ALABAMA
WTVM
[with video]
By Leah Jordan, Reporter
MADISON, AL (WAFF) –
Church members are still in shock after a church employee was arrested on child pornography charges. John Martin has since been fired from his position as Assistant Director for the Parish Religious Education Program.
“It’s a rude awakening. You can never be certain,” Father Phil O’Kennedy, Pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, said.
After Martin’s arrest, an important first step for the church was researching when Martin had been in contact with children.
“You look at most the folks here and they’re grownups. They know the big, bad world as well as I do; they don’t need help from me on how to handle it,” O’Kennedy said. “The worry for all of us is our youth and our children.”
O’Kennedy said Martin had been around youth only a couple of times – one of those times just last week when he was a driver and chaperone for a youth ministry trip to Atlanta.
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