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Ky. church ordains sex offender as minister

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - 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.

Keeping mum
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.

'An illness that you can't cure'
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."

'Anybody can be healed'
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.
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It's bad enough that the Catholic Church shuffles and hides their child molester priests...but to just out and out ordain one with a known track record? Stupid and I feel awful for the children who are going to get hurt by these morons' delusions that their magical imaginary friend can magically change this person.

If something happens, given the knowledge they already have, the church will be held liable. They won't be able to argue they didn't know. Most organizations take a really hard line for that reason; they don't want to risk the lawsuits. Apparently this group believes strongly enough to take the risk. I think with all the science on this issue that is a mistake.

Small town in Kentucky. I doubt they comprehend the risks or probably think their constituents don't comprehend the legal ramifications.

This demonstrates again: what one believes and reality aren't necessarily one in the same.


I think the science on the matter is relatively weak in terms of treatment but the numbers in terms of people re-offending are more than high enough to warrant basically a scarlet letter on the person for now until there's more effective treatment in the matter. The only unfortunate matter is that finding out what treatment is ineffective is a rather high cost....though I do believe that treatments should still be tried and rehabilitation should still be the goal. But that's the optimist in me.

Well, Christianity is all about forgiveness. He served his time in prison and on parole, the punishment society meted out for his crimes. Is it impossible for him to just be allowed to move on with his life now?

Yes, it is impossible. There shall never be forgiveness for him. The wicked are always wicked and they must be purged from us by whatever means necessary.

I agree,and while i'm not one the faithful,i was however subjected to the cult learnings.So i have this to forward concerning this matter:

Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still.
Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still.
Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still.
(An exerpt from the bible...and Johnny Cash as well)


So what is it that i believe?...I believe Mark Hourigan is an athiest,and a predator.

It's difficult to tell with AG when he is being ironic or serious but I feel that a human who has gone through a process of correction deemed by society to make him/her fit to operate in society again should be given the opportunity to prove worthiness. Nevertheless I'm sure alert parents should be very cautious with their children and that the person should remain under close observation with safety measures installed for the safety of the children. The Catholic Church has proved in numerous situations to be incompetent in this matter. I hope this experiment will be better controlled.

There is a difference between forgiveness and blindness. One can forgive while withholding a few privileges in the hopes of preventing unnecessary temptation to stray. You don't stick an open bottle of alcohol in front of a recovered alcoholic, for example. They DID make a point that he won't be working with children, so hopefully there will be some veil of caution there.

The words 'cleansing fire' come to mind.

the details: The church is Pentecostal. That is not Catholic. It's an American sect of Protestant Christianity (one of many).

the specifics: The corrections process for pedophiles is extremely flawed and has one of the highest recurrence rates/re-offenders. Just because he's deemed to have served his time doesn't necessarily mean that he is actually rehabilitated, by any means...which is very unfortunate. Unfortunate both for the future victims and for the person who suffers from such a derangement (if you doubt suffering, you should look into everything that comes with it from the extra abuse in jail to the permanent demarcation in society as one of the worst perverts imaginable). Unfortunately for both him and society: a) can't have him locked up permanently and b) can't trust him in society due to severely low success rate.

I get the impression that they aren't your typical Pentecostals, though.


But this "scarlet letter" as you called it seems unjust. Should a man be marked for life because others in his situation have failed to turn from their ways? In America, we assume people are innocent until proven guilty, or so they tell us. He has served his punishment for his past crimes, and now people wish to preemptively declare him guilty of crimes yet to be committed- astounding, to say the least.

I was being somewhat facetious there.

Here is my position:
1) The punishment the man has received is irrelevant, as these decisions are somewhat on a case by case basis. I tend to doubt that punishment genuinely reforms people.
2) The man is legitimately a risk factor.
3) However, he, the person, may or may not end up being a problem for the church, depending upon knowledge I lack.

Is the church irresponsible? I don't know the guy. I can't say what they are doing specifically, only read something about it rather than seeing it. Was it irresponsible for the church to let this man be a minister? I don't know, but the church could not legitimately remove him from their community completely, so I am unsure if what they are doing really is significantly worse than what they would have already been obligated to do.

My hope was that my strong wording would carry this kind of religious tone.

But a tone that strong abides in the kooky areas of religion.

Punishment /= rehabilitation...and rehabilitation is what is needed for such a psychological condition.


As far as the rest goes, I thought I covered that in what I wrote. I realize the problems but I still think caution and a slow re-integration process would be best. The freshly un-imprisoned suffers a little longer but hopefully the transition can be made smoothly.

Not sure if the whole register as a sex offender and have to go door to door helps much, though. To be honest, I think it sets most back considering that many people who have the problem suffer from a general sense of loss of control and exert it through extreme measures on those less capable of defending themselves.

Don't know...it's a hard problem to solve and any which way you look at it, people suffer...the end goal should be fixing the problem, though.

Note: before anyone does the dumb thing and just responds, chemically castrating (even physically castrating) doesn't stop them from molesting. It's a psychological issue, not a genitalia issue.

Ok, if any of you are Christians in this thread, I would like to ask you to go off on your own for a few minutes and pray, because obviously you need to clear your mind of judgement. I mean seriously, what gives you the right? The man served the sentence for his crime, his involvement in his church obviously shows that he regrets the sins of his past and is working to build a life around God. I mean, you really have to be dedicated to serving God to be ordained as a minister, and the fact that the head pastor of this church did so KNOWING of his past meant that he must have been even more dedicated than the average ministry candidate. The pastor isn't blindingly letting him run free. He said himself that he is keeping an eye on him, and that he wont be a part of any youth ministries. I really dont see any reason why this man shouldn't be forgiven and allowed to move on with his life. Jesus has forgiven him, therefore we should as well. Isnt that the whole point of Christianity to begin with, that no one is past redemption?

As for AwesomelyGlorious and claire333, what kind of BS is that? "Cleansing fire"?! I dont believe I know your religious affiliations, but if you are Christians I would seriously recommend asking God to release you of your hate, because sex offender or not, God doesn't want anyone to burn. If he did, why would he have Jesus die for all of us... why would Jesus have been born in the first place? Seriously, not one of us has the right to judge.