Church Ordains Sex Offender as Minister

Man Served 5-Year Sentence for Abuse of 11-Year-Old Boy; Has Support of Pastor, Parishoners

(AP)  A tiny Louisville church's newest minister is a gifted music leader and popular among its three dozen members.

Mark Hourigan is also a sex offender. Almost a decade ago, long before he joined the flock at the City of Refuge Worship Center, he was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in central Kentucky. Hourigan served a five-year sentence and the 41-year-old was placed on Kentucky's sex offender registry for the rest of his life.

A former leader at the church along with an abuse victims advocacy group say Hourigan is a risk to hurt another child and he should not have been placed in a position of authority.

"He's still a threat" to children, said Cal Pfeiffer, who was abused by a Catholic priest as a young student in Louisville in the late 1950s and early 60s.

Pfeiffer and experts on religion and sexual abuse believe it could be the first time a convicted sex offender has been knowingly ordained as a minister in a Christian church.

"It sets a precedent," said Pfeiffer, a member of a group that has protested Hourigan's ordination. "It elevates him to an ordained minister which almost automatically conveys a level of trust and responsibility."

The church's pastor, the Rev. Randy Meadows, ordained Hourigan during a service on Sept. 13. The self-described Pentecostal church, started by Meadows and a handful of other members six years ago, welcomes anyone "regardless of race, religion, culture (or) sexual orientation," according to its Web site. It also has a Sunday school for children.

Meadows declined several requests from The Associated Press for an interview, but said in a brief phone conversation that the church has not experienced any backlash based on the decision to ordain a convicted pedophile.

"We're just finished with the whole ordeal with everything, so we're moving on," Meadows said.

There was no phone listing for Hourigan and no one answered the door during a reporter's two visits to the apartment listed on Hourigan's sex offender registration.

Church members aren't talking about it, either. Several calls to members listed on the church's Web site were not returned; people outside the church declined to comment to reporters during two visits to the church as services were beginning or ending.

But a pastor and friend to Meadows who attended Hourigan's ordination said the church's board gave Meadows and Hourigan its full support.

"It was a really beautiful ceremony," said the Rev. Aletha Fields, a high school teacher and gay rights activist. "The sanctuary was full because there were people from out of town."

Fields, who sometimes serves as a guest pastor, said she asked Meadows about why he decided to make Hourigan a church leader.

"I asked him flat out about it because I wanted to get behind his thinking," she said. Meadows believes firmly in the "redemptive power of Jesus Christ," and told her Hourigan had served his prison term and completed probation.

"I believe they followed Biblical principle," Fields said.

One of the church's founders, Kevin Pickerrell, said he left last year over plans to ordain Hourigan. He said Meadows assured church members that Hourigan wouldn't minister to children, but Pickerrell continued to balk at the idea of ordaining Hourigan.

Pickerrell said Meadows believed that Hourigan had been reformed.

"He tried to convince me that Mark had changed," Pickerrell said of Meadows.

Hourigan said in an interview with CNN in September that wants to minister to others like him "who have been rejected." Hourigan said he has learned not to put himself in situations where he might be tempted and to seek counsel when he's having "emotional problems ... so it doesn't turn into something that it has in the past."

Pickerrell said Hourigan "has an illness that you can't cure."

Recidivism rates are high for sex offenders, with more than half reoffending, said Keith F. Durkin, a criminologist at Ohio Northern University who has studied pedophiles. He said that rate increases when the crimes involve prepubescent children, like Hourigan's victim.

"I cannot possibly see him being reformed," Durkin said. "(Sexual desire) is the most powerful drive we have as a human and (for a child sexual abuser) it's kids."

Pickerrell said Hourigan was a "wonderful" music leader at the church and was well-liked when Pickerrell attended services. But he and Pfeiffer said they worry that Hourigan can present himself as a minister to strangers who don't know his past.

Hourigan was arrested on one count each of first-degree sodomy and sexual abuse in Marion County, Ky., in 1998, according to court records. An indictment said the abuses occurred between 1993 and 1994. Hourigan pleaded guilty a year later to two counts of sexual abuse. The terms of Hourigan's parole, which he completed in June 2008, included an order that he not serve in any leadership capacity at a church with youths.

Pfeiffer's group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), sent a letter to the church but Pfeiffer said members have not responded.

Pastor Meadows, as a Pentecostal, may hold a strong belief in the healing power of the Holy Spirit, which could explain why he believes Hourigan can be reformed, experts said.

They "believe absolutely anybody can be healed of absolutely anything, no exceptions," said Paul Alexander, a professor of Theology and Ethics at Azusa Pacific University in California.

Meadows told CNN that Hourigan's faith has helped him reform, but he pledged to monitor the former sex offender closely.

"I don't take anything lightly when it comes to someone's past," Meadows said.

[fabrat1]

I know someone right now that's in jail for molesting his own kid for years and he is just about done with the classes to become an ordained minister. I bet there are lots of them out there. It's disgusting!!

[babooph]

A "flock" can be easily controlled by a preacher or a dog.....

[Newster1]

sex offender has been knowingly ordained as a minister in a Christian church."


How come im not the least bit surprised?

[winslowe1]

Hardly unusual to find this type of person in a church ... they're full of them.

