HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Polish culture is being celebrated this weekend at the fourth annual Polish Harvest Festival, hosted by Our Lady Of Czestochowa Catholic Church in northwest Houston. Visitors can sample plenty of Polish food and enjoy traditional songs and dances.
There are also games for the kids.
The festival continues Sunday from 11am to 6pm.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »They say the plan could hurt the value of their homes and want the plan to build single-parent housing stopped. But there may not be much they can do about it.
A set of duplexes is being planned along west Bellfort near Balmforth. The program would allow carefully screened single parents to live in transitional housing for nine to 12 months before getting out on their own.
Nearby residents say it's a great a idea, but just not in their neighborhood.
The grassy, unassuming lot in Meyerland, sandwiched in between two churches, has neighbors at odds with the 56-year-old St. John's Presbyterian Church.
"There are a lot of single mothers who fit the criteria," Pastor Jon Burnham said.
"It's a good idea and I agree with that, it's a perfect idea, but we are concerned about our property," homeowner Pedro Navarro said.
St. John's is partnering with the Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services. They plan to construct four duplexes that will become transitional housing for the Houston Single Parent Family Program. It aims to help single parents get back on their feet, into full-time jobs and a home of their own.
A master's level social worker would be on-site full time overseeing the pre-screened mothers.
"There are a lot of single mothers who fit the criteria and who want to improve their lives, the lives of their children, but they just need a little help," Burnham said.
Though they understand the good intentions, homeowners directly behind the project are concerned about its long-term effects.
"See, everything when it's new looks good. But through the years, you never know what kind of people they are going to bring, so property might depreciate," Navarro said.
St. John's Presbyterian Church says they have already lined up a builder and just want to help single parents in need get to a new level in life.
"On out into their own apartment and with a job and with better parenting skills and a more stable family life and hope for a future," Burnham said.
The church says it already owns the lot and plans to move forward with a groundbreaking in mid 2013.
You can read more on this story in the Bellaire Examiner, one of our Houston Community Newspaper partners online.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A 15-year-old girl told authorities that she had sex with a man she met at church last year. Now that man is facing a felony charge.
According to court documents, the girl told a deputy with the Harris County Sheriff's Office that she met Juan Carlos Sixtos, 25, at church last year in about March, and they had communicated on Facebook. She says the pair talked on the phone and texted daily.
In July 2011, the teen says she snuck out of her house at about 2am to meet Sixtos and had sex with him in his car. The sexual relationship reportedly continued until November.
Sixtos reportedly confessed to having sex with the teen. He is charged with sexual assault of a child under 17 years of age. Bail has been set at $30,000.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- A three-alarm fire that erupted at an old church building in Pasadena has been ruled arson, officials announced Sunday. According to Pasadena Fire Marshal David Brenham, investigators are following some leads in an effort to catch the person or people responsible for the blaze.
The fire happened around 3pm Friday in the 3500 block of Red Bluff and it burned into the night.
The vacant building once housed the Sharron Lutheran Church. In the 60's, the building was the home of the mega-church of its day in the then-small city of Pasadena. During the blaze Friday, firefighters had to collapse it in order to get the flames under control.
No injuries were reported.
A woman who works at a day care that was next door to the building tells us two people were seen running away from it just moments before the fire erupted.
Anyone with information that could help in this investigation is urged to call 713-475-5556, or call Crime Stoppers if you would like to remain anonymous.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Sheriff's deputies say a local church was burglarized by three teenagers Tuesday afternoon, and all the suspects ended up in jail. One church member actually helped officers catch the thieves and says this kind of thing happened there before. Officers say they have mixed messages from the suspects about the break-in.
"I seen a window broken out in the church, bicycle laying behind the church, the door was open in the back of the church," said Glenn Nitsch, a member of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Nitsch was driving by his church and stopped to see what was going on. That's when he found officers looking for burglars.
"We just kinda flushed 'em out; they ran out the front of the church," Nitsch said.
Nitsch and officers had surprised three young burglary suspects. One stayed by the church and two tried to run for it. Officers quickly caught those suspects.
A lieutenant tells us officers got two different stories about the break-in.
"One of the juvenile males told me the reason they did they were bored. Another juvenile male told me they were hungry and that's why they broke into the church," Harris County Sheriff's Office Lt. J.R. Rollins said.
SkyEye HD found what was stolen from the church.
"Two liters of soda water and one bag of Cheetohs and two firelighters," Rollins said.
The church was broken into a few years back. Nitsch says that break-in ended similar to this one.
"We caught them as well, so this is the second time we've caught people in the church, coming out of the church and being arrested," Nitsch said.
Officers tell us all three teenagers will face burglary charges, and the two who ran off also will face evading arrest charges.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Over one hundred thousand dollars gone; hard-earned money from churchgoers hoping their prayers would get answered. Instead, authorities say that money went into the pockets of a church bookkeeper.
The suspect in the case was trusted by the church to handle finances, and now she's in custody, accused of ripping off the church and its members.
Rebekah Talley is in jail. Church members are reacting the way you might expect -- they are doing their best to look past their anger and disappointment to offer Talley their forgiveness.
