Mrs. Nally Tells of Advice to Eject Husband

A sobbing Maria Nally testified Thursday that a minister at Grace Community Church of the Valley counseled her that she should stop feeding her husband and kick him out of the house because he was unemployed.

In halting English, Nally, a Japanese immigrant, told a Glendale Superior Court jury that the Rev. Duane Rea advised her, “Your husband not working. Don’t feed him. You make him more sin. You kick him out.”

Nally and her husband, Walter, have sued the Sun Valley church and four of its ministers, alleging that improper counseling by pastors contributed to the 1979 suicide of their 24-year-old son, Kenneth. The Nallys are seeking unspecified damages in the suit.

In testimony earlier this week, Rea, a defendant in the unprecedented “clergy malpractice” trial, recalled that, while counseling Maria Nally for marital problems in early 1977, he read to her a biblical passage from II Thessalonians 3:10. According to the New American Standard Bible, that passage reads:

“For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.”

Rea testified that, although he could not recall having told Maria Nally to stop feeding her husband, he acknowledged having explained the passage to her.

“It has to do with the Apostle Paul instructing us regarding those amongst us who will not work by choice, that we’re not to give them to eat, lest we encourage them to continue in their indolence,” Rea testified.

The Nally family attorney, Edward Barker, asserted Thursday that the fundamentalist church drove a wedge between Kenneth Nally and his Catholic parents, causing the young man great emotional distress.

The ministers also discouraged Kenneth Nally from seeing psychiatrists or psychologists who could have helped him overcome his depression and, instead, told him that he could rid himself of emotional problems by living his life according to the Bible, the family maintains.

Church officials argue that Kenneth Nally’s depression stemmed from his disdain for his father’s life style and authoritarian rule. Church attorneys David Cooksey and Samuel Ericsson said pastors repeatedly encouraged Nally to see physicians and a psychiatrist. In the last several weeks of his life, Nally was seen by no less than eight medical professionals, they said.

Rea, who was called as a witness by the plaintiffs, testified Tuesday that Maria Nally came to him for marital counseling on her son’s recommendation. Suspecting that her husband was having an affair, Maria Nally said she wanted to kill the mistress “by stabbing her with a pair of scissors,” Rea testified. Rea said Maria Nally also told him she had thoughts of killing her husband.

Maria Nally on Thursday denied she had any murderous intentions.

She said her son, who was a seminary student at the time, repeatedly asked her if she planned to divorce his father.

“He say, ‘Mom, you not going to divorce him?’ I was mad this time,” Nally testified. “I scream, ‘Kenny, every time you come home you ask me to divorce. Why you say such thing?’ I was so upset that I scream at him that time. I said, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself. What they teaching you?’ ”

Son Raised a Catholic

Maria Nally further testified that her son, who had joined Grace church in 1974 after having been raised a Catholic, told her that unless she accepted God and was “born again,” she would go to hell.

Rea testified earlier this week that, although Maria Nally told him she was a Catholic and had accepted Christ as her savior in 1975, he concluded independently from his discussions with her that she “may not be saved.” He testified that the Bible instructs, “By their fruits you shall know them,” and that Maria Nally’s talk of murder was “not a good fruit.”

The trial, which is recessed on Fridays, enters its seventh day of testimony on Monday.

The testimony has been dominated thus far by the plaintiff’s allegations. The church is not expected to present its witnesses for at least another week. Rea is expected to challenge some of Nally’s testimony when he is called as a witness for the defense.

Evidence Not Allowed

In another development Thursday, Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Kalin, who is presiding over the trial, refused to allow Barker to introduce one piece of evidence the attorney has called key to his case. The judge said the evidence, a taped lecture by Pastor Richard A. Thomson, one of the four defendants, is irrelevant and might prejudice the jury.

On the tape, Thomson reportedly says, “Suicide is one of the ways the Lord takes home a disobedient believer,” and the suicidal person may reason that God is telling him, “OK, come on home . . . can’t use you anymore on earth.”

Barker has argued that the tape demonstrates a church attitude of tolerance for suicide.

Kalin said Thursday, however, that the tape was recorded after Kenneth Nally’s death and there was no evidence that Nally ever listened to it. He added that any questions concerning Thomson’s views on suicide could be learned from his testimony in court.

Now a Pastor in Texas

Explaining his philosophy, Thomson, who left Grace church in 1982 and is now a pastor in Texas, told the court Thursday that he does not condone suicide. Thomson said he does believe, however, that even a person who kills himself can go to heaven.

“Once a person has truly accepted Christ as his personal savior, he doesn’t lose that salvation,” Thomson said. “All his sins are forgiven--past, present and future.

“But that is not an excuse for sin, and suicide is sin.”

Thomson was questioned by attorneys for the plaintiffs and defense during Kalin’s hearing on whether to allow the tape to be admitted as evidence. The jury was not present during the exchange, but Thomson’s views on suicide are expected to be explored again in the jury’s presence.

The trial concluded its second week with Thomson testifying under questioning from Barker that he contemplated suicide himself 10 years ago during a period of “very deep depression.”

His testimony will resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday.