Another kind of clergy abuse

Christian Century, May 8, 2002

According to the Onion (April 10), which bills itself as "America's Finest News Source," St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Peru, Illinois, was rocked by scandal when the church's pastor of 12 years "was arrested on suspicion of boring as many as 23 children within the congregation. `Reverend Bob always seemed like the sweetest man,' parishioner Vera Crandall said following the arrest.

`When my son said he made him watch three 1975 filmstrips about the suffering of Job, I was shocked.' In the wake of the arrest seven former Sunday school students, dating as far back as 1989, have stepped forward with charges that the pastor subjected them to inappropriately tedious parables."