A Texas megachurch pastor has been fired after confessing to a “moral failure” – with members told to protect the church from “the Devil” by not engaging in “unnecessary speech or speculation” about the matter.
The nature of Tony Cammarota’s misbehaviour is not clear as those who attend the Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco have only been told in a letter that his “sin disqualifies him from serving on our staff as a pastor”, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reports.
Mr Cammarota has become the latest Texas megachurch pastor to either step down or be removed from his post in recent weeks due to unexplained circumstances, a suggestion of wrongdoing, or in one case serious criminal allegations.
Robert Morris, who was a pastor at the Gateway megachurch in Southlake, Texas, resigned last month after admitting to a “moral failure” following allegations that he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl for several years in the 1980s.
Days earlier Mike Buster, a pastor at the 45,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church, resigned with one week’s notice in a highly unusual move, Baptist News Global reports.
Mr Buster and the church have denied any wrongdoing was behind the resignation as rumours swirled of financial wrongdoing and an FBI investigation.
Meanwhile, in early June pastor Tony Evans reportedly stepped down after serving nearly 50 years with the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship – which serves 10,000 members in Dallas – saying in a statement that he’d committed no crime but failed to use “righteous judgment in my actions”.
In its letter informing members of its congregation about Mr Cammarota’s depature, Stonebriar Community Church writes: “With a heavy heart we want to inform you of sad and difficult news.
“On Sunday afternoon July 7th, Pastor Tony Cammarota confessed to church leadership of a moral failure.
“He is deeply remorseful but his sin disqualifies him from serving on our staff as a pastor.”
The church, which reportedly serves more than 11,000 congregants, adds that it has “terminated his employment effective immediately”.
The letter continues: “Please guard against giving the Devil any foothold for more damage to our church through unnecessary speech and speculation.
“This is a sad day and we don’t want the Devil making it worse through any one of us in the days ahead.
“With heavy, heavy hearts and requesting your prayers.”
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The letter was shared on the X social media platform by Amy Smith, a blogger in Southlake, Texas, who has been writing about allegations of sex abuse at the Gateway Church where Mr Morris worked.
Ms Smith told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth she was stunned by the “warning” at the end of Stonebriar Community Church’s letter.
She added: “Had it just simply been a termination for moral failure, without a warning not to talk about it, I’m not sure it would’ve created such a public stir.”
Ms Smith continued: “That word, moral failure, in this climate in Dallas/Fort Worth with what just happened with Robert Morris at Gateway, that term moral failure is triggering and honestly, I think it’s quite tone deaf… It’s an emotional and spiritual manipulation to tell people that if they do have questions about the moral failure, that would be giving the devil a foothold.”
Police in Frisco say they have not received a report in relation to the termination of Mr Cammarota’s employment.