Mar 04, 2007 04:30 AM
Jessica Leeder Andrew Chung
Dale Brazao
After worshipping at the Prayer Palace this morning, Hyacinthe Houghron will, as she does every second Sunday, stuff her tired green minivan with a small feast: six coolers of homemade soup, a mountain of sandwiches, cakes and sweets.
Loaded down with second-hand clothes pulled from the ceiling-high piles in her hair salon, she'll give out the goods to homeless people on downtown Toronto's grittiest streets.
Missions like this aren't cheap for people like her and other volunteers at the church. "We're poor folks," says Houghron, describing the majority of the 3,000-strong congregation who attend the spaceship-shaped church at Hwy. 400 and Finch Ave.
The hairdresser scrapes together $600 of her own money each month to keep up the program because the Prayer Palace – one of Canada's largest evangelical churches – stopped running it five years ago. Other charitable works, like a promised orphanage in Brazil, either dried up or never materialized.
Meanwhile, the three white pastors – Paul Melnichuk and his 40-year-old twin sons, Tim and Tom – lead lavish lives in contrast to the mainly working-class black families that make up the bulk of the church.
Between them, the pastors have amassed a real estate fortune worth about $12 million. Each owns a multi-million-dollar country estate north of Toronto (Tim's is worth as much as $5.5 million), they share a Florida vacation villa, and the pastors and their wives drive luxurious cars – among them a Porsche Cayenne SUV, a Lexus RX 330 SUV and a Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible.
Congregants are largely unaware of the pastors' extravagant lifestyles.
Read the rest of the story directly from The Toronto Star.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/187986
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April 4, 2007
Prayer Palace Recap
Prayer Palace spokespersons respond to the fallout of the Toronto Star allegations
April 4, 2007, TORONTO – On March 4th, 2007 The Toronto Star published an ‘expose’ on The Prayer Palace. The church’s board of directors called the claims unsubstantiated and incorrect.
“We have policies and procedures to prohibit questionable business dealings,” says Dave Ramnath, senior advisor to The Prayer Palace board. “In addition to regular audits, an independent accountant goes over the books and a corporate lawyer regularly attends board meetings.”
Yet, the Star suggested $1M CDN was transferred to the US to purchase the Melnichuk’s Florida home. The funds were actually used to purchase a church in Bradenton for $750,000 US.
Suggestions the Melnichuks benefited from purchasing church land are also incorrect. Katpa’s purchase was to help the church when it was in a financial bind.
Then the article stated over $1M was paid in salaries for 2005. According to an independent Chartered Accountant, only $825,000 was paid in salaries to over 20 staff.
Furthermore, over $1.5M was spent on missions, outreach, theatricals, children’s programs, Cathedral Christian Academy and church planting.
The church holds quarterly food drives raising approximately 1,200 items per event to help over 1,150 families.
“Another way we touch souls in the community is our state-of-the-art drama presentations,” says Frank Fernandes, a director of The Prayer Palace’s board.
“I was in depression, on medication and on welfare,” says Amelia Durant. “The drama’s message of God’s love turned my life around. The depression is gone, I’m off welfare, and it’s been blessings ever since.”
The Prayer Palace’s impact is summed up best by Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister of Canada, “Through your ministry, you have touched the lives of numerous individuals, strengthening the spiritual and social fabric of this nation.”
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Frank Fernandes and Dave Ramnath are available for interviews. To schedule interviews contact:
Strategic Communications Solutions
Email: info@stratcommsolutions.ca