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"If there's one place that you should be safe . . .”

"If there's one place that you should be safe, it should be in your house of worship." This was the comment made by Sheriff Grady Judd in Polk County, Florida, as he began to unravel the murder of a wife by her husband who then went to their church and shot the pastor and assistant pastor in the middle of Sunday services.

"If there's one place that you should be safe, it should be in your house of worship."

This was the comment made by Sheriff Grady Judd in Polk County, Florida, as he began to unravel the murder of a wife by her husband who then went to their church and shot the pastor and assistant pastor in the middle of Sunday services.

The story is grimly familiar, but with a twist. The shooter, Jeremiah Fogle, murdered a previous wife in 1987 and never served time. His victim this time, Theresa Fogle, was his seventh wife and she was probably unaware of his history. He had accused her of infidelity which is not unusual for batterers to do and is often their justification for their violence.

Leaving his wife dead on the floor of their home, Fogle walked to the church where he had served in the past as a deacon and shot and critically wounded the two pastors. Fogle had had a falling out with the Senior Pastor, William Boss, six years earlier. Boss had asked him to step down as a deacon "because some women in the church complained about the way he hugged them."

Theresa Fogle’s sister was interviewed immediately following the shootings. The first thing she said through her tears was, “God says we have to forgive and forget. Who are we to judge? With God’s help, anything is possible.” Sadly the loss of her sister will be made more painful by this theology. Once again an understanding of church teaching becomes a roadblock rather than a resource in healing. In fact, the Bible doesn’t teach us to forgive and forget but to call one who has caused harm to account and to repentance. Hopefully this time the courts will judge and Jeremiah Fogle will no longer be able to harm another woman.

This is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This tragedy in Lakeland, Florida, is the same old, same old. An abuser takes his wife’s life and then takes his violence into the community, this time into the church, “the one place you should be safe.” This won’t be the only domestic violence homicide this month in the U.S. It is a stark reminder of the danger that domestic violence poses for family members and others. We certainly cannot assume that one is safe at home or in their place of worship.

We continue our work every month to ensure that both home and church are places of safety and sanctuary.

Rev. Dr. Marie M. Fortune
FaithTrust Institute
www.faithtrustinstitute.org

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Lnacaster Seminary offers Special Chaple service for Survivors

Posted by Elizabeth Soto at Oct 20, 2011 02:23 PM
Dear Rev Fortune, I have used your written material extensively as a professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary (A UCC Seminary in the heart of Lancaster, PA.)and as a writer on Family Violence and the Church. I am an Anabaptist theologian that did a D. Min 2005 and based by dissertation on Family Violence and the Theology of Non Violence in Latin America. This Wednesday Oct 19 at LTS we will be having a special Chapel that the students and I put together to honor the survivors of Domestic Violence and remember as well those how have loss their lives here in PA due of Domestic Violence crime. I teach a course every year on Family Violence for our seminarian/future church leaders. I feel the need to network with our professors that teach on the graduate level courses on Domestic Violence and the response of the church. I was wondering of The Faith and Trust Institute will be willing to dream at ways of bring us teachers together to make our syllabus stronger and learn from each other. I am assuming we all use your books and the great resources the Institute has been producing in the last 20 plus years.

Paz en Cristo, and please continue to write we need your prophetic voice,

Elizabeth

DV

Posted by michelle at Oct 20, 2011 02:23 PM
When will things change? Every day I read or hear about yet another tragedy that could have been prevented. I am a survivor of DV and hope to be the voice of those who were not so fortunate, and the light to those who need guidence. The systems all failed my children and I. The courts, the schools, and our church who new of the pain and trama inflicted on myself and my children for many years. No one wanted to get involved so they turned a blind eye. God has been our only hope, our refuge in time of need, our strong rock that has helped us through. I pray that everyone from every system will come together and speak out about this horrific issue that destroys so many families.

Domestic Violence

Posted by Eileen Norrington at Oct 20, 2011 02:23 PM
This incident in Lakeland is all too common in Central Florida. It seems at least once a week, and frequently more often, the nightly news here reports on yet another murder of a woman by her current or former husband/boyfriend/partner.