Home ›

Human Life International

Printer-friendly version Send to friend

Euteneuer Resigned From HLI For "Violating The Boundaries Of Chastity" While Engaged In The "Ministry Of Exorcism"

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on February 1, 2011 - 11:39am

Last August, Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, the president of Human Life International, warned that failure to stop gay marriage would lead to the end of civilization:

While we respect all people as they are, we don't have to respect such a wholesale assault on everything that is sacred to us and good for our society; no, in fact, we must fight against it with our very lives. The question is not whether or not we can win the battle; the question is whether we will join it. Will we accept the challenge to defend the sacred or not? We are called to be faithful and obedient to the Plan of God for our world, and within that, God will bring forth the victory. There is no doubt that, if it is not already there, gay marriage will be coming to your state soon. If we don't fight it, our souls, our families and basically, our very civilization, will find themselves at "the end" of the line in very short order.

Shortly thereafter, Euteneuer resigned from his position at Human Life International, claiming that he needed a "break."

That, as it turns out, was not true.

Euteneuer really resigned because he violated "the boundaries of chastity with an adult female" who was under his care as he carried out his "ministry of exorcism," as he admits in a new statement:

The circumstances that led to my departure from HLI were related exclusively to my own decisions and conduct within the ministry of exorcism that I carried out independently from my responsibilities at HLI. The vast majority of my decisions and conduct, both personally and in this ministry, were morally sound and consistent with all standards of pastoral care of persons. Moreover, they were all motivated exclusively by my desire to give priestly assistance to people in great spiritual distress. I must acknowledge, however, that one particularly complex situation clouded my judgment and led me to imprudent decisions with harmful consequences, the worst of which was violating the boundaries of chastity with an adult female who was under my spiritual care.

I take full responsibility for my own poor judgment, my weakness and my sinful conduct that resulted from it. I offer no excuse for my professional or moral failures, nor do I shift the blame to anyone else. I state without reserve that I am deeply sorry for my actions. I have personally apologized, where possible, to anyone I have harmed.

...

I therefore affirm and will never deviate from my affirmation that the following are true:

  • My violations of chastity were limited to one person only, an adult woman;
  • The violations of chastity happened due to human weakness but did not involve the sexual act;
  • The accusation that I “targeted” vulnerable women or otherwise sought them out for spiritual direction is utterly false and a serious defamation of my character and ministry;
  • With rare exceptions, my exorcism/prayer ministry was always conducted with prayer helpers (third parties) present; situations where prayer or pastoral care occurred without helpers present were exceptional situations where I believed it was necessary for me to act quickly in order to help the afflicted person; while not proper protocol, these departures from the norm were never done with a motive to be alone with vulnerable women;
  • I repudiate any allegations of financial impropriety in conducting my prayer/exorcism ministry; I never, under any circumstances, solicited money for the ministry other than travel-related reimbursements, nor did I use HLI donor funds to carry out this work; any gifts offered to me were unsolicited and only accepted so as not to offend the giver and in most cases immediately given to those more needy than myself;
  • I have no knowledge of any persons who received any financial settlement in this matter, nor have I asked for that to be given.
PFAW
Filed under:

Stop Gay Marriage Or Say Goodbye To Christian Civilization

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on August 16, 2010 - 10:09am

Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, the president of Human Life International, has some grave concerns about gay marriage - namely that it will be the end of Christian civilization as we know it.

As Euteneuer explains, gay marriage is wrong for many reasons: "First and foremost is because it violates the revealed Will of God as seen in Scripture ... [secondly it] distorts the very concept of parenting as well as marriage ... [and finally] society suffers because of the public endorsement of an intrinsically disordered lifestyle and practice."

And that is why it must be stopped, for the sake of our civilization, our souls, and our very lives:

[A] society cannot long survive this kind of violence done to its basic values, and history surely shows many societies like Ancient Greece, whose rapid decline was preceded by the proliferation of the gay lifestyle and its public acceptance.

While we respect all people as they are, we don't have to respect such a wholesale assault on everything that is sacred to us and good for our society; no, in fact, we must fight against it with our very lives. The question is not whether or not we can win the battle; the question is whether we will join it. Will we accept the challenge to defend the sacred or not? We are called to be faithful and obedient to the Plan of God for our world, and within that, God will bring forth the victory. There is no doubt that, if it is not already there, gay marriage will be coming to your state soon. If we don't fight it, our souls, our families and basically, our very civilization, will find themselves at "the end" of the line in very short order.

PFAW
Filed under:

Anti-Abortion Faction Accuses Major Groups of Selling out to GOP

Submitted by Anonymous on June 4, 2007 - 4:08pm

The Washington Post today reports on the unusual spat among anti-abortion groups, apparently over the tactics of incrementalism versus absolutism, that spilled into public attacks against Focus on the Family founder James Dobson two weeks ago. Groups including Rev. Flip Benham’s Operation Rescue/Operation Save America and Colorado Right to Life placed a full-page ad in the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Washington Times demanding that Dobson “repent” for saying that a recent Supreme Court decision upholding the federal “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act” would “protect children.”

Confusingly, a separate anti-abortion group also called Operation Rescue praised Dobson for pushing the ban, and Colorado Right to Life’s national parent group also said it was in “complete disagreement” with its state affiliate.

In the Post, Colorado Right to Life President Brian Rohrbough fired back. A Focus on the Family spokesman said they supported the ban “because we, and most pro-lifers, are sophisticated enough to know we're not going to win a total victory all at once. We're going to win piece by piece.” But Rohrbough said the decision “encourage[s] abortionists to find less shocking means to kill late-term babies.”

