SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
KGO
[with video]
Vic Lee
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A woman is telling a story of cruelty, harassment and abuse — all, she says, at the hands of people who consider themselves men of god.
A female worker says she was fired from St. Francis of Assisi Church because she would no longer submit to sexual harassment that included spanking. The woman filed a wrongful termination claim with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The church contends she was fired for other reasons.
Jhona Mathews is a single mother in her early 30s with a 2-year-old child. She worked as an assistant to the church rector Father Harold Sinider. She says the president of the church board of trustees Bill McLaughlin knew she was vulnerable as a young single mother with no particular skills.
Mathews says in her complaint, that he exploited her to satisfy his sexual fantasies.
“Paddling with the wooden paddle, getting spanked in the sacristy of the shrine of St. Francis, which Catholics know, it’s just appalling to hear as a catholic and having sexual intercourse in the shrine of St. Francis,” Mathews’ attorney Sandra Ribera said.
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