Written By Chad Merda Posted: 12/29/2015, 12:50pm 
 
 The good Lord may have saved him from wiping out on his new hoverboard , but one priest in the Philippines couldn’t be saved from a suspension at the hands of the Diocese of San Pablo after he used a hoverboard during Christmas Eve Mass. 
 
 The diocese announced the suspension on Tuesday, according to Rappler. It did not publicly name the priest. 
 
 The incident, which happened before the final blessing, was all captured on video. 
 
 In a statement, the diocese said the priest “will be out of the parish and will spend some time to reflect on this past event. He would like to apologize for what happened.” 
 
 It also described the incident as “a wake up call for him.” 
 
 “He acknowledged that his action was not right and promised that it will not happen again,” the diocese said in its statement. 
 
 In announcing the suspension, the diocese said the priest failed to realize that the Mass is the church’s highest form of worship. 
 
 “It is not a personal celebration where one can capriciously introduce something to get the attention of the people,” the diocese said. 
 
 In the priest’s defense, at least he didn’t get the attention of his flock by doing this: 
 
 A video posted by MIGATTI- $399 (@migattiusa) on Dec 26, 2015 at 7:44am PST 
 
 h/t: Religion News Service ||||| A Catholic priest in the Philippines has been forced to repent after he took a spin on a hoverboard — during Christmas Eve Mass. 
 
 The unidentified holy roller drew the ire of the Diocese of San Pablo after cell phone video footage of him — riding up and down the nave of his church with a microphone in hand and singing "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" — went viral. 
 
 When he stepped off the device to deliver the final blessing, his parishioners gave him a round of applause. 
 
 His superiors were less amused. 
 
 "That was wrong," the diocese flatly declared in a statement posted online. "It is not a personal celebration where one can capriciously introduce something to get the attention of people." 
 
 The priest has gotten the message — and is apologizing. 
 
 "The priest said that it was a wake-up call for him," the diocesan statement reads. "He acknowledged that his action was not right and promised that it will not happen again." 
 
 The motorized man of the cloth has been yanked from his church in metro Manila and "will spend some time to reflect on this past event," the statement concludes. 
 
 Hoverboards were one of the hottest Christmas gifts this year despite the dangers of falling off the self-balancing, two-wheeled, battery-powered scooters. ||||| Dallas Bishop Edward Burns addresses the media Aug. 19, 2018, during a news conference. The Rev. Edmundo Paredes is accused of molesting teens and stealing from his parish, St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Dallas, where he had served for 27 years. (Photo: Rex C Curry, The Dallas Morning News via AP) 
 
 DALLAS – A Dallas priest accused of molesting teens and taking at least $60,000 from his parish now is missing, Roman Catholic Church officials said. 
 
 At St. Cecilia Catholic Church, where the Rev. Edmundo Paredes had served for 27 years, parishioners said Sunday that he may have fled to his native Philippines, where he has been taking annual vacations. 
 
 Bishop Edward Burns told parishioners over the weekend the Dallas Diocese has hired two private investigators to try to track Paredes down. 
 
 "Now that we know of his criminal sexual acts, we want to get a handle on him," Burns said. 
 
 ► Aug. 20: Pope Francis blasts clergy 'atrocities': 'We showed no care for little ones' 
 
 ► Aug. 19: Clergy abuse hotline calls 'surging' after scathing grand jury report 
 
 ► Aug. 19: Pennsylvania priests, parishioners push forward in faith 
 
 The church first began investigating Paredes in May 2017 over allegations he stole $60,000 to $80,000 in cash from the parish. The priest admitted to the financial misconduct, was suspended from ministry and removed from the church in June 2017, the bishop said. 
 
 St. Cecilia had a celebratory Mass for Paredes on June 1, 2017, according to a St. Cecilia Catholic School Facebook post. And another Facebook post, now not available publicly, called it a retirement celebration. 
 
 The Rev. Edmundo Paredes prepares for communion June 5, 2008, at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Dallas. Paredes, a Texas priest now accused of molesting teens and stealing from his parish, has gone missing. (Photo: Juan Garcia, The Dallas Morning News via AP) 
 
 But in February, church officials received allegations that Paredes had molested three teen boys more than a decade ago. Diocese officials immediately filed a report with law enforcement agencies to launch a criminal investigation, Burns said. 
 