"What happened in the abortion world is that groups like National Right to Life, they're really a wing of the Republican Party, and they're not geared to push for personhood for an unborn child -- they're geared to getting Republicans elected," he said. "So we're seeing these ridiculous laws like the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban put forward, and then we're deceived about what they really do."

PFAW
Filed under:

Operation What's-Its-Name

Submitted by Anonymous on May 23, 2007 - 5:17pm

Today, Operation Rescue is among a handful of far-Right groups attacking James Dobson for saying a recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the so-called “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban” would “protect children”:

In a full-page ad in The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs, the group said Dobson wrongly characterized the court's April ruling as a victory for abortion foes. The ad said the ruling will actually encourage medical professionals to find "less shocking" methods than late-term abortions, which abortion opponents often call "partial-birth abortion."

"Dr. Dobson, you mislead Christians claiming this ruling will 'protect children.' The court granted no authority to save the life of even a single child," the ad said. It concludes by asking Dobson to "please repent." A spokesman for Dobson did not immediately return a call. …

The letter is signed by Brian Rohrbough, president of Colorado Right to Life; the Rev. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International; Flip Benham, director of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America; Judie Brown, president of American Life League; and Bob Enyart, pastor of Denver Bible Church.

Also today, Operation Rescue is joining the Christian Defense Coalition for a press conference in Wichita “to demand to know how the federal government plans to enforce the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act now that it has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.” In fact, Operation Rescue released a statement that it is “proud to stand with Dr. Dobson” on the Supreme Court case.

Today’s confusion arises from an internecine squabble rivaling the spat between Chris Simcox’s Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and Jim Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project.

PFAW
Filed under:

CWA's Crouse: 'I Think We've Won the Abortion War'

Submitted by Anonymous on May 16, 2007 - 10:59pm

Said in response to widespread pro-choice victories in 2006. Right hopes youth, women will come around.

PFAW
Filed under:

Far Right Uses Foley Scandal to Demonize Gays

Submitted by Anonymous on October 4, 2006 - 10:59pm

“Ex-gay” minister claims childhood molestation caused homosexuality; CWA lashes out at “aberrant sexual behavior”; WorldNetDaily blames Dems for making “sin” a “civil right”; Human Life Intl. calls for ban on gay priests; and Bill Donohue wonders why 15-year-old Foley couldn’t defend himself.

PFAW
Filed under:

“Homosexuals Reproduce Sexually by Molesting Children”

Submitted by Anonymous on October 4, 2006 - 4:20pm

A far right Catholic group that thinks Bill Gates and Warren Buffet should be reviled for their humanitarian work (saying “they have money, we have God”),  objects to a vaccine to inoculate women against cervical cancer, and thinks that Mel Gibson’s ‘apology’ after his “unfortunate relapse in his fight with alcohol,” and “some imprudent comments made while in that state” is enough to say “case closed, move on,” has this to say about the Mark Foley revelations that he was abused by a member of his clergy:  

“If his claim that he was the victim of sexual molestation by a clergyman, it only further proves that known homosexuals should not be admitted to the priesthood. Foley's actions were that of homosexual predator, not a pedophile. Homosexuals reproduce sexually by molesting children. This creates a cycle of violence and disordered behavior that creates future generations of abusers and predators.”

The group, Human Life International, claims to have 59 satellite offices in 51 countries and describes itself as "the largest international, pro-life, pro-family, pro-woman organization in the world.”

PFAW
Filed under:

Anti-Abortion Activists Gather to Plot Fight Against Contraceptives

Submitted by Anonymous on September 26, 2006 - 3:40pm

While anti-abortion activists are looking to a referendum on a total abortion ban in South Dakota as a turning point in their movement, the Chicago Tribune reports on a faction of the Right that is one step ahead – attacking access to contraception. At the same time as this weekend’s Values Voter Summit in Washington, Pro-Life Action held a rally in Chicago called “Contraception Is Not the Answer.”

"Contraception is more the root cause of abortion than anything else," Joseph Scheidler, an anti-abortion veteran whose Pro-Life Action League sponsored the conference, said in an interview.

No one knows how many supporters Scheidler and his colleagues have, but conservative leaders are watching to see if the anti-contraception rhetoric gains traction. …

What's … likely, experts suggest, is an ongoing "chipping away" at access to contraceptive services. This could entail cuts to federal programs that pay for birth control. Likely it also would involve a state-by-state push to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions for reasons of "conscience."

Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, opened Saturday's session with a clear tactical agenda for the budding movement: "It's time to get serious about denying Planned Parenthood funding for birth control or sex education and abortion. We need to hold them accountable for this contraceptive welfare. We have to work very carefully to keep that sword away from Planned Parenthood."

Euteneuer believes a single argument holds the greatest potential for changing how the anti-abortion community thinks about birth control. "Chemical contraception doesn't prevent abortions, it causes abortion," he said in an interview. "If we believe life begins at the moment of conception, we have to defend it against [this] chemical attack." Euteneuer was referring to the possibility that hormonal birth control, including the pill, the patch, injections and some IUDs, might prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a womb. Scientific evidence suggests that this occurs infrequently, if at all, and that birth control works primarily by preventing a woman from ovulating.

There is some hesitation to embrace this strategy quite yet, reports the Tribune:

Dr. John Willke, who heads the International Right to Life Federation and the Life Issues Institute in Cincinnati, sees peril in the attempt to shift the movement's strategy. "I'm here to stop abortions... and we're coming close to winning on this issue," he said. "If we take up an anti-contraception agenda, we won't win the abortion fight in the foreseeable future."

But Scheidler is anxious to take advantage of the anti-abortion movement's successes. "We've been trained to steer clear of discussing contraception, as if it were a distraction," he said. "I'm tired of this `Don't get off the subject' mentality. Contraception is the subject."

PFAW
Filed under:
Syndicate content