents leaked by a whistleblower who worked for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — that he shielded and even promoted priests accused of sex abuse and possessing child pornography.

In a 2012 draft of a letter to the Vatican on the priest with pornography, Nienstedt wrote that if he did not report the priest it “could expose the archdiocese, as well as myself, to criminal prosecution.” Nienstedt never sent the letter, however, and insisted he had done nothing wrong and followed all appropriate church and civil laws.

But local police reopened the investigation in that case — though they say Nienstedt is not a target — and the archbishop established a task force to review all church records and recommend reforms to tighten archdiocesan policies.

The archdiocese said that the response to the accusation against Nienstedt showed that its policies were working.

Just last Sunday (Dec. 15), Nienstedt delivered a homily at a parish in Edina, Minn., and apologized for not being more aggressive in pursuing abuse cases when he took over as archbishop in 2008.

“When I arrived here ... one of the first things I was told was that this whole issue of clerical sex abuse had been taken care of and I didn’t have to worry about it,” he said. “Unfortunately I believed that. ... And so my biggest apology today is to say I overlooked this. I should have investigated it a lot more than I did. When the story started to break at the end of September, I was as surprised as anyone else.”

The explanation did not mollify critics inside or outside the church, but Nienstedt was praised for voluntarily stepping aside Tuesday while the allegations are investigated by police.

“This action demonstrates that no one in the church, whether bishop or employee, should be protected from the consequences of such allegations,” said a statement from Voice of the Faithful, a reform group that had already called on Nienstedt to resign because of his past record on abuse cases.


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Journalist Ray Suarez On Quitting Public Television: 'They Didn’t Have Much Of A Plan For Me'

By Lucia Suarez

Published October 28, 2013
Fox News Latino

Ray Suarez during the PBS Election Coverage panel on January 4, 2012 in Pasadena, California. (Getty Images)

Many fans of renowned Latino journalist Ray Suarez were shocked to hear about his resignation from PBS’ “NewsHour” after more than a decade as a senior correspondent two weeks ago.

While the Public Broadcasting Service has not elaborated on the reasons for his departure, Suarez spoke candidly with Fox News Latino about what led to his decision to leave his longtime post. He said it was the right “time to go – that was a choice that I made.”

“I felt like I didn’t have much of a future with the broadcast,” Suarez said Monday morning. “(They) didn’t have much of a plan for me.”

He said his resignation came because his contributions to the “NewsHour” were heavily minimized. Suarez (no relation to the writer) said he just “didn’t see 2014 and 2015 were going to be better" for him than the last couple of years.

The 56-year-old, who joined the “NewsHour” in 1999, said over the last couple of years his contributions to the broadcast were passed over and marginalized many times. He said decisions made recently by the company and new constrictions also played a part in his resignation — it just made it difficult to stay, he said.

“When you look at the prospects realistically, I was there 14 years,” Suarez said. “The responsibility, the high responsibility … had all been gradually taken away.”

He said his profile on the broadcasting network was in such decline that people on social media were asking what he was doing after the “NewsHour.”

An example, he said, was during the most recent presidential election where his coverage of the Latino vote was minimal, unlike during the 2004 elections where he co-moderated a bilingual debate with Univision.

“That was great fun,” Suarez said recalling the debate. “It anticipated where things were going to be going. People were not talking about the Latino vote then – it was a glimpse into the crystal ball.”

According to several reports, the show’s executive producer, Linda Winslow, told staff in a memo that Suarez was leaving to “pursue other ventures.”

“At the ‘NewsHour’ Ray has been a member of the Senior Correspondent team that has helped us cover an enormous array of topics and story developments over the years,” Winslow wrote in the memo. “My inbox is filled with rave reviews of his performances written by delighted station executives around the PBS universe.”

The news came out just days after “NewsHours” founders Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil announced they intended to transfer ownership of the program to producing partner WETA in Arlington, Va.

Suarez said although he is leaving the company, he is very proud of the work he accomplished during his tenure and holds no ill will towards anyone.

“I am not some bitter guy. It was just time to go,” he said, adding that his departure was amicable between both parties. “I left on good terms.”

He continued: “I love the people there. I think it’s important to have a strong news broadcast on public television. I was definitely doing important work. … I am not sitting here regretting all that time, not at all.”

But Suarez just didn’t see it getting any better.

“I don’t want this to sound like sour grapes,” he said. “People come and go.”

For his next move, the New York City-born-Puerto Rican said he has been fielding several offers that include going into academia and writing a book on the 2016 elections. He said he couldn’t go into specifics about his plans because contractual agreements are still being discussed, but that he would be going back to television broadcasting.

“I still have one more high-demand, high-stress job in me,” he said.


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Latino Groups Rally Around Ray Suarez After He Claimed He Was Marginalized At PBS NewsHour

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Vatican Bank Director Resigns Amid Scandal

The director of the Vatican bank and his deputy have resigned over a financial scandal that has already seen one monsignor jailed.

In a statement, the Vatican said Paolo Cipriani and his deputy Massimo Tulli stepped down "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See".

Mr Cipriani, along with the bank's then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italy's anti-money laundering rules after financial police seized €23m (£19.7m) from a Vatican account at a Rome bank.

Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered to be released.

But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), has remained under the spotlight amid concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.

Last week, a Vatican accountant was arrested as part of the broadening investigation into IOR.

Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is accused of corruption and slander in connection with a plot to smuggle €20m (£17.1m) into Italy from Switzerland without reporting it to customs officials.

Scarano, dubbed "Don 500" by the Italian media because of his alleged favourite euro banknote, admitted under questioning on Monday that his behaviour was wrong, but insisted that he was only trying to help out friends.

According to wiretapped phone conversations, Scarano was in regular contact with both Mr Cipriani and Mr Tulli to get the required bank approval to move large amounts of cash into and out of his IOR accounts.

Current IOR president, Ernst von Freyberg, will serve as interim director, a Vatican statement said.

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Pope Confirms 'Gay Lobby' at Work at Vatican

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
VATICAN CITY June 12, 2013 (AP)




Pope Francis lamented that a "gay lobby" was at work at the Vatican in private remarks to the leadership of a key Latin American church group — a stunning acknowledgment that appears to confirm earlier reports about corruption and dysfunction in the Holy See.

The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious — the regional organization for priests and nuns of religious orders — confirmed Tuesday that its leaders had written a synthesis of Francis' remarks after their June 6 audience. The group, known by its Spanish acronym CLAR, said it was greatly distressed that the document had been published and apologized to the pope.

In the document, Francis is quoted as saying that while there were many holy people in the Vatican, there was also corruption: "The 'gay lobby' is mentioned, and it is true, it is there ... We need to see what we can do ..." the synthesis reads.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Tuesday the audience was private and that as a result he had nothing to say.

In the days leading up to Pope Benedict XVI's Feb. 28 resignation, Italian media were rife with reports of a "gay lobby" influencing papal decision-making and Vatican policy through blackmail, and suggestions that the scandal had led in part to Benedict's decision to resign.

The unsourced reports, in the Rome daily La Repubblica and the news magazine Panorama, said details of the scandal were laid out in the secret dossier prepared for Benedict by three trusted cardinals who investigated the leaks of papal documents last year. Benedict left the dossier for Francis.

At the time, the Vatican denounced the reporting as defamatory, "unverified, unverifiable or completely false."

Francis' remarks on the matter, as reported by the CLAR leadership, were published Tuesday in Spanish on the progressive Chilean-based website "Reflection and Liberation" and picked up and translated by the blog Rorate Caeli, which is read in Vatican circles.

In the synthesis, Francis was quoted as being remarkably forthcoming about his administrative shortcomings, saying he was relying on the group of eight cardinals he appointed to lead a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.

The document quoted him as saying: "I am very disorganized, I have never been good at this. But the cardinals of the commission will move it forward."

In its statement, CLAR said no recording had been made of Francis' remarks but that the members of its leadership team — a half-dozen men and women — together wrote a synthesis of the points he had made for their own personal use.

"It's clear that based on this one cannot attribute with certainty to the Holy Father singular expressions in the text, but just the general sense," the statement said.

———

Text of the CLAR synthesis is at http://www.reflexionyliberacion.cl/articulo/2729/papa-francisco-dialoga-como-un-hermano-mas-con-la-clar.html

Text of the CLAR apology is at http://www.clar.org/clar/index.php?module=Contenido&func=viewpub&tid=2&pid=659

———

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

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New Jersey Catholic church official resigns in sex abuse case

The second-highest official in the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., Monsignor John Doran, resigned Friday. An outside review found "operational failures" in the handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who was convicted in 2003 of fondling a boy.

