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What Happens When An Accused Pastor is Innocent?

Orginally published on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 at 1:39 AM
by Todd Rhoades

This blog (Out the Door) asks a great question... what happens when allegations against a pastor are untrue? In this day and age, all it takes is one accusation to bring someone down. How do we know who is telling the truth? And more importantly, what happens when a innocent pastor or church leader is wrongly accused?

From an article in the Star Tribune...

WINONA, MINN.—A Winona pastor was placed on leave pending charges that he used his authority to have sex with a woman in his congregation.
The Rev. Donald Dean Budd of McKinley United Methodist Church was charged late Monday with 10 counts of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for alleged sexual contact with the woman between 2003 and 2005, the Winona County Attorney’s Office said.

“I’m going to deny [the charges], of course,” said Budd, 62. His attorney, Richmond H. McCluer of Winona, said the charges are based on the statements of a troubled woman.

“The dangerous thing in this kind of case is you have a minister with a 31-year history of working in parishes in this immediate area,” McCluer said. “The rush to judgment may well obscure what the final outcome is.”

Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean said the woman first told church leaders about the alleged incidents—then turned to police late last year. According to the charges, the encounters happened in Budd’s daughter’s bedroom in the church parsonage, at the victim’s residence, and at the church.”


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