The Nation - News from May 18, 1987

A minister who handed out condoms in an Amherst, N.Y., church last February during a sermon on sexually transmitted diseases will be allowed to remain a cleric, church officials said. The Ministerial Fellowship Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst ended its investigation of the Rev. Carl Thitchener by voting to let him remain in full fellowship with the denomination, a spokesman said. Thitchener, who had been convicted of second-degree assault, disorderly conduct and driving while intoxicated, must check in periodically with a therapist and continue with a counseling program and Alcoholics Anonymous.