By Staff, Associated Press / May 25, 2013



Richard Gee II, a 48-year-old man from Newark gets a hug from Beatrice Mondare, of Voice of the Faithful outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Gee, who says he was sexually abused by his pastor at a Newark Catholic church.
AP Photo/The Record of Bergen County, Carmine Galasso

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NEWARK, N.J.
The second-highest official in the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark is stepping down in the wake of a sex scandal involving a former priest accused of violating an agreement with law enforcement barring him from working with children.

Roman Catholic church officials say Monsignor John Doran resigned Friday as vicar general and will no longer hold a leadership position with the archdiocese. Doran signed the agreement the former priest had reached with prosecutors in 2007.

The move is among several changes the archdiocese says it's implementing to protect children. The changes are noted in a letter from Archbishop John Myers, which will be read in Catholic parishes across the archdiocese this weekend.

Myers wrote that an outside review found "operational failures" in the handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who resigned this month. But he didn't place the blame for lax oversight on Doran, who had been vicar general for six years.

Doran couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

Myers has faced heavy criticism over his handling of the case, with victims' advocates and some politicians calling for him to resign. But in the letter, Myers said the archdiocese has an "exemplary record of addressing allegations against our clergy."

The 52-year-old Fugee was convicted in 2003 of fondling a boy in Wyckoff. However, that verdict was vacated because of judicial error. Fugee entered a program to avoid retrial and agreed to never again work with children.

However, he attended youth retreats involving a church in Colts Neck and heard children's confessions.

Among the changes the archdiocese plans is transferring responsibility for monitoring cases such as Fugee's to the Office of the Judicial Vicar. Myers also will add a special adviser to the archdiocesan review board and commit more resources to the panel.

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Second IRS official resigns after scandal

Aamer Madhani and Gregory Korte, USA TODAY11:22 a.m. EDT May 16, 2013



(Photo: James J. Lee Military Times)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller offered his resignation Wednesday
Agency officials had targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny
President called the misconduct "inexcusable"

WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Thursday that he was naming a trusted White House budget official to serve as his new acting IRS commissioner, while a second top IRS official announced he was stepping down from the agency in the aftermath of revelations that the agency had targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny.

Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, will retire on June 3, according to an IRS statement. Grant joined the IRS in August 2005 and became the deputy commissioner of the tax exempt division in 2007.

Meanwhile, Obama announced that the controller of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Daniel Werfel, will move into the job of acting IRS commissioner next week, replacing Steven Miller.

"Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill," Obama said in a statement. "The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time."

Obama said on Wednesday that he'd accepted the resignation of Miller in the aftermath of revelations that agency officials were putting extra scrutiny on Tea Party groups' applications for tax-exempt status.

Werfel, 42, will start the job on Wednesday and has agreed to serve in the position through September.

Werfel, who is known around the White House as Danny, will lead the IRS efforts to restore its reputation that has taken a beaten since it was made public that the organization was targeting conservative groups.

He has served in a number of other positions at OMB, including deputy controller, chief of financial integrity and as a policy analyst. He also served during the George W. Bush administration as a member of the Federal Accounting and Standards Advisory Board.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who has known Werfel for more than 15 years, said Werfel has the makeup to help the agency get through a difficult period.

"He is an immensely talented and dedicated public servant who has ably served presidents of both parties. Danny has a strong record of raising his hand for -- and excelling at -- tough management assignments," Lew said in a statement.

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Acting Chief of I.R.S. Forced Out Over Tea Party Targeting

BREAKING NEWS Wednesday, May 15, 2013 6:46 PM EDT


President Obama announced Wednesday night that the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service had been fired, and he pledged that his administration would cooperate with Congressional investigations into the targeting of conservative groups that are building momentum.

Speaking in the White House’s formal East Room, the president said Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had asked for and accepted the resignation of Steven Miller, who was aware of the agency’s efforts to single out conservative groups for special scrutiny in early 2012 as a deputy I.R.S. commissioner.

Mr. Miller is scheduled to testify on Friday before the House Ways and Means Committee in the first of a series of hearings on the I.R.S. targeting scandal.

