3 replies to this topic

[DJS]

Paedophile priest killed in jail

John Geoghan was believed to have attacked more than 130 children
A former priest convicted of child sex abuse has been killed in prison in the United States.
John Geoghan, a central figure in the Catholic Church's abuse scandal in Boston, was injured in an incident with another inmate at the Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, in Shirley, Massachusetts, according to jail officials.

He died shortly after being taken to Leominster Hospital. Authorities say Geoghan appeared to have been strangled and fellow prisoner Joseph Druce, serving a life sentence, will face murder charges in relation to the death.

Department of Correction spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Geoghan had been held in protective custody to shield him from the general prison population, but he still had some contact with other inmates.

She said the incident was under investigation, but declined to give further details.

The former priest, 67, was given a six-year prison sentence last year for molesting a 10-year-old boy.

BBC

Edited by Kissinger, 26 August 2003 - 04:27 AM.

[DJS]

Judge pledges to protect Commandments monument
Federal court agrees to hear lawsuit against removal
Monday, August 25, 2003

Robert Reed of Mobile prays Monday on the steps of the Alabama State Judicial Building in Montgomery.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN) -- Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore vowed to fight to keep his job and to keep a massive Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building's rotunda after police barricaded the building's doors Monday.

"I stand before the Court of the Judiciary because I've done my oath. I've kept my oath. I have acknowledged God as the moral foundation of our law," Moore told cheering supporters outside the building Monday afternoon.

Other Moore supporters filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Mobile in a last-ditch bid to prevent the carved stone monument from being moved.

They argue that removing the monument would amount to a government endorsement of a "religion of non-theistic beliefs," according to the complaint.

U.S. District Court Judge William Steele has agreed to hear the case Wednesday at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. EDT).

Moore argues that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of the U.S. legal system and that forbidding the acknowledgment of the Judeo-Christian God violates the First Amendment.

"It's not about a monument," he said. "It's not about religion. It's about the acknowledgment of almighty God," he said.

CNN

[DJS]

Autistic boy's death at church ruled homicide
Child was suffocated, autopsy report says
Monday, August 25, 2003

Terrance Cottrell died Friday during a faith healing service.

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (CNN) -- An 8-year-old autistic boy who died at a prayer service where church members tried to heal him of "spirits" was suffocated, the medical examiner's office said Monday.

Terrance Cottrell went to a prayer service Friday with his mother, who prayed over him with a pastor and other church members. By the time the two-hour service was over, Terrance was dead.

The official cause of death is mechanical asphyxia due to external chest compression, meaning Terrance was suffocated. The death has been ruled a homicide.

CNN.COM

[DJS]

Some U.S. Soldiers in Iraq Seek Baptisms

By HRVOJE HRANJSKI
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 24, 2003

TIKRIT, Iraq - With war and death on his mind, Spc. Barry Page was baptized Sunday in the Tigris River by an Army chaplain at the sprawling U.S. military headquarters on the fabled river's banks.

A Southern Baptist working as a military policeman, Page said he decided to "reannounce his life to Christ" in the birthplace of civilization.

"I realized death is walking in this place," said the 22-year-old from Houston, his uniform and boots soaking wet. "It can be any of us. Next time it could be me."

The temperature was 120 as Page and three other soldiers waited outside one of Saddam Hussein's palatial complexes to take their turn in the water. The baptism took place behind the palace, where the river waters surround an artificial island overgrown with palm trees.

"This ground has a historical, biblical meaning," Page said. "I can say I was in the same waters. I'm glad I found peace with God."

WashingtonPost