KENTUCKY
Courier-Journal
Bobby Shipman, The Courier-Journal July 1, 2016
A priest sex abuse victims group has criticized Jeffersonville church officials for requesting prayers for an accused child molester instead of his potential victims.
David Clohessy, director the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, released a statement calling First Christian Church’s actions “stunningly callous.”
“Shame on them,” the statement read.
The church’s former head pastor David James Brown was arrested in Frankfort earlier this month after police said he traveled to meet with a minor he had been communicating with over a messaging app. The minor was actually an undercover officer from the state attorney general’s cyber crimes unit, and Brown was charged with one count of prohibited use of an electronic communication system for the purpose of procuring a minor for a sex offense.
The 46-year-old died Wednesday in an apparent suicide in Atlanta, Ga., police officials said.
The church’s youth minister, Chad Boseker, sent out a statement following Brown’s death asking for prayers for the pastor’s family and for the church’s congregation.
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