 The diocese wasn't aware of the sexual-assault allegation when Paredes was suspended, diocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor said. 
 
 "The allegations were found to be credible," Burns said. 
 
 Paredes can no longer administer the sacraments or otherwise represent himself as a priest, the bishop said. 
 
 Burns disclosed the allegations to parishioners Sunday after consulting with the Diocesan Review Board, a group of nonclergy Catholics who counsel the diocese on matters involving the sexual abuse of minors. The information wasn’t disclosed earlier because officials didn’t want to hinder the police investigation or compromise the victims’ identities, Gonzales Taylor said. 
 
 However, after a Pennsylvania grand jury released a nearly 900-page report Tuesday detailing allegations of sexual abuse against 301 priests, Burns said telling parishioners at Parades' former church was necessary. 
 
 Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests contend that Burns waited too long. 
 
 ► Aug. 18: Some priests sent to psychiatric clinics for sex-abuse treatment 
 
 ► Aug. 17: Why the Catholic Church still struggles with sexual abuse scandals 
 
 "Why would Bishop burns suppress this crucial information?" Lisa Kendzior and Paul Petersen, Dallas chapter leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement. "Was it to protect the diocese from scandal? 
 
 "What about concern for the safety of children and the need to comfort any survivors?" they asked. "Where is the transparency that the Catholic bishops promised?" 
 
 After Mass on Sunday, Sylvia Segura, 61, told The Dallas Morning News that she broke down in tears because the news about Paredes caught her by surprise. 
 
 ► Aug. 16: Catholic Church had 'playbook' to keep priest abuse secret, FBI said 
 
 ► Aug. 16: 40 Pennsylvania priests confessed their crimes; little was done afterward 
 
 When she heard the bishop's letter being read from the pulpit, Segura said she expected a statement of solidarity with the Pennsylvania grand jury report. 
 
 "Just to find out that it was in our very own house that it had happened," she said. "It was very, very hard." 
 
 Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow WFAA on Twitter: @wfaa 
 
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 ► Aug. 11: Some priests named in clergy sex abuse report remain in ministry 
 
 . 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2BuQzEV ||||| William Aitcheson stepped down after revealing that he was a Ku Klux Klan member in the 1970s. (WUSA9) 
 
 Forty years ago, William Aitcheson was a University of Maryland student and Ku Klux Klan member who burned a cross in the front yard of a black newlywed couple’s home. He was sentenced to jail time and ordered to pay about $20,000 to the family. Then God changed his heart. 
 
 Aitcheson went on to attend seminary in Rome and was ordained as a Catholic priest. He returned home to the East Coast and served in several Virginia parishes, including his most recent post at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax City, where he’s been for four years. 
 
 The Rev. William Aitcheson. (Arlington Catholic Herald) 
 
 Seeing images from the deadly white supremacist and white nationalist rally in Charlottesville spurred Aitcheson to make a confession of his own. He wrote an essay published Monday in the Arlington Catholic Herald about his KKK involvement and burning crosses before joining the clergy. He said he’s temporarily stepping down from his post. 
 
 In his essay, Aitcheson described himself as “an impressionable young man” when he joined the hate group. He wrote that images from the rally in Charlottesville “brought back memories of a bleak period in my life that I would have preferred to forget.” 
 
 It isn’t clear how many at his current or past parishes knew of his KKK involvement, although officials at the Catholic Diocese of Arlington said that when he came to the diocese more than 24 years ago, they “learned of his past as well as his sincere conversion of heart.” They said no accusations of racism have been lodged against him while at the diocese. 
 
 “My actions were despicable,” wrote Aitcheson, 62. “When I think back on burning crosses, a threatening letter, and so on, I feel as though I am speaking of somebody else. It’s hard to believe that was me.” 
 
 In a statement, Michael F. Burbidge, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, called Aitcheson’s past “sad and deeply troubling.” 
 
