Share

Monday, January 11, 2010

Bad News From the Past / We're Old Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before. . .

Posted by Cliff Doerksen on 01.11.10 at 09:30 AM

pastors.jpg
Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1906. Conservative culture warriors sometimes argue that present-day clerical sex abuse is driven by the surrounding conditions of unprecedented sexual license that infect our holy men—who are only human, after all. The argument is rubbish. More pious diddlers get busted nowadays because we permit ourselves to talk about sex and sexual abuse, is all. What's especially interesting about this particular article is that there seems to have been a local news blackout on two of the three scandals addressed. I can't find reference to them in any Chicago or Midwestern papers. I call cover-up!

pastors2.jpg
Oh golly, he's been banished to a retreat! Of those miserable souls exiled to the Episcopalian Gulag, none ever returned to describe its harsh conditions.

pastors3.jpg
According to the New York Times, Simmons was, in addition to being the pastor of the First Baptist Church, president of two collapsed banks. There was a "run" on both institutions (i.e. depositors took all their money out at once) on the day before he offed himself. But he was also facing a church investigation "on the gravest charges." I'm inferring that word got around about his sexual transgressions and that's what started the run on the banks. But obviously a full exposure of his extracurricular activities was not going to play in Peoria (even if Simmons did).

pastors4.jpg
A gold watch and a horse and buggy? Well, that sure beats the going rate of a stick of gum.

pastors5.jpg
Crikey, I hope this guy was better at pounding the pulpit than he was at spin control. The reference to his dad and a heredity weakness suggests he was pleading amnesia caused by congenital syphilis as a mitigating factor. Ugh.
P.S. You can stay up to date on Bad News From the Past by following me on Twitter. Code name: CliffDoerksen.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments (4)

Showing 1-4 of 4

Add a comment

"in addition to being the pastor of the First Baptist Church, president of two collapsed banks"

Now we have more division of labor in our societal problems, for better or worse.

report   
Posted by whet on 01/11/2010 at 10:23 AM

How come they used to have the decency to kill themselves but don't anymore today? Less institutional support behind them?

report   
Posted by Thinbags Blevins on 01/11/2010 at 2:58 PM

Looks like the Rev. John M. Chattin landed another job later on at St. Paul's Church in Chestnut Hills Philadelphia...

The man who held the parish together and shepherded the flock during Mr. Chapman's absence and after his resignation in 1924 was the Reverend John M. Chattin. The Parish Leaflet says of him: "He has releived us in want, tended our sick and comforted our bereaved. He has baptized our children, married our sons and daughters, and buried our dead. He has patiently heard us in our distress and rejoiced with us in our happiness."

1916 -1925 Rev. John M. Chattin

http://www.stpaulschestnuthill.org/1956.ht…

report   
Posted by A. A. Anonymous on 01/12/2010 at 9:05 AM

Good catch, A.A.! And it's a nice bit of continuity with present-day institutional pass-the-trash practices too. How good to know that the very reverend JMC landed on his feet and went on to baptize and marry all those youngsters.

report   
Posted by Cliff Doerksen on 01/13/2010 at 8:42 AM
Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS
Showing 1-4 of 4

Add a comment

Agenda Teaser

05.27.12
That's Weird, Grandma
Performing Arts
That's Weird, Grandma Neo-Futurarium
March 04
Gerald Clayton Trio
Music
Gerald Clayton Trio Jazz Showcase
May 24
More Agenda Teaser »

Tabbed Event Search

The Bleader Archive

Recent Comments