Priest Who Denied Lesbian Communion at Mother's Funeral Placed on Leave

A priest who denied communion to a gay woman at her mother's funeral mass has been put on leave by the Washington D.C. area archdiocese, but the archdiocese said the suspension is not related to the communion controversy.

In a statement, the archdiocese said Father Marcel Guarnizo was placed on administrative leave because of "credible allegation that Father Guarnizo had engaged in intimidating behavior toward parish staff and others."

The statement did not elaborate on what that behavior might have been.

Guarnizo, a suburban Maryland priest, had been criticized by Barbara Johnson and her family for his behavior at the funeral of Johnson's mother. Johnson, who is a lesbian, said Guarnizo denied her communion at her mother's funeral mass.

"He covered the bowl with the Eucharist with his hand and looked at me, and said I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman and that is a sin in the eyes of the church," Johnson told ABC News affiliate WLJA in Washington.

"She was clearly distraught,"  her older brother Larry Johnson told ABC News.

Both Barbara and Larry Johnson wrote letters to the Archdiocese of Washington, saying they believe that Guarnizo's actions then and during the rest of the funeral were unacceptable. The Johnsons say the priest walked out of the service while Barbara Johnson was delivering her eulogy.

Family member also say the priest failed to come to the grave site, and the burial was attended by a substitute priest found by the funeral director.

As for the decision to suspend Guarnizo, Larry Johnson told ABC News: "I think the actions of the diocese speak for themselves. Whatever the ultimate reasons were, as far as I'm concerned, this individual, for the time being, will not be in parish life.

"I think this is a pretty significant action that they took," he said. "I don't think they would have taken it lightly."

Johnson and his sister had wanted Guarnizo removed from dealings with parishioners.

"This isn't about gay rights and it isn't about Catholic bashing, it is simply about the conduct of a reprehensible priest," he said.

The Johnson family issued a statement today saying that they "pray for the Archdiocese of Washington, Father Guarnizo, and all Catholics during this time of upheaval."

"While we understand this letter does not pertain to the events that occurred at our mother's funeral, we are hopeful that Bishop Knestout's decision will ensure that no others will have to undergo the traumatic experiences brought upon our family," the statement said. "We urge all Catholics to put aside political points of view, and pray that our Church will remain in Christ's love.

But the head of DignityUSA, a group that focuses on gay and lesbian rights and the Catholic Church, said the incident as part of a wider problem.

"The reality is in some ways it is very emblematic of the hierarchy's approach to gay people, transgender people," Marianne Duddy-Burke said. "There are little messages of rejection that happen all the time."

Guarnizo did not return an email asking for a comment about the communion incident.

The Archdiocese of Washington issued a statement that indicated Guarnizo should have taken up the matter of whether Johnson could receive communion in private.

"When questions arise about whether or not an individual should present themselves for communion it is not the policy of the Archdiocese to Washington to publicly reprimand the person,"  the statement said.

Duddy-Burke said the archdiocese's response misses the point.

"I would hope that it provides a wake-up call to church leaders to make them see where the extremes of their policy are leading," she said. "My concern is they will just see this as an isolated incident and fail to see the context."

Larry and Barbara Johnson both received letters from the archdiocese apologizing "that what should have been a celebration of your mother's life … was overshadowed by a lack of pastoral sensitivity."

Guarnizo has been in the Washington area for a year, after serving as a priest in Russia. The Archdiocese of Washington has launched an inquiry into his alleged intimidating behavior toward staff and others. In its statement, the archdiocese said, Guarnizo will remain on leave "until all matters can be appropriately resolved with the hope that he might return to the priestly ministry.

New sunspot group unleashes barrage of huge solar flares as astronomers predict two years of storms which could cause chaos on Earth Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2111506/Solar-storm-March-2012-New-sunspot-group-unleashes-barrage-huge-solar-flares.html#ixzz1oWDp9vkm

The largest solar flare in six years is racing toward Earth, threatening to unleash a torrent of charged particles that could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights.

The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth around 7 a.m. EST Thursday, according to forecasters at the federal government's Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.

'It's hitting us right in the nose,' said Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He called it the sun's version of 'Super Tuesday'.

The solar storm is likely to last through Friday morning, but the region that erupted can still send more blasts our way, Kunches said. He said another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this.

But for now, scientists are waiting to see what happens Thursday when the charged particles hit Earth at 4.5 million mph.

NASA solar physicist Alex Young added, 'It could give us a bit of a jolt.' But he said this is far from a super solar storm.

 

The storm is coming after an earlier and weaker solar eruption happened Sunday, Kunches said. This newer blast of particles will probably arrive slightly later than forecasters first thought.

That means for North America the 'good' part of a solar storm — the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights — will peak Thursday evening. Auroras could dip as far south as the Great Lakes states or lower, Kunches said, but a full moon will make them harder to see.