 Aitcheson served with the Catholic Church in Nevada before being transferred to Arlington, where he is originally from, church officials said in a statement. He was ordained in 1988 and has served in a variety of positions at parishes in Nevada; Arlington; Fredericksburg; and Warrenton, Va. His latest assignment was as parochial vicar, or assistant to the pastor, at St. Leo the Great in Fairfax City. 
 
 The Arlington diocese said Aitcheson would not be available to comment. Attempts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful. 
 
 According to a March 1977 story in The Washington Post, Aitcheson, then a 23-year-old University of Maryland student, was identified as an “exalted cyclops” of a KKK lodge. He was charged in several cross-burnings in Prince George’s County, one count of making bomb threats and two counts of manufacturing pipe bombs. 
 
 [From 1977: Maryland student charged in 6 cross burnings] 
 
 President Trump addressed U.S. troops and the nation from Fort Myer in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 21 to announce his plan going forward in Afghanistan. (The Washington Post) 
 
 According to the 1977 Post article, Maryland State Police said Aitcheson was a leader of the Robert E. Lee Lodge of the Maryland Knights of the KKK, which had planned to recruit people to blow up facilities at Fort Meade. 
 
 When officers searched his home in the 1970s, they found nine pounds of black powder, weapons and bomb parts in Aitcheson’s bedroom and basement. His parents told authorities they didn’t know about the explosives and weapons. 
 
 At the time he was charged in the 1970s, Aitcheson’s father, William W. Aitcheson, said his son was a member of the hate group, adding, “My son, along with others, are just caught up in it. . . . I don’t know what their thoughts are.” 
 
 
 
 Aitcheson pleaded guilty to several cross burnings, including one in the front yard of an African American family in the College Park Woods neighborhood and others at B’nai B’rith Hillel at the University of Maryland and the Beth Torah Congregation in Hyattsville. He was convicted, sentenced to 90 days and ordered to pay a judgment of about $20,000. 
 
 The African American couple declined to talk Tuesday about the burning cross from 40 years ago. A woman who answered the door at their Silver Spring home said it was so long ago and that thinking about it would bring back difficult memories. 
 
 Five years after Aitcheson’s involvement in the cross-burning incident at their home, President Ronald Reagan visited the couple and their young daughter, saying it was “is not something that should have happened in America,” according to a May 1982 article in the Post. 
 
 Steve Fennell, a partner at Washington law firm Steptoe and Johnson, represented the family in a civil case against Aitcheson. He said the cross burning had an “enormous impact” on his former clients, although he hasn’t spoken with them in decades. 
 
 “The hurt was profound, but the closure they got from the president of the United States was just as profound,” he said. 
 
 [A Family’s Long Ordeal] 
 
 Aitcheson also pleaded guilty to charges that he threatened to kill Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He told a U.S. District Court judge that he wrote to King in February 1976, telling her to “stay off the University of Maryland campus or you will die.” Investigators said he wrote “Africa or death by lynching, take your pick, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.” He was a U-Md. student studying broadcasting at the time. 
 
 He told a judge he was pleading guilty because “well, ah, because I’m guilty.” He was convicted in U.S. District Court in Baltimore of mailing threatening communications. A judge sentenced him to 60 days in prison and four years of probation. 
 
 
 
 In his essay published this week, Aitcheson apologized and said the recent violence in Charlottesville prompted him to share his past. He called the images from Charlottesville “embarrassing,” adding that “for those who have repented from a damaging and destructive past, the images should bring us to our knees in prayer.” 
 
 [Recounting a day of rage, hate, violence and death] 
 
 Aitcheson went on: “Racists have polluted minds, twisted by an ideology that reinforces the false belief that they are superior to others.” Aitcheson also wrote that “the irony that” he “left an anti-Catholic hate group to rejoin the Catholic Church is not lost on me. It is a reminder of the radical transformation possible through Jesus Christ in his mercy.” 
 
 The diocese had received information about Aitcheson’s history when he was officially accepted for ministry in 1998, officials said. Billy Atwell, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, did not detail that information. 
 
 Atwell said Aitcheson’s background check upon coming to Arlington indicated he hadn’t been convicted of a “barrier crime” under Virginia law, which includes crimes such as murder, robbery, sexual assault or crimes against children. 
 