For nearly three years, Talley was a trusted employee at St. John Lutheran Church on Spring Cypress Rd. in northwest Harris County. But this week, all that changed after police arrested the 33-year-old accounting clerk for allegedly stealing more than $150,000 from the church.
"We believe those are accurate to the best we know. We've made a statement to the congregation in a letter that we sent out," said Steve Saunders.
In the letter, the church's senior pastor writes, "it is our hope that Rebekah is truly repentant, seek's God mercy and forgiveness, and able to repay these funds. Please keep her and her family in your prayers."
Talley is accused of writing forged checks on behalf of the church and depositing them into her personal account at a credit union. Once the church realized the money was missing, officials tried reaching Talley several times, but were unsuccessful. So they contacted police instead.
"It's regretful. It's a regretful incident that we wish didn't happen, but it doesn't shake our faith and we continue on," Saunders said.
On the day church workers found the discrepancies and confronted Talley, she allegedly left the church claiming she was sick and took a trash bag with her and never returned to work. That was back in May 2011.
We contacted Talley's attorney and are still awaiting a response.
Talley was arrested on January 12. She is charged with aggregate theft. Bond is set at $302,000.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)For 30 years, Our Lady of Walsingham has been a place for area Anglicans and Episcopalians seeking their Catholics roots. Margaret Pichon was Episcopalian, her husband, Arnaud, Catholic. This church fit them both.
"It allowed Margaret to convert to Catholicism because they were all former Episcopalians like she was,' said Arnaud.
The church has been part of the Catholic diocese, but now it is more than that. The official Parish of a New Ordinariate was created by the Pope. It's only the second in the world outside Britain.
"He has established an ordinariate to welcome Anglican groups and clergy to become Catholic," said CardinalDaniel Denardo of the Galveston-Houston diocese.
The head of the new ordinariate, Father Jeffrey Steenson, is a former Episcopal bishop who became a Catholic priest two years ago.
"For perhaps the first time since the Reformation in the 16th century, a corporate structure will be given to those who choose to return to St. Peter and his successors," he said.
Father Steenson is also married and a father of three adult children. The Episcopal church allows priests to marry. The Catholic church does not, and that will not change.
"It's not an issue at all," said Bishop Kevin Vann of Ft. Worth. "Married priests we have work well with the priests we have and we have the highest number of seminarians in the history of the seminary in Fort Worth," he said.
St. Mary's seminary in west Houston will offer a nine-month training program for Anglican clergy who want to join the Catholic priesthood. What this offers is the ability for Anglicans and Episcopals to retain the same liturgy, the same hymns, the familiar traditions, but as Roman-Catholics, something Arnaud and Margaret Pichon appreciate.
"Because I think we're being called to reach out to those people contemplating the journey and here, we now have the structure to help them do that," said Margaret.
According go the diocese, about 100 Anglican and Episcopalian priests are asking to go through the seminary program there.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the City and to the World) speech from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) 
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI named a married former Episcopal bishop Sunday to head the first U.S. organizational structure for disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians who want to join the Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Jeffrey Neil Steenson, a father of three and Catholic convert, will lead the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the equivalent of a diocese, that will be based in Houston, Texas, but will operate nationally.
The Vatican created the first such ordinariate in Britain last year. Other ordinariates are being considered in Australia and Canada.
Steenson stepped down in 2007 as the Episcopal Bishop of Rio Grande, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the Episcopal Church elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Steenson had said he was "deeply troubled" about the direction of the U.S. denomination and he described the Catholic Church as the "true home of Anglicanism."
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body in the United States.
Benedict in 2009 issued an unprecedented invitation for Anglicans to become Catholic in groups or as parishes, at a time when traditional Anglicans in several countries were increasingly upset by the ordination of women and gay bishops. Formerly, Anglican converts to Catholicism were accepted on a case-by-case basis.
The pope's decision created tensions with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the world Anglican Communion, who like his predecessors had been in talks with Vatican officials to bring Anglicans and Catholics closer together.
The 77-million-member Anglican fellowship has its roots in the Church of England, which split from the Holy See in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment.
At the time of the pope's announcement, Anglicans were already fracturing over Robinson's election and other issues. Williams had little advance notice of the Vatican announcement. Still, after meeting privately with the pope soon after, the archbishop of Canterbury said he was convinced that there was no "dawn raid" on his church by the Holy See.
Under the pope's plan, Anglicans who become Catholic will be allowed to keep some of their heritage in liturgy and other areas. Married Anglican priests who convert can stay married and be ordained in the Catholic Church, an exception to the Vatican's celibacy rule. Married Anglican bishops, however, cannot retain that position, and will serve the Catholic Church as priests.
More than 100 Anglican clergy have applied to become Catholic priests in the U.S. ordinariate. Church officials said more than 1,400 individuals are seeking to join. The U.S. Episcopal Church has just under 2 million members. Many Anglo-Catholics in the United States had never been part of the Episcopal Church.