Auroras are 'probably the treat we get when the sun erupts,' Kunches said.

But there is the potential for widespread problems. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong, Kunches said.

That means 'a whole host of things' could follow, he said.

The magnetic part of the storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids. Kunches said power companies around the Earth have been alerted for possible outages. The timing and speed of the storm determines whether it will knock off power grids, he said.

This colour-coded image combines observations made by Nasa in several extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, highlighting a bright X-class flare toward the upper left on March 6

In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power.

Solar storms can also make global positioning systems less accurate, which is mostly a problem for precision drilling and other technologies, Kunches said. There also could be GPS outages.

The storm also can cause communication problems and added radiation around the north and south poles, which will probably force airlines to reroute flights. Some already have done so, Kunches said.

Satellites could be affected by the storm, too. NASA spokesman Rob Navias said the space agency isn't taking any extra precautions to protect astronauts on the International Space Station from added radiation from the solar storm.

LA teacher arrested for alleged sex with students

MONTEBELLO, Calif. (AP) — A female high school Spanish teacher in Los Angeles was arrested after two male students said they had sex with her, police said Thursday.

Gabriela Cortez, 42, of Montebello, was arrested late Wednesday on suspicion of two felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, said Montebello police Lt. Luis Lopez.

Cortez was arrested after an 18-year-old youth went to the police station last week and reported that he had a sexual relationship with her from 2008 to 2010 while he was a student at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, where Cortez taught Spanish, Lopez said.

During the interview with detectives, another student was mentioned. That student later told detectives that he also had sexual relations with Cortez at her home in Montebello, a suburb of Los Angeles east of downtown, Lopez said. Both youths have since graduated.

The first student came forward because his conscience was bothering him, Lopez said.

Cortez, whose arrest was first reported by KTTV-TV, was released on $140,000 bail and placed on administrative leave from her job. She could not be reached for comment. She is scheduled to appear in court on March 22.

The arrest was the seventh involving allegations of sexual misconduct between students and Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and school employees in the past month.

The uptick in arrests comes in the wake of a particularly egregious case of alleged sexual abuse of students at a South Los Angeles elementary school that roiled the district last month. The arrest of former third-grade teacher Mark Berndt, 61, who was charged with 23 counts of lewdness for allegedly feeding children his semen on cookies, blindfolding and gagging them as he took pictures, spurred a flood of reports of other cases to law enforcement.

One resulted in the arrest of a second teacher at the same school on a charge of fondling a second-grader.

The scandal has since expanded with the discovery this week that the district failed to report Berndt and another former teacher, George Hernandez, charged with molesting children to the California Teacher Credentialing Commission.

District Superintendent John Deasy has ordered officials to comb through the past four years of cases of teachers charged with misconduct to ensure they have all been reported to the commission.

In the Hernandez case, he was later hired by the Inglewood Unified School District after the commission showed he had a clean disciplinary record. He is now charged with sexually assaulting a student there and is believed to have fled to Mexico.

Mom condemns Modesto teacher's affair with her daughter

MODESTO, CA - The same week high school teacher James Hooker quit his job, he moved into an apartment with one of his students.
Tammie Powers said her daughter, Jordan, has known Hooker since her freshman year at James Enochs High School.  She said the two exchanged a flood of text messages and phone calls the day after Jordan's 18th birthday on Sept. 5.
Tammie Powers said she had also obtained evidence that the two were corresponding regularly before Jordan began her senior year and she believes Hooker has committed a crime.
"That's pursuit, in my opinion, with some type of intent," she said.
Hooker, 41, left his wife and children to move in with his former student, making no apologies in an interview with the Modesto Bee. 
With his young girlfriend by his side, Hooker explained their position to the newspaper.  "We keep asking ourselves, 'Do we make everyone else happy or do we follow our hearts?'"
Tammie Powers has blasted Hooker on her Facebook page, and is determined to see that he never teaches again.
Hooker acknowledged to the Bee that he is under investigation by the Modesto Police Department, but was confident he would be cleared of any allegations that he had physical contact with Jordan while she was a minor.
Contacted at her new apartment on Wylie Drive, Jordan declined to speak to News10, saying the couple had promised an exclusive TV interview to ABC's Good Morning America.

Semi-Surprising, Semi-Disappointing ‘American Idol’ Top 13 Revealed

top 10 girl Skylar Laine celebratesSo after 33 million votes (and what felt 33 million hours of auditions and group performances this season), on Thursday night "American Idol's" top 13 were finally announced. And of course, there were a few surprises--and injustices. In fact, when two of my favorite guys of the entire season didn't make the top 13, and one of them didn't even get a chance to sing in the Wild Card round, I nearly suffered flashbacks to Season 9's top 12 results show, the infamous one too painful and horrific for me to go into detail about here.

