Priest who blessed Morales found with cocaine

Reuters - The Aymara priest who blessed Bolivian President Evo Morales at an inauguration ceremony four years ago has been arrested in possession of 530 pounds (240 kg) of cocaine, police said Thursday.---...More

Pa. police: Priest caught buying cocaine

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest from northeastern Pennsylvania is facing drug possession charges after police say he was caught buying cocaine in Philadelphia. Philadelphia police said Friday that 50-year-old James B. Shimsky, a priest in the Diocese of Scranton, was arrested last month---...More

Priest fired for beating drug addicts

BELGRADE (Reuters) – The Serbian Orthodox Church has dismissed a priest running a treatment center for drug addicts after videos showed patients being kicked and punched.

Bishop Artemije, in charge of the Rasko-Prizrenska diocese, said he ordered an inquiry into the activities of priest Branislav Peranovic at the Crna Reka center, about 300 kilometers (187 miles) southwest of the capital Belgrade.

"We will shut down the facility if the reports about beatings and violence persist," Artemije said in a statement.

The bishop said he decided against closing it "after numerous pleadings by the patients and their parents."

"We are also asking state authorities to investigate the matter and punish those responsible," the statement said.

Last week, the Holy Synod, the church's top body, asked Artemije to shut down the center that houses about 200 patients near the southwestern city of Novi Pazar.

Two separate videos made public by Belgrade's Vreme weekly and B92 TV showed one of the centre's employees and Peranovic repeatedly beating patients with a shovel, and kicking and hitting them inside a room decorated with icons.

The government's human rights watchdog Sasa Jankovic has filed criminal charges against the center and Peranovic.

This week Serbian health authorities said the Crna Reka center was not registered to undertake drug rehabilitation.

Peranovic told B92 TV the beatings were a "hard and unwanted, but necessary part of treatment."

He said that on admission, patients and their parents had to sign a written consent approving the use of violence "for therapeutic purposes."

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Stupid News: Priest Counsels Couple, Then Moves In With Wife

JOLIET -- A west suburban man is suing a former Catholic priest for allegedly providing marriage counseling to the man and his estranged wife, then quitting the church and moving in with the wife.

Stephen Crane of Elmhurst filed the lawsuit in Will County Circuit Court against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet and Christopher Floss, a former priest at the Elmhurst Visitation Parish.
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The suit seeks damages relating to his divorce and the breakup of the family. Crane accuses Floss of professional negligence, infliction of emotional distress and alienation of affection. The church is charged with negligent supervision and retention of the priest.

According to the suit, Stephen and Maureen Crane sought marriage counseling from Floss in the spring of 2006 at the church rectory. But in October 2006, at Floss' suggestion, Maureen Crane began individual counseling with Floss, both at the church and in the family home, the suit claims.

Those sessions occurred almost daily, and Floss also began E-mailing Maureen Crane regularly, the suit claims.

In December 2006, the church choir arranged a pilgrimage to Rome, and Floss advised the couple to take the trip, where he would renew their marriage vows, the suit claims. However, while in Rome in January 2007, Maureen Crane asked her husband for a divorce.

The suit claims that upon his return home, Stephen Crane was advised by his daughter that her mother had said she was in love with Floss, but it was supposed to be a secret, the suit claims. Others in the parish notified of the affair told Stephen Crane they were not surprised to learn of the inappropriate relationship.

The suit claims that later in January 2007, Floss left the priesthood, and in February 2007, Maureen Crane left the family home to move in with Floss at a residence in Woodridge.

Stephen Crane assumed residential company of the children, and as a result had to leave his full-time job with America Online and has only been able to work part-time since, the suit alleges.

The suit, which is also filed on behalf of the three children, claims Stephen Crane and his children suffered severe and permanent injuries, suffered great pain and anguish, were forced to spend money for psychological expenses, and he is hindered from working full-time, causing great economic harm.

It seeks an amount in excess of $50,000 for each of 13 counts.

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