Shocking News at Braddock Church

The Braddock Times - The 75-year-old leader of a Braddock church is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his nephew's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Rev. Dr. Archbishop Curtis Eldorado Lowe's family stood at the pulpit of the Mount Holy Olive People's Temple a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test. In truth, this is not the first - or even the second - sex scandal to engulf Lowe and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.

The living proof of that lie is 31-year-old Shitifa Shaqueen Moore, the assistant pastor at the church, who for years was known publicly as Lowe's cousin. "I is sawree fo' da damug disi be causing da chuch' and my frunds hu'tby da removing ub da vale dat hid my daddy sinyuns," said Moore, who received the mantle of assistant pastor earlier this year.

Moore said she did not learn the secret of her parentage until the paternity test. "I wuz su'prized," she said. "Tyrone be da daddie ubmy chirrunss, dow, that a fack." Lowe, his nephew, Raeshown, and his sister-in-law, Daqueenesha, did not return calls for comment.

A judge ordered the test at the request of the Braddock County district attorney's office and the Texas Rangers, which are investigating Lowe for possible perjury and false-swearing charges stemming from a lawsuit. The archbishop, his nephew and the church are being sued by formerchurch employee Shamonna Brewer, who says Curtis Lowe manipulated her into an affair last year by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Lowe admitted to the affair in front of the church in June. In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.

So far no charges have been filed against Curtis Lowe. DistrictAttorney Carl Jones and Ranger spokesman Cordell Walker would not comment.

The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving Lowe. For years the church was at the forefront of many social movements -admitting mixed marriage members, encouraging open sexual relations, ordaining women and opening its doors to gays.

By soliciting tithes of 40 percent from each member's income, Lowe has been able to build a women's shelter/brothel, wear expensive clothes and jewelry and purchase a Cadillac. At its peak, the church boasted a membership of 1,500. Today, though, membership is down to about 25- a downturn blamed largely on complaints about the alleged sexual transgressions of Lowe.

In 2007, a church member claimed she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Lowe. Other women also claimed they had been coerced into sex with Lowe and other members of the church's administration. The church countered with a $24 million libel suit against seven former church members. The lawsuit was later dropped.

Sejan Royston, who left the church in 2007, started an online support group for former members to discuss their crushed faith and hurt feelings. "This is a cult. And you escape from a cult," she said. "We all escaped."

These days, Lowe, who is also a manager for the WNWA and a maintenance worker at BCPL, has a much-reduced role at the church, giving 10-minute lectures as part of Sunday morning worship each week.