Jermaine surprisingly makes it throughAt first, everything seemed to be going according to plan. The two-hour show started off with a long, drawn-out announcement of which contestants had automatically made it through to the top 10 via the public vote: Phillip Phillips, Joshua Ledet, Heejun Han, Colton Dixon, and Jermaine Jones for the top five boys, Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Cavanagh, Shannon Magrane, Skylar Laine, and Elise Testone for the girls. Few of these were major surprises; the biggest shocker probably was bonus 13th boy Jermaine Jones, who I'd totally assumed was a fodder contestant brought in at the last minute just to boost ratings, snatching away the final boys' slot away from presumed teen-baiter Eben Franckewitz, the youngest contestant in "Idol" history. It was also a bit of a surprise that Heejun, who I adore but who hardly gave one of the best vocal performances of the week, coasted through on his huge personality and huge Twitter fanbase. But since I'm actually one of Heejun's Twitters followers, I couldn't get too upset about that outcome. Heejun does kind of rule, and at least he'll keep Season 11 interesting.
But you know what I COULD get upset about? The soul-crushing fact that two of my far-and-away favorites, and two of this season's other most interesting contenders, Reed Grimm and Creighton Fraker, failed to get enough votes to make the top 10. (Boo, America, boo! How could you not vote for the dude who plays Sheila E.-style drums or the wacky street musician who always shows his true colors?)
Jen sings for her lifeAnd when it came time for the Wild Card round, during which the judges selected six rejected contestants to battle for three remaining open spots in the top 13, I got upset all over again. Sure, I was delighted to see the wonderful Jen Hirsh, Erika Van Pelt, Deandre Brackensick, and Reed Grimm get second chances. (Jen and Erika respectively slayed it on "Oh Darling" and "Edge Of Glory," Deandre's falsetto earned him a standing ovation this time, and Reed's Bill Withers cover was so entertainingly wild and crazy, even Steven Tyler looked spooked.) But I was much less thrilled that the judges wasted two precious Wild Cards on the likes of bland boy-next-door Jeremy Rosado and irritating Jersey-girl type Brielle Von Hugel--instead of giving Creighton another much-deserved shot.
Creighton and his amazing Technicolor dreamshirt go homeSigh. Without freaky Fraker's rainbows and hearts and flowers and loudly patterned shirts, Season 11 will be a lot less colorful, and a lot less fun. I miss him already.
And then...REED DIDN'T MAKE IT. AND NEITHER DID JEN.
Among the six Wild Cards that did sing for their lives, Randy Jackson picked Erika and Steven Tyler went with Deandre, and I suppose I couldn't protest either of those sound decisions. But then Jennifer Lopez picked...Jeremy Rosado. What does she see in him?
Jeremy breaks downSure, it was sweet to see Jeremy drop to his knees, thankfully sobbing, when Jennifer announced his name. But it was difficult for me to rejoice for the Jere Bear, as cute and cuddy as he may be, when I realized this meant the end for Reed and Jen, two total standouts of the season. Now they, along with Creighton, join the ranks of Season 9's Lilly Scott and Alex Lambert as some of the most-robbed semifinalists ever.
Oh well. So there you have it. Below are the official seven boys and six girls, ranked in my order of personal preference. I hope America gets it right on future shows and votes for the contestants at the top of each list, because right now, I think the voters (and judges) have already made a few mistakes.
GUYS:
Colton Dixon
Phillip Phillips
Deandre Brackensick
Joshua Ledet
Heejun Han
Jermaine Jones
Jeremy Rosado
GIRLS:
Elise Testone
Skylar Laine
Erika Van Pelt
Jessica Sanchez
Hollie Cavanagh
Shannon Magrane
Parting side note: Universal Records' Jimmy Iovine offered his own contestant-by-contestant critiques during Thursday's show, and he had more insightful stuff to say in two hours than Jennifer, Steven, and Randy have said since pretty much the start of Season 10. Whether boldly declaring that "we desperately need originality on this show"; criticizing Brielle Von Hugel's boring song choice and Shannon Magrane's even more boring prom dress; cautioning gospel singer Joshua Ledet not to turn into "Sister Act 3"; expressing confusion over Heejun Han's dual personality and Reed Grimm's cabaret act; or proposing an "Idol" ban on Adele covers, Jimmy was mostly savvy and spot-on. So why is he not an actual judge? Why does he only get to give his comments after the votes are tallied? My only guess is he's being kept to the sidelines because his smart and incisive critiques would just make J.Lo, S.Ty, and the Dawg look even more clueless than they already do. But "Idol" has had a four-judge panel before, and I will use this forum to strongly urge producer Nigel Lythgoe to consider that format again. Just give Jimmy Kara DioGuardi's old chair, and let him be the panel's new villain! (Even Jennifer suggested, "Maybe Jimmy should come to the show," and it was really the smartest thing she'd said all season.) Because even more than originality, "Idol" desperately needs honesty.

