June 14, 2005
by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE – Eleven constitutional amendments designed to toughen discipline of child sexual abusers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have been ratified by the denomination's presbyteries.

With results in from 156 of the 173 presbyteries, each of the 11 amendments to the PC(USA)'s Rules of Discipline has received at least 120 votes. The number required for ratification was 87.

The amendments will become part of the PC(USA)'s Book of Order (constitution) on July 3.

The amendments were prompted by a 2002 report detailing 51 incidents of sexual abuse committed against 22 children and adolescents by PC(USA) mission personnel in the Congo between 1945 and 1985.

The allegations first surfaced in 1998, but the perpetrator – the Rev. William Pruitt, who ran a boarding school for the children of Presbyterian missionaries serving in the Congo – died in 1999, before he could be tried in church courts.

After the allegations were confirmed in a two-year investigation by an "Independent Committee of Inquiry" (ICI), the General Assembly Council (GAC) appointed a task force to review the church's provisions for disciplining sexual abusers.

Eighteen other ICI recommendations for improving abuse-related policies, procedures and reporting and response mechanisms were implemented shortly after the report was received.

In addition, a three-person follow-up panel, the Independent Abuse Review Panel, has been appointed to look into allegations that surfaced during the Congo investigation that other PC(USA) missionary children were physically or sexually abused in church-run boarding schools in Cameroon and Ethiopia between the 1940s and 1970s.

"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 amendments represent "a fundamental shift" in the focus of the church's disciplinary process, according to the Rev. Mark Tammen, director of the Office of the General Assembly's Department of Constitutional Services, who said in a June 9 interview: "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."

The Rev. Paul Masquelier, vice-chair of the General Assembly Council (GAC) and chair of the task force that developed the amendments, agreed. "Out of fear of possible damage to those accused, our system has, at times, not allowed justice to be pursued for victims and survivors of abuse," he said on June 11.

Masquelier said some of the Congo abuse survivors "didn't really expect the church to be so responsive. ... These votes show that the church is serious about dealing with child sexual abuse and is primarily concerned with protecting our children."

Tammen pointed to changes in the preamble to the Rules of Discipline – which he called "the most important part of the book, the foundation on which all that follows is laid." What once was a crime-and-punishment statement now includes the sentence: "The church's disciplinary process exists not as a substitute for the secular judicial system, but to do what the secular judicial system cannot do."

That includes, in words also added to the preamble, "to achieve justice and compassion for all participants involved" and "to uphold the dignity of those who have been harmed by disciplinary offenses."

"These amendments are mostly about recognizing victims," Tammen said. "They were cut out of the (disciplinary) process; now they have vehicles."

Masquelier said it is equally important that the amendments "provide safeguards and give presbyteries the tools to deal with people who commit sexual abuse."

One of the most important, he said, is a provision giving presbyteries' Permanent Judicial Commissions authority to immediately place alleged offenders on administrative leave if the courts believe there is sufficient "risk to the congregation and to potential victims of abuse."

Before the changes, investigations of abuse allegations could take a year or more, and there was no way of removing the accused from the scene. "Our society does this (places alleged offenders on administrative leave) with teachers and police," Masquelier said. "Why should our children be any less safe in their churches than in their schools or neighborhoods?"

Another key addition, Masquelier said, is a provision requiring full public disclosure of sexual-abuse offenses when "out-of-church-court" settlements are reached.

"Too often in the past," he said, "records have been sealed and filed away so people had no way of knowing the truth. This amendment (04-E.6) ensures that there will be no more secret deals or cover-ups."

The amendments (and the vote on each as of June 8) include:

04-E.1.a – adds a section, G-0204b, requiring ministers 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. (147-9)

04-E.1.b – adds a section, G-0304b, making the same requirement apply to elders. (139-17)

04-E.1.c – adds a section, G-0402b, making deacons subject to the same reporting requirements. (137-19)

04-E.2 – adds a section, G-9.0503a.7, 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. In the past, cases were automatