Church Regrets Allowing Teens To Chase Greased Pigs At Ojai Retreat

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — A Santa Barbara church says it regrets allowing members of its high school ministry to chase greased pigs while wearing body paint during a recent weekend retreat.

Reality Santa Barbara held the retreat for teenage boys at a ranch in Ojai in Ventura County on March 3.

Executive pastor Gerald Torres says during the weekend, the boys greased up two pigs and chased them in a "rodeo-style" event and then ate the animals at a luau barbecue.

Many of the boys dressed up and wore paint on their faces and bodies for the chase.

Torres says licensed hunters slaughtered the pigs and showed the teens how to humanely butcher them and use all parts of the animal for food.

"In retrospect, looking at the weekend as the combination of the greased pig contest and the barbecue at one time and one location, along with the painted faces unfortunately created a bad perception and one we regreat," Torres said in a statement.

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