Leaders Proclaim Church's Innocence

DEACON ADMITS DRUG USE BUT SAYS NO OFFICIALS KNEW

By Kenneth R. Lamke of the Journal Sentinel

"This is our church. We stand behind it 100 percent. I don't think the
media has been fair."...

Parishioner Carmen Klein

Wauwatosa The bishop and deacon of a small church who were arrested in a
drug sweep last week both said Sunday that the bishop knew nothing about
the deacon's current drug activities and that the church itself was not
involved.

"I am guilty of being a drug addict, and they did catch me with drugs on my
person," Deacon Gerald Glock said during an interview in the basement
kitchen of Holy Angels Old Catholic Church, 1510 N. 70th St., shortly
before 10 a.m. church services.

Bishop Marc Crumpton and a few parishioners stood by during the interview.
Glock, 47, was dressed in suit and tie. Crumpton, 58, was wearing priestly
vestments.

"I had cocaine, a small amount," Glock said. He said he had not been
dealing drugs. He said he had signed a confession for police and was
released, but he is to report back to the district attorney's office on
Jan. 12.

"Then I'll be charged, or whatever," Glock said.

Crumpton "had no knowledge of my drugs," Glock said.

Officers executing a search warrant last week in Crumpton's residence next
to the church, however, recovered "3 grams of suspected marijuana from his
bedroom and several smoking pipes," according to arrest records.

Crumpton later gave a statement to officers in which he admitted the
substance found in his bedroom was marijuana and the pipes found were used
for smoking marijuana, the report says. No drugs were found during a search
of the church itself.

Crumpton said Sunday he couldn't discuss specific details of the case.

Glock said Sunday that he first met Crumpton in 1989 when Glock was being
treated at a Milwaukee drug and alcohol treatment center formerly run by
the church. Glock said he had lived in Holy Angels church rectory with
Crumpton, in a separate apartment, for the past few years.

Glock said he works around the church and receives Social Security Income
disability payments because of his addiction. Before he became addicted to
drugs, he worked doing home improvements, Glock said.

Glock said that Crumpton "knew I was going out, shooting darts or pool. I
drank a little bit," but that Crumpton did not know he was using drugs
again. Glock said he hung out and got drugs at "various bars" on
Milwaukee's south side. He declined to name them.

Crumpton said, "I will state that the church and myself are not involved in
this.

"No one's been charged. I don't see the DA until January."

Later, in his sermon to 15 parishioners, Crumpton was alternately critical
and forgiving of the media for reporting that he had been arrested and for,
he said, tying the church to the raid.

The raid, which netted 16 suspects throughout the Milwaukee area, was
conducted by an interdepartmental task force seeking to break up what it
said was a marijuana and cocaine distribution network. The raid netted
weapons, vehicles, cash and cocaine.

"We've been put on trial, we have been judged, we have been convicted and
now we're being crucified," Crumpton said in his sermon.

"True, one of our members floundered and failed. Nothing happened with the
knowledge of the church. We have nothing to do with it. It's just by
association with one man. He realizes his mistakes. He started hanging out
with former friends. He backslid. Do we kick him to the curb? He has made
marvelous strides.

"Holy Angels Church and myself are totally innocent of any rumors,
innuendoes, accusations whatsoever concerning these drug raids.

"Where are these 15 names?" Crumpton asked of the others arrested.

"Where are their names in the paper, with pictures, with the right names
underneath them? That ticked me off. They could have at least gotten the
names right," Crumpton said, referring to the misidentification of himself
and Glock in some Friday editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Crumpton said he also was bothered by media reports that described him as a
"selfstyled bishop." He said that he himself had received valid holy
orders from his church, and that he could trace the succession of bishops
of the Old Catholic Church back to the Apostles.

The Old Catholic Church was founded in the early 1700s in Holland by a
group of dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church who refused to
acknowledge the authority of the pope.

The Old Catholic Church has about 10,000 members in the U.S. and Canada.

Holy Angels Church itself is a plain, wellkept facility with a seating
capacity of about 150. Before the service, Crumpton said regular
churchgoers at the Sunday service number 15 to 20. Sunday's liturgy was
similar to a Roman Catholic Mass, said in English.

In his sermon, Crumpton said: "It's going to be a long struggle to build
our reputation back up. Maybe this is God's way to get some people back
into the church who haven't been coming. I don't know. I don't speak to
God. And, no, he doesn't speak to me personally. I don't see a 400foot
Jesus or anything like that. He speaks to everyone one of us in our hearts.

"I am so sorry that this had to happen. I keep asking myself, 'Was I to
blame for not knowing it was going on?' I didn't know, just as you didn't
know. We are a victim of circumstances."