READ MORE »http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/irs-says-counsel-didnt-tell-treasury-of-tea-party-scrutiny.html?emc=na

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Discovery Church illustrates how power of pulpit can lead pastors to affairs

By Jeff Kunerth, Orlando Sentinel

5:34 p.m. EDT, May 7, 2013



It happened again. Another Orlando-area megachurch pastor is stepping down after admitting to having an affair. Discovery Church Pastor David Loveless' resignation last weekend makes him the third in six months to step down after stepping over the line of adultery — following Summit Church's Isaac Hunter and The Gathering Place's Sam Hinn.

It has nothing to do with anything in the water and all to do with the pressures, adorations and temptations that come from being a high-profile pastor in a large church, say experts and fellow pastors.

"You're a brilliant preacher, you are a wonderful pastoral person in times of crisis, you can raise money, you can administer a staff, you have a vast array of gifts," said David Swanson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. "That's a lot for one person to carry."

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First Presbyterian Church of Orlando


That high position of respect and responsibility can elevate a pastor to the point of isolation, Swanson said. Without trusted confidants who can listen to the pastor's own doubts and burdens — and steer him back in line when he wavers — the megachurch pastor can be susceptible to his own impulses.

"Every pastor needs a group of male friends he trusts, who will ask him what is going on in your life, are you walking the talk?" Swanson said.

Sheila Strobel Smith, who has done extensive research on megachurch pastors, said failure often follows the pastor who becomes overwhelmed by the job's demands. In any size church, pastors deal with a multitude of responsibilities and expectations — and that's where the trouble starts.

"The common thread is when a pastor is in a personal vulnerable spot, these things happen. You are reaching out for something, and you make bad decisions," she said.

Those who successfully handle the demands and resist the temptations are deliberate in their spiritual, physical and mental health, Strobel Smith said. They don't neglect their family for their congregation, they cultivate people they can trust and confide in, they follow the "Billy Graham Rule" — never be alone with a woman who is not your wife.

But constructing a life that is healthy, balanced and normal is difficult for ministers whose jobs are by nature taxing, erratic and unpredictable, said James Coffin, executive director of the Interfaith Council of Central Florida.

They feel the success or failure of the church rides on them. Members of the congregation depend on them for advice, guidance, consolation and encouragement at all times — not just Sundays.

"Ministers live this very disjointed style of life," Coffin said.

Coffin said with the pulpit comes power and with power comes ego. Elevated by the congregation as a beloved and admired spiritual leader, the pastor is susceptible to an inflated sense of self.

"It's a self-perpetuating spiral — the more they look at you that way, the more you feel that way. You have that pedestal syndrome," said Coffin, a former Seventh-day Adventist pastor.

So gradually, the man of God falls prey to the mortal flesh — one small temptation at a time.

"I'm sure David Loveless and Isaac Hunter didn't wake up and decide they were going to have affairs today," Swanson said. "It was a thousand little decisions they made that opened that door a little wider each time."

Swanson says he has built safeguards around himself because the cost of betraying the principles of the faith is the loss of trust. Pastors who sin cause harm not only to themselves, their families and their congregations, but to the perception of clergy as hypocritical, he said.

Because of what has happened to Loveless, Hunter and Hinn, Swanson said he is writing a piece for the next edition of his church newsletter to reassure his congregation that this won't happen to him.

"I have been careful to lead in a particular way," Swanson said, "because those who lead are held to a higher standard."

Rick Warren, pastor of the megachurch Saddleback Church in California, has addressed the cost of ministerial misbehavior and offered strategies for other clergy.

At the top of his list is, "Never consider yourself above temptation." Also high on the list is "Remind yourself regularly of the damaging consequences of moral failure."

"Sit down and watch the confession of Jimmy Swaggart," he writes. "It's high drama, probably the most dramatic church service you'll see. You see how sin destroyed a congregation."

jkunerth@tribune.com or 407-420-5392

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EVANGELICAL PASTOR FIRED FOR SUPPORTING MARRIAGE EQUALITY AND LGBT INCLUSION

Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - 4:49pm by Todd Clayton, Religion, Faith and Values Media Intern at GLAAD




For eight years, Ryan Bell was the senior pastor of Hollywood Adventist Church, an evangelical, Seventh-day Adventist congregation affectionately known as the "purple church" because of a clear glaze on the building's exterior that years of sun have turned lavender. Half a mile up Hollywood Boulevard from the Pantages Theater, Bell's church was situated in the heart of the city, and reflected Los Angeles' diversity: "young and older…and now children!, multi-ethnic, poor and middle-class, gay and straight, artists, business people, teachers and civic servants," he remarked in his open letter of resignation.

