James Tramel went from convicted murderer to priest while in prison, a transformation that the Episcopal Church used to successfully lobby for his parole and celebrate him before politicians and the press.<\/p>\n
But the church is now grappling with the sexual abuse of a parishioner under his care. Tramel has been suspended for sexual misconduct, temporarily stripped of his priestly authority and left searching for a new job.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco-based Episcopal Diocese of California now faces questions of whether, in its haste to proclaim Tramel’s story, it redeemed and promoted him too quickly.<\/p>\n
Convicted of second-degree murder in a 1985 slaying, Tramel went to seminary and was ordained a priest while incarcerated in a state prison in Solano County. After he was paroled early in 2006, at the urging of the Episcopal bishop of California, Tramel was quickly placed at the helm of the historic Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
It’s there that the victim said Tramel, who is married and has a young child, took advantage of her during counseling sessions.<\/p>\n