Antigay Anglican priest defrocked for sexual sin

Jacksonville, Florida is a hotbed of clergy misconduct. In recent months two prominent, and I mean prominent, antigay preachers have run into problems. One of the top fundamentalist preachers in America, the founder of one of these megachurches, is on trial after numerous women came forward and testified that he molested them when they were small children. I’ll have more on that cast later. In fact he’s just part of a whole network of prominent fundamentalists caught in some pretty bad things. And I have to sort through over 100 pages of notes I have.

But the case I will talk about is that of Rev. Samuel Pascoe of Grace Church. Now you know how the Episcopalian Church in the US has split between gay-hating conservatives and others. And you know the gay haters have split off from the church. Pascoe was one of the leaders of that split.

He argued that being gay is sexual sin. Well, it appears he knows something about sexual sin. Now he was stripped of his church for what has been described as a sexually inappropriate relationship with a woman in his church. Apparently while he was attacking gay people he was having an affair and cheating on his wife. Pascoe wouldn’t speak to the press and the conservative group he lead is being mum as well.

If they don’t talk about they think it might go away. The man who replaced him at the church said: “It’s a painful thing that has taken place. And it’s difficult for Sam given the comments he has made on issues of sexual morality.”

A letter to the church says Pascoe “has engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an adult female parishioner.” These days the church should be thrilled it was a female and an adult. They rarely get that lucky. Now there was a time that the church would just say that the relationship was with a female and inappropriate. They go out of there way to mention that the relationship was with an adult. That they do so tells more than they care to admit.