George Augustus Stallings Jr.

George Augustus Stallings Jr. (born March 17, 1948) is the founder of the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation. He served as a Roman Catholic priest from 1974 to 1989. In 1990, he made a public break with the Roman Catholic Church on The Phil Donahue Show, and was excommunicated that year.

See also: George Stallings

Early life and priestly ministry

Stallings was born in 1948 in New Bern, North Carolina, to George Augustus Stallings, Sr., and Dorothy Smith. His grandmother, Bessie Taylor, introduced him as a boy to worship in a black Baptist church. He enjoyed the service so much that he said he desired to be a minister. During his high school years he began expressing "Afrocentric" sentiments, insisting on his right to wear a mustache, despite school rules, as a reflection of black identity.[1]

Wishing to serve as a Catholic priest, he attended St. Pius X Seminary in Kentucky and received a B.A. degree in philosophy in 1970. Sent by his bishop to the Pontifical North American College in Rome, he earned three degrees from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas between 1970 and 1975: the Bachelor of Sacred Theology (S.T.B.), a master's degree in pastoral theology and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (S.T.L.).

Stallings was ordained a priest in 1974. His first assignment was as an associate pastor at Our Lady of Peace Church, Washington, D.C. In 1976, at the age of 28 years and just two years after ordination as a priest, he was named a pastor of St. Teresa of Avila parish in Washington.[2] He was the pastor of this church for 14 years. During Stallings' pastorate, the parish become known for its integration of African-American culture and gospel music in the Mass.

In 1985, Stallings secretly bought a private home in Anacostia in violation of an archdiocese rule requiring priests to live in the parish rectory. It was later alleged in a Washington Post story that Stallings had misused parish funds to renovate his Anacostia house.[2] In 1988, he was transferred to a new position as a diocesan evangelist.

Departure and excommunication from the Catholic Church

In the late 1980s, Stallings made numerous appearances in the news media. He was interviewed on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, The Phil Donahue Show and The Diane Rehm Show.[1] In January 1990, Stallings announced on The Phil Donahue Show that he was breaking with papal authority and giving up Catholic teaching on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and divorce. Stallings announced he was leaving to found a new ministry, the Imani Temple African American Catholic Congregation. He stated that he left because the Catholic Church did not serve the African American community or recognize talent. James Cardinal Hickey, Archbishop of Washington, excommunicated him and any Catholics remaining in the Imani Temple. Critics claimed that Stallings had lived extravagantly and that Hickey had ordered him to seek psychiatric treatment.[3]

Stallings was ordained a bishop in May 1990 by Richard Bridges, a bishop of the Independent Old Catholic Church, a denomination not in communion with Rome, and was given the title of archbishop in 1991 by the same group.[1][3]

Accusations of sexual misconduct

In 1989, The Washington Post reported that a former altar boy at St. Teresa of Avila Church accused Stallings of sexual misconduct over a period of several months in 1977. Stallings said "I am innocent," declining to answer questions.[4] In a follow-up series of three articles in 1990, Post reporters Bill Dedman and Laura Sessions Stepp reported that concerns about Stallings' association with teenage boys had helped lead to his split with the Roman Catholic Church.[5][6][7] Stallings's former pastoral assistant, who was 22 at the time, spoke publicly about having a two-year sexual relationship with him.[8]

In 2009 the archdiocese reached a $125,000 settlement with Gamal Awad, who said he was sexually abused at 14 by Stallings and a seminarian.[8]

Politics

Stallings made his first leap into politics when he announced for the Ward 6 D.C. Council seat in December 1996. Stallings ran under the nationalist-oriented Umoja Party.[2] Stallings received eighteen percent of the vote.

Relationship with Emmanuel Milingo and Sun Myung Moon

In the year 2001, Stallings married Sayomi Kamimoto, a native of Okinawa, Japan, in a ceremony presided over by Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church. Members of the Imani Temple were so upset by the sudden announcement of the upcoming wedding that some left after services in protest of his "close affiliation with and adoption of doctrine of the Unification Church."[9] In addition, followers of the Imani faith have expressed offense over Stallings' recent comments on black women.

In 2004 he was a key organizer for an event in which Moon was crowned with a "crown of peace". The event was attended by a number of members of the U.S. Congress, a number of whom said that they were misled. It was held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the use of which requires a senator's approval. As to who gave such access, Stallings said the matter was "shrouded in mystery".[10]

Stallings was national co-president of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, an affiliate of Moon's Unification Church and active in efforts to widen Moon's influence among black clergy.[8] He regained attention in 2006 due to his association with excommunicated Roman Catholic archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and his group Married Priests Now!. Milingo consecrated Stallings and three other independent Catholic bishops conditionally in a ceremony in September of that year.[11] Stallings is also active in the "Middle East Peace Initiative", which promotes conflict resolution between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims.[12]

Works
  • I am … Living in the Rhythm of the god within the key of g minor (2003, SKS Press).

See also

References
  1. Bekeh Ukelina Utietiang. "Issues in the History and Development of the African American Catholic Church: A Study of Archbishop George Augustus Stallings Jr". Archived from the original on 2011-09-05.
  2. Stabile, Tom. "Holy Rolling", Washington City Paper, April 18, 1997
  3. Cramer, Jerome; Ostling, Richard (May 14, 1990). "Religion: Catholicism's Black Maverick". Time Magazine.
  8. William Wan (October 14, 2009). "Washington Archdiocese Reaches Settlement in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit". Washington Post.
  9. "Bishop's Wedding Announcement Stirs Controversy", ABC 7 WJLA-TV Washington DC, March 23, 2001
  10. Babington, Charles; Alan Cooperman (23 June 2004). "The Rev. Moon Honored at Hill Reception - Lawmakers Say They Were Misled". Washington Post: A01.
  11. Murphy, Caryle. "Archbishop Repudiates Expulsion", The Washington Post, September 28, 2006
  12. Noble, Andrea. "Bowie resident pushes for peace", The Gazette, January 8, 2009
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