 He said more in-depth background reviews have been done routinely on staff and priests since the mid-2000s. The checks are conducted using a national criminal check system of FBI and fingerprint-tracking databases. 
 
 Former and current church officials familiar with the screening process said judgments of priest-candidates are considered on a “case by case basis” and that there is no national or churchwide standard. Sexual abuse or sexual crime, however, would eliminate a candidate’s chances. 
 
 Atwell said Tuesday that Aitcheson’s “story of repentance is authentic.” 
 
 The checks are conducted using a national criminal check system of FBI and fingerprint-tracking databases. 
 
 “The question as to whether someone is fit for ministry is answered within that process,” Atwell wrote in an email. After that, he said, a formal recommendation is made to the Bishop and his advisers. Aitcheson did undergo other routine procedures, such as a psychological evaluation and multiple interviews. 
 
 In Nevada, a spokesman for the Diocese of Reno said he only had “general files” about Aitcheson and that those who had made decisions on him becoming a priest have since died. 
 
 “The diocese accepted him, for whatever reason,” said the Rev. Robert Chorey. “I have no record of their thought process of anything.” 
 
 Asked if the diocese knew about Aitcheson’s KKK and criminal background when they accepted him as a priest, Chorey said, “it seems they understood at least part of his background.” What would disqualify someone from becoming a priest was hard to say, Chorey said, adding that it would be decided on a case-by-case basis. He said he didn’t know why Aitcheson decided to go to Nevada. 
 
 At Fairfax’s Saint Leo the Great, Al Leightley, the church’s head usher, said Aitcheson never discussed his involvement with the KKK. Leightley found out about his past Tuesday morning but said Aitcheson repented appropriately in his letter. 
 
 “He is a very good priest, very dedicated to his profession,” he said. “It’s hard to see all the commotion going on with the gentleman.” 
 
 Some public Catholic figures began speaking out on Aitcheson on Tuesday, including conservative legal scholar Matthew Franck, a Princeton University lecturer. 
 
 “I hope this evidently good man returns to active ministry,” Franck tweeted. “He could do important work, especially with his history.” 
 
 On the diocese’s Facebook page, supporters of the priest praised his decision to go public and called him a gifted pastor. “A true story of redemption. May God continue to work in and through Fr. Aitcheson,” one wrote. 
 
 In a phone interview, Franck said, “Sometimes people get involved in a hate group and then have been reborn, and have an interesting story to tell. … It would be a loss for him to just vanish.” 
 
 Some commenters disagreed. One woman, Linda Sun, wrote on the comment section of the Arlington Catholic Herald website that while Aitcheson may “feel good” after putting his story more into the public, it’s a “kind of self-indulgence that does little good.” 
 
 A note at the bottom of Aitcheson’s essay Monday said he had “voluntarily asked to step away from public ministry, for the well being of the Church and parish community.” 
 
 Ellie Silverman, Justin Jouvenal, Magda Jean-Louis and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
– A priest rolling around his church on a "hoverboard" while singing May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You on Christmas Eve earned a round of applause from his congregation and a quick suspension from his diocese, NBC News reports. It's unknown how the birthday boy felt about the whole thing. According to Sun Times, the unnamed priest's song-and-roll routine took place just before the end of mass at a church in the Philippines. Fortunately for those who couldn't be in attendance, the whole thing was caught on video. "That was wrong," Rappler quotes a statement from the Diocese of San Pablo as saying. “[Mass] is the Church’s highest form of worship. Consequently, it is not a personal celebration where one can capriciously introduce something to get the attention of the people.” The priest's suspension was announced Tuesday, with the diocese stating that the priest is repentant and views the incident as a "wake-up call," Sun Times reports. "[He] will spend some time to reflect on this past event," reads the diocese's statement. "He would like to apologize for what happened.” A group advocating for a return to the traditional Latin mass used the priest's hoverboard jaunt as evidence of the further degradation of Catholic worship. "This calls for a reparation," the group posted on Facebook. According to NBC, so-called hoverboards were one of the most gifted items this Christmas. But Rappler reports they are facing a possible ban in the Philippines. (Even shoplifters are getting in on the trend.)