Presbyterians Reform Child Sexual Abuse Laws
While sexually abusive clergy in the Protestant Church is not as pervasive as in the Catholic Church, some denominations are toughening the discipline of abusers at the pulpit.
Since the clergy sexual abuse scandal exploded in 2002 in Boston, the Roman Catholic Church has undergone several reforms and has passed several resolutions to prevent such abuses from continuing. While the problem of sexually abusive clergy did not erupt to the same degree in protestant churches, some denominations are taking precautionary measures to reform their constitutions by toughening the discipline of abusers at the pulpit.
According to a news release by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), the denomination overwhelmingly passed eleven constitutional amendments designed to prevent child sexual abusers in the church. The constitutional amendments needed at least 87 votes from the 173 presbyteries – or districts - to pass; each received at least 120 votes. These amendments will become part of the PC(USA)’s constitution on July 3.
Mark Tammen, director of the Office of the General Assembly’s Department of Constitutional Services, told the Presbyterian News Service that these amendments represent “a fundamental shift” in the church’s disciplinary process.
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“Accusers and survivors of abuse are now stakeholders in the disciplinary process. We have flipped from being more concerned with protecting the rights of the accused,” Tammen said.
The amendments were brought forth in response to a 2002 report detailing 51 incidents of sexual abuse committed against 22 children and youth by PC(USA) mission personnel, according to PCnews. These incidents occurred in Congo between 1945 and 1985.
The perpetrator, Rev. William Pruitt, who ran a boarding school for the children of Presbyterian missionaries serving in Congo, died in 1999 – one year after the allegations first surfaced and long before any prosecution could take place.
“The Congo abuse case was just the beginning of making people aware of what’s happening in the church,” the GAC’s sexual abuse ombudsperson, Pat Hendrix, told the Presbyterian News Service. “I get at least one call a week, so we’re clearly still struggling.”
The new amendments would change several things in the denomination’s book of law. Reforms include: adding a section requiring ministers, elders and deacons to report information about any abuse of a child or of an adult of diminished mental capacity to civil authorities, unless confidentiality laws prevent it; adding a section providing for “pastoral inquiries” in cases in which the accused has died or has renounced the church’s jurisdiction before a judicial proceeding is concluded; and permitting survivors to testify about the consequences of abuse after the accused is found guilty.
The full list of amendments can be found at the PC(USA) website at www.pcusa.org.