Student justice: Teen wins $9 million, after school mishandles affair with teacher

(thinkstock photos)A teenage girl sued her school and won $9.2 million dollars today. In a precedent setting case, a Texas jury has demanded the Episcopal School of Dallas pay a former student millions in damages after she was asked to leave the institution, when officials discovered she was having an affair with her teacher. 

Her teacher was 34 and she was 16, so 'abuse', rather than 'affair', may better describe what took place. Based on thousands of sexually explicit texts and emails, the lawsuit claimed the married teacher had sex with the student in hotels and engaged in "inappropriate behavior with the victim on school property, and in his office during and after school hours." 

The teacher, who resigned, is being charged with sexual assault of a minor. But according to her parents, their daughter wasn't exactly treated like a victim by her school. 
Her attorney claimed she was given an ultimatum: leave the school or be expelled. If she didn't leave,the lawsuit alleges, her permanent record would hinder her from college opportunities. She eventually did transfer to another school, despite the fact that she wanted to graduate with the class she'd been a part of since kindergarten. 

School officials maintain they took appropriate action and didn't force the student out. They plan to appeal the court's decision. 

It's not the first student teacher affair and certainly not the first time school officials have mishandled such a situation. Earlier this year, a Bay City student filed a $1 million lawsuit against his school district claiming they failed to do a proper investigation of his non-consensual relationship with his female teacher. So what is the proper protocol for school officials when a teacher's sexual misconduct comes to light and how much more damage can a school do to a victim if they handle it in the wrong way? Based on the Texas Jury's decision, the damage is significant enough to warrant millions. Maybe this case will provide more protection for students, or at the very least, force administrators to remember who the real victims are. 

Teacher Leaves Wife, Kids for High School Student

Hooker and Powers during an Top20 news interview. Last year, Jordan Powers was just another student from Mr. Hooker's class. Now she's his live-in girlfriend. 

James Hooker -- the 41-year-old married father who left his wife and kids for his 18-year-old-student -- might be the worst teacher ever. Last week, he resigned from his job at Enochs High School in Modesto, California over the scandal that's shaken up a community and pit one mom on a crusade to save her daughter from a man she calls a "master manipulator." 


Jordan met her teacher as a freshman, but both maintain nothing physical happened until she turned 18 this past September. Hooker claims he saw Powers as "just a student" and had no romantic feelings toward her at first, but when her most recent birthday came around, things changed. 

They changed so much, in fact, that Hooker, left his wife and three kids (one of them a 17-year-old Enochs high school student as well) so that he could move in with Jordan. 

If this all sounds suspicious to you, imagine how Tammie Powers, Jordan's mom, feels. She's launched an official police investigation to find out if Hooker's relationship with her daughter began before Jordan was of legal age. Tammie is convinced it did, citing a photo of her daughter on Hooker's lap and text messages, emails and phone records exchanged between the couple that predate her daughter's 18th birthday. 
Hooker denies Tammie's claims and is confident the investigation will turn up nothing. He blames the "stigma of the teacher-student relationship" for the public backlash. But Hooker's former boss, Modesto City Schools Supt. Pam Able, doesn't agree. 

Even if their relationship doesn't break any laws, Able says she "considers student-teacher dating relationships to be not only unprofessional, but immoral." She also added in an email to the Modesto Bee, that Hooker's relationship has become a "source of great concern for staff, students and parents." 

It must be particularly hard for Hooker's 17 year old daughter, now that her father has left to be with a fellow classmate and become a notorious figure throughout the school. 

Still, Hooker claims he has no regrets. In an Interview with good morning America, he shut down Tammie's accusations as a "pack of lies" and said of his new love, "we really do want to have a future together." 
Jordan, a quiet, fragile-seeming young woman, who looks closer to 15 than 18 years in age, gazed up at her former teacher, a man that looks every bit his 41 years, and said, "He's more than just a lover." 

Jordan has now stopped going to classes and is finishing out her senior year by doing an independent study. She has limited contact with her mom, now that she's living with her teacher, mom's worst nightmare. 

Desperate for her child, Tammie has turned her own Facebook page into a "most wanted" profile for Hooker. She's plastered his photo all over her wall warning neighbors about the man she calls an "arrogant pig". She's also made her wallpaper a photo of a prison cell, sending a message to Hooker should he dare visit her site. 

Since the story has been picked up by national press, she's been flooded with messages of support from strangers. Tonight, she'll be taking her crusade against Hooker to Nancy Grace. "Nancy's always been a victims advocate and fights for justice," Tammie wrote on Facebook. "That's the goal here, justice."