Church

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. - Two former members of the Church of Scientology claimed in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the church and its affiliates deceived members into donating millions of dollars to misrepresented causes. Luis and Maria Garcia, of Irvine, Calif., filed the complaint in federal court in Tampa, near the church's national headquarters in Clearwater. The couple claims that they were duped into giving more than $420,000 for a building campaign, disaster-relief efforts and other Scientology causes, only to find that the bulk of the money went to inflate the church coffers and line the pockets of its leader, David Miscavige.

MOVITA Johnson-Harrell tried to get away. "The summer of 2007 . . . I turned to my husband and said: 'My sons will not become statistics on the streets of Philadelphia. It's time to go,' " Johnson-Harrell said Monday. She moved her family to Lansdowne to keep her children from the city's violent gun culture. Despite the move, in 2011, Johnson-Harrell buried her 18-year-old son, Charles Johnson. He was shot in East Germantown in his car, a victim of mistaken identity, waiting for his sister.

Eleanor Graham Farmer, 74, of Mount Airy, a retired secretary and administrative assistant who was a longtime leader and choir member at North Philadelphia's Church of the Advocate, died Sunday, Jan. 6, of cancer at Chestnut Hill Hospital. In her later years, Mrs. Farmer became a resumé writer and career counselor. "She loved people and would go out of her way to help anybody," said her daughter Lenore Sears. Mrs. Farmer attended the Church of the Advocate, at Gratz and Diamond Streets, for nearly 50 years.

Plymouth Whitemarsh's Anthony McKie scored his 1,000th career point Saturday. He had to work doubly hard for it, too. McKie, a senior guard, thought he had reached the milestone in the second quarter when he made a layup, but an offensive goaltending call wiped out the points. The home crowd didn't have to wait long, though. A few possessions later, McKie drained a 15-foot, running jumper from the left baseline. Cameron Johnson went on to score his only two points on free throws with seven seconds left to seal the Colonials' 50-47 nonleague win over Church Farm.

THE CITY'S Historical Commission on Friday allowed a permit to demolish the historic Church of the Assumption to stand, even though the building has a new owner. "This commission unanimously found that the permit does apply to the current owner and is not subject to the ownership of the building but the building itself," said commission chairman Sam Sherman, after a closed-door executive meeting. The city's Board of Licenses and Inspection Review had asked the commission to provide its opinion on whether the permit was valid under the new owner, developer John Wei. Wei bought the 164-year-old Gothic church, which has historical ties to Catholic saints John Neumann and Katherine Drexel, from a nonprofit for $1.12 million.

A church deacon has been arrested on charges he raped a 13-year-old girl at a Bensalem motel two years ago, police announced Thursday. District Judge Leonard Brown arraigned Humberto Cervantes, 34, of Coatesville, on nine offenses and ordered him held on $1 million bail. Police said Cervantes was a deacon at a Trenton Pentecostal church when he befriended the alleged victim, now 15. Police said Cervantes met with the alleged victim several times in Bensalem. The two "went to a few parks and talked about church, life, and family," police said.

There was no water at the well of the Philadelphia Historical Commission for those trying to stop the demolition of the historic double-spired Church of the Assumption on Spring Garden Street. On Friday, the Commission went into executive session and then issued an opinion that the demotion permit approved for the previous owner, the non-profit Siloam, remains valid for the new owners, commercial developers John Wei and Mika He. The Patrick Keeley-designed 1849 brownstone and copper Church where St. Katherine Drexel was baptized seemed closer than ever to the wrecking ball.

There was no water at the well of the Philadelphia Historical Commission for those trying to stop the demolition of the historic, double-spired Church of the Assumption on Spring Garden Street. On Friday, the commission went into executive session and issued an opinion that the demolition permit approved for the previous owner, the nonprofit Siloam, remains valid for the new owners, developers John Wei and Mika He. The Patrick Keeley-designed, 1849 brownstone-and-copper church, where St. Katharine Drexel was baptized, seemed closer than ever to the wrecking ball.

A ray of morning sun shot through the huge stained-glass window at the United Methodist Church of Narberth. It lasered a patch of bluish-red light onto a box of string beans so plump and green, they looked fake. The sun-kissed beans, along with pounds and pounds of other foods, were being bundled for needy residents who had gathered this week at the Narberth Community Food Bank, housed in the church. These are uneasy days for the three-year-old food bank. The church is being sold and turned into 11 condominiums, morphing from the sacred to the secular - for a nearly $2 million asking price.

THE CHURCH OF the Assumption won another reprieve Tuesday. The city's Board of Licenses & Inspections Review sent the case back to the Philadelphia Historical Commission and asked it to weigh in on the latest appeal from activists trying to save the historic church from the wrecking ball. Samuel Stretton, attorney for a community group, told the board that the owner, John Wei, should have to go before the Historical Commission just as the previous owner did. But the board stopped short of requiring the commission to have a new hearing based on new ownership.