Bell was asked to leave the congregation a week ago, not by its members, but by the governing body—the administration of the Southern California Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church—after his theological and ideological convictions were deemed inconsistent with the trajectory of the Adventists.

When asked if he saw the termination coming, Bell—an LGBT ally and marriage equality advocate—said, "Yeah, I would say I did. My views on gay marriage pushed some tensions over the line. There were growing tensions between me and the [governing body of the church], and not just on LGBT issues." The congregation was devastated by the news, and statements of shock and deep grief have been surfacing since the news was announced.

Bell is an adjunct professor at nearby Azusa Pacific University, but says he's not entirely sure where he's headed next. "Well," he laughed, "it's been a whole week since I found out, so I'm not quite sure yet."

Bell's hope for the future of the church is encouraging. He expressed a desire to see LGBTQ people welcomed like any other group into all congregations. "The gift that LGBT people bring to the church is an examined sexuality; straight people are not forced to do that same work," he said. For Bell, inclusion is not enough: "We need to go beyond inclusion, and we need to learn from [the LGBTQ community]."

A life-long Adventist, Bell represents a growing and encouraging trend in American evangelicalism: people who previously were silent on issues of LGBT equality courageously speaking out in support of full inclusion, even when it comes at great cost. Most recently, a different evangelical Bell (Rob, author; pastor) made clear his support of marriage equality. Earlier this year, Samantha Curley and Chelsea McInturff hosted the first LGBTQ film forum on an evangelical seminary campus.

GLAAD recognizes the bravery of Ryan Bell's commitment to establishing equality and justice, and offers its condolences to the understandably distraught members of Hollywood Adventist Church, who—undoubtedly, will feel the absence of their beloved leader in the coming months.

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PM Mikati's Resignation Throws Lebanon into Turmoil

Updated: MAR 25, 2013


The resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has sparked off some violent clashes in his hometown of Tripoli.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA reports Alawite and Sunni Muslims threw rocks and fired bullets at each other over the weekend injuring at least three people.
Mikati stood down last Friday after the deeply divided cabinet failed to approve a commission that would oversee elections slated for June as well as a range of other disagreements.
Lebanon has been in the grips of deep instability due to the turmoil in neighboring Syria.
Alawite Muslims support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Sunnis want him out.


Reporter : markbroome@arirang.co.kr

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Britain’s senior Catholic clergyman resigns after being implicated in sex scandal

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic clergyman

Mon Feb 25, 2013 3:59PM GMT


Britain's most senior Roman Catholic clergyman has stepped down after being implicated in possible sexual abuse scandals dating back 30 years ago, local media reported.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who had been reported to the Vatican by three priests and a former priest in Scotland over inappropriate behaviour, said that he would not attend the election of Pope Benedict's replacement, which will take place soon.

Keith O'Brien, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage who had condemned homosexuality as immoral, has been accused by the four of developing inappropriate relationship with them at the time and demanded his immediate resignation.

They complained to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican's ambassador to Britain, that they had fallen victim to O’Brien’s inappropriate behaviour at the time.

Their claims had been submitted to the nuncio’s office the week before Pope Benedict's resignation on 11 February, nurturing speculations that Benedict's shock move may be connected to further scandals to come. Allegations of sexual abuse by members of the church have dogged the papacy of Benedict XVI, who is to step down as pope at the end of this week.

The Vatican said the pope, who steps down on Thursday, had accepted O'Brien's resignation as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh.

The cardinal, who last week advocated allowing Catholic priests to marry as many found it difficult to cope with celibacy, rejected the allegations and was seeking legal advice, his spokesman said.

"Looking back over my years of ministry: For any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended," O'Brien said in a statement, which made no reference to the recent allegations.

He said he would not attend the election next month of a new pope, saying: "I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me - but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and on his successor."

MOL/JR/HE

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