[Hosheen]

Before all of you uninformed and ignorant people start protesting, remember Christians are supposed to believe in redemption and forgiveness. But somehow, I doubt the hypocrites will do that.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01]

by msimamaji September 30, 2009 6:39 PM EDT
Stevador39 must be sniffing glue.
==========================

I'm betting we're seeing some manifestations of latency.

[abigail4476]

This is disgusting, and NOT in line with biblical values. The New Testament requires that a church leader have a GOOD REPUTATION, both within and without. (Both among church members and nonmembers)

That alone (among other things) would eliminate this man from being a valid candidate for leadership.

As a PARENT, there is no WAY I would attend a church that allowed a child molester to be in ANY position of authority. I think the leaders of the church who ordained him should be held criminally liable for knowingly placing him in the vicinity of children.

The church would have a much better reputation in general if New Testament SCRIPTURES were adhered to rather than idiotic religious beliefs mixed with political agendas.

[stuart-johns1]

Well you can thank Jerry Falwell that the church has become so political. Remember his "Moral Majority" movement? Remember Pat Robertson? Well these guys hi-jacked the church body. Perhaps that's why Revelations, chapters 2 and 3 were written.

[stuart-johns1]

One qualification to be ordained as a priest or minister is found in 1 Timothy 3:7. It reads:

"And he must have a good reputation with those outside
the church, so that he may not fall into reproach and
the snare of the devil..."


This church violates the very Bible their faith is built on. Is there no shame in the world anymore? Does anyone believe that any parent is going to entrust their children to this guy? Maybe the republican parents but no God fearing democrat would!

How utterly shameful. Talk about a watered down Gospel, these guys are LIVING it!

[P0STING_AWAY]

To quote the Church Lady (Dana Carvey, Sat Night Live)
"Well ... isn't that just special" ....

[jcdugger1234]

Chalk another one up for us Atheists!!! :)

[RCC_Soldaten]

Worried?

[UTinkUNoItAll]

Sex offenders should be castrated and lobotomized. Yeah, that'll do it.

[kamsack50]

Probably the offense Jesus was talking about was not this kind. It was probably about corrupting children with atheism and destroying their natural wonderment.

[AttentionDeficit]

Corrupting children with atheism? That's amusing

[RCC_Soldaten]

Why?

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01]

by kamsack50 September 30, 2009 5:44 PM EDT
Probably the offense Jesus was talking about was not this kind. It was probably about corrupting children with atheism and destroying their natural wonderment.
==========================================

Oh, I don't know. I submit that buggering a child could go a long way in destroying their sense of wonderment.

On another note, if the parishioners want this guy, they deserve him.

[veteran71]

Personally, I prefer a Witch-Doctor Preacher like Moose Gal's, that can keep an eye on Russia from his front porch AND cast spells, simulteneously....now that's some good preachin', uh-huh*.........

*(Insert Billy Bob Thornton's voice in Slingblade here)

[kevjustice]

On Kentucky's official list of ministers he is number 69.

[ivehadit9]

by jxknowles September 30, 2009 4:06 PM EDT
It's a free country. If that's what they want in their church, so be it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Freedom my ***. If you were an employer and interviewing candidates, would you wanna hire someone who has such a tawdry background????

[ROBACA]

Child molesters have no place in an authority position. New members of that church will not be told while everyone who is "in the know" with children will more than likely keep a close eye on their own child. Children need to be protected. Not saying this guy could not be a member and sit on a pew, but why make him a minister? Yes, I believe in forgiving but at the same time you have to use a little common sense.

[tmittelstaed]

This is like putting an alcoholic to work as a bartender. Pedophiles cannot be "cured" they can only learn self-control, and find harmless ways of releasing their s e x ual tensions. If Hourigan was really willing to exercise self-control he would not put himself into situations where he would be tempted, he would organize his life so that being around young boys would not be a part of his life, just like a responsible alcoholic organizes his or her life so that it does not revolve around drinking.

What's going on here is Hourigan is lying to himself, he is probably so guilty about what he did that he will do anything to "prove" to himself that he is cured of those urges - and that includes putting himself in situations with young boys so that he can "prove" to himself that he's not attracted to them anymore, over and over again. That's why he said in his interview that he's learned to seek counsel when he's having emotional problems - he knows he's still attracted to them!

This entire thing is sick, sick, sick. If I was a parent in that church I'd leave immediately. Can you imagine attending services and sitting in a pew next to your 11 year old son, while this guy is preaching away up front with your son right in his line of view? Wondering if every time he glances over to you during his sermon if he isn't fantasizing about your son? ewwwwww!!! grosss!!! disgusting!!!!

[watchdogtexas]

We have a judicial system that we must accept, or be fixed, and the mentality of the public to go along with it. You have one of two choices, either a person serves his time, is releast to live in society again, or you must enact the death penalty for all crimes where a person should neve be back in society. If pedophiles can be cured, then they should be going to mental hospitals, if they can not then we know they will do it again and must be eliminated.
You must decide now.

[bustogusto]

I'm going to Vegas to place a bet when this guy gets caught molesting some kid again. I'd say 3 years tops. Addictions are permanent wired in peoples brains and they always fall off the wagon a few times before they are really free.

[Blatensphere]

I'd change churches.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01]

Looks like we may have found a procuctive avenue for those guys down in Georgia that were kicked out of the woods. Sunday school could be a second option.

[stuart-johns1]

ROTFLMAO!! Ah LGM. Too much brother.