Steenson, 59, who has a doctorate from the University of Oxford, has been married since 1974 and has three adult children. His wife also converted to Catholicism. He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 2009 in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and helped create the education and training program for Anglican priests seeking to join the Catholic Church.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more National/World »
Enterprise Baptist Church in Bay City gave away thousands of toys on Christmas
BAY CITY, TX (KTRK) -- Some families who couldn't afford to put any presents under the tree this Christmas picked up free gifts in Bay City. Enterprise Baptist Church says it collected 3,000 toy donations.
Families in Matagorda County were invited to drop by the church and pick up a toy for children who might not otherwise get a gift this Christmas.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) PEARLAND, TX (KTRK) -- The Pearland Police Department seeks the public's help in identifying a group of thieves who are targeting Christmas toy donations. St. Helen Catholic Church in the 2200 block of Old Alvin had been collecting new, unwrapped toys to give away at Christmas. Parishioners had been leaving the toys at the designated collection site inside the narthex of the church and had collected two large bags of toys with a total estimated value of $600.
Police say on Sunday, just before 11am, three suspects, all of whom appeared to be juveniles, were captured on video picking up the bags of toys and walking out of the church. The suspects had also been seen panhandling outside the church. After taking the toys, the suspects got into a gold Chrysler minivan and left the scene.
Pearland police say a similar theft had reportedly occurred at Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood.
The first subject is described as a juvenile white female wearing black pants and a black shirt. According to police, she appeared to be approximately 5'4" to 5'6" and was walking and talking with a white male juvenile who was wearing blue jeans and a white polo shirt with tan and blue horizontal stripes.
A second juvenile female, who appeared to be approximately 8 to 10 years old and wearing white pants and a pink shirt, was observed to remove a second bag filled with toys. The Chrysler minivan had tinted windows, aluminum wheels and no front license plate.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Pearland Police Department at 281-997-4100.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »Deacon Randy Brown directed church members to a nearby fellowship hall at Cullen Missionary Baptist Church. The neighboring church welcomed them since they have no air conditioning at their church home.
In the past week, nine A/C units were stolen at Evangelist Temple Church of God and Christ, and this was not the only church that was targeted in the area. Police say criminals have recently hit at least three area churches.
The thieves even broke through security cages.
The church is working to get new A/C units, but they will also add security to help prevent this from happening again. They estimate the losses at as much as $50,000.
"We're not quite sure what the insurance company is going to do, but we have to have the air conditioners. It's impossible to have church without it. You know, God will make a way. God will make a way," Brown said. "It's going to be a tremendous expense."
Brown said they are hopeful they can have services back at their church next week, but that will depend on if they can get the air conditioning units replaced by then.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say there's a woman stealing from purses in the middle of church services all over the Houston area and some people may not even realize they've fallen victim to her.
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A local woman fought back tears on Good Friday. Her bank account is drained and she claims her church duped her out of tens of thousands of dollars.
The woman is now suing the Chapel of Praise in Alief, saying the church stole her identity and left her in financial ruin. That parishioner says when she decided to become a member here in 2005 she had to fill out a form, giving personal information including her date of birth, Social Security number and her signature. She accuses church leaders of using that to get a loan in her name. Francisca Mena says she is in danger of losing her home because of a loan that was taken out in her name that she only recently found out existed. "Almost crazy you know. Why? How?" she said. She didn't know what to make of the thousands of dollars being drafted suddenly out of her checking account. "The bank is empty. I say why?! Two days ago, I put $3,000, you know?" Mena said. Her bank told her another bank had filed a judgment against her over a loan that hadn't been repaid. She says that loan was taken out by leaders of the Chapel of Praise church. She's filed suit against its leaders, alleging that they took her personal information and used it to secure a loan to purchase $30,000 worth of music instruments and audio equipment. According to the suit, when confronted, Pastor Steve Ams told Mena "not to worry because he would take care of it." Other church leaders allegedly told her they were "very sorry" and that the church would begin to repay her $500 monthly. Mena insists that has never happened. Mena says she feels violated and that she trusted her church and its leaders. She and her husband have three adopted children and they're foster parents to three more. Now she wonders what will happen to them if they lose the house. Late Friday afternoon, Ams returned our calls, saying Mena was never a church member. "The information is totally false. For a non member to bring an allegation based on a lawsuit that has not been double checked, it's not fair," he told us over the phone. We offered Ams a chance to speak on camera but he declined. Meanwhile, the Houston Police Department is investigating Mena's claims. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)"Its really a wonderful feeling to be back in the house of the Lord. He has blessed us. It's been two months," church member Mary Frank said.
"A lot of hard labor, but it seems God gave us the strength to get through it and it seems we gained strength and momentum as we worked," said Jennifer Cooper, the pastor's wife.
Vandals broke in to the church in January, stealing microphones, guitars and keyboards and pouring acid on carpet and pew cushions.
The small congregation had no insurance for the $30,000 in damage. Donations helped them clean up and rebuild.
"We're excited and we're giving Him praise and glory through it all. We never stopped celebrating the Lord," Cooper said.
The acid soaked carpet and cushions are gone and they are celebrating a new beginning.
"We just thank the Lord for everybody that participated and donated to us and helping us get built back up again. We are just celebrating the Lord today," Frank said.
Police are still investigating this case. No arrests have been made.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)