A pastor from Hummelstown remains on the roster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America a year after he was charged with soliciting sex for money, reports the Web site Pretty Good Lutherans.
Police charged the Rev. Alan Curtis Wenrich with "patronizing prostitutes" after soliciting sex from a client he was treating in his private counseling practice, according to public documents. Instead of prosecuting the pastor, the district attorney agreed to let Wenrich enter ARD, a county rehabilitation program for first-time, nonviolent offenders (Accelerated Rehabilitative Program).
Bishop B. Penrose Hoover, who leads the ELCA's Lower Susquehanna Synod, told PGL that Wenrich is still a pastor "because his misconduct did not rise to the level of sexual misconduct as we define it. It was solicitation, not the act of sex."
Hoover said once Wenrich has "undergone all the proper steps, he could perform some pastoral duties under the supervision of another pastor."
Wenrich's license to practice professional counseling was suspended last February by the state licensing board.
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