Racy tales of kinky sex at North Beach shrine

National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi church is the setting for allegations of sexual harassment, embezzlement and more. National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi church is the setting for allegations of sexual harassment, embezzlement and more. Photo: Darryl Bush, SFC Photo: Darryl Bush, SFC Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Racy tales of kinky sex at North Beach shrine 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Accusations of sanctuary sex, lewd photos and embezzlement are at the heart of a scandal brewing at one of San Francisco's oldest churches.

The scandal at the landmark National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in the heart of North Beach went public with news that the church had "terminated" William McLaughlin, a wealthy Marin County real estate developer and animal activist, as chairman of the shrine's volunteer program, which provides docents and other services at St. Francis.

McLaughlin, who is believed to be in his 60s, made news in 2005 when he helped organize a massive airlift of New Orleans pets stranded by Hurricane Katrina. He's back in the headlines now, but for the wrong reasons.

Shrine spokesman Larry Kamer said McLaughlin's exit followed a "comprehensive investigation of alleged improper behavior" involving McLaughlin and former shrine employee Jhona Mathews, 33.

Mathews has been fired for alleged misuse of church funds - but she's not exactly going quietly.

According to her attorney, Sandra Ribera, Mathews met McLaughlin when the carpet company she was working for was helping to renovate the office and residence that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone shares at the Vallejo Street shrine with the archdiocese's vicar general.

Church officials offered her a job in February 2012 as an administrative assistant. Soon after, Ribera says, McLaughlin began demanding sexual favors from Mathews.

"She felt she had no choice," Ribera said. "He was dangling her livelihood over her head, and she had a daughter to feed."

Mathews broke off the affair in October, and "a few weeks after that, she was fired," Ribera said.

According to Kamer, the shrine filed a police report last week alleging that Mathews had been embezzling money. Mathews, in turn, has filed a sexual harassment claim with the state against the church, alleging that McLaughlin coerced her into having kinky sex in St. Francis' sanctuary.

"McLaughlin spanked her and forced her to engage in sexual intercourse with him" in order to keep her job, Ribera said. He also sent her unsolicited racy e-mails and photos, the attorney said.

Church representatives tell a somewhat different story, saying Mathews was fired after they found evidence that she had been embezzling church funds and had a previous record of credit card abuse. Kamer said the losses to St. Francis could run into "six figures."

Ribera acknowledged her client has a "checkered past," but said Mathews had not embezzled money from the church.

Our attempts to reach McLaughlin were unsuccessful.

It's just the latest soap opera at the church, which is already in a pitched battle for control of an attached replica of the chapel that St. Francis founded in his hometown of Assisi. Attorney Angela Alioto and her supporters built the chapel, and she was instrumental in reopening the 1860-vintage St. Francis church, which had been closed for many years because of seismic issues. Since new church leaders took over, however, she's been on the outs.

Tensions only heightened after the church's hierarchy, with McLaughlin's help, announced plans a few months back to raise money by turning the basement into a pet columbarium.

Park wars: Just when George Lucas was getting his hopes up that his museum of "Star Wars" props and illustrative art was going to get the nod across from Crissy Field, the Presidio Trust shoved its decision into January. Now, the Lucas team smells a rat.

"We feel stabbed in the back," one Lucas insider told us.

As the Lucas people see it, Presidio Trust officials don't really want their museum - but they also don't want to be blamed if the filmmaker takes his $1 billion art collection to Chicago, along with a $700 million museum endowment.

Trust reps insist nothing could be further from the truth, and that what they really want is for Lucas to change his blocky Beaux Arts design so it fits the park landscape and doesn't block views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Which is why the trust has given all three competing teams until Jan. 3 to submit revised plans for the site, now occupied by a Sports Basement.

Will Lucas play ball?

"We've been asked to give something by Jan. 3, and we will come back with something by Jan. 3," Lucas spokesman David Perry said.

Whether that means just a minor tweak or a major design change, nobody's saying.

But one thing's for sure when it comes to Lucas, says Perry: "He isn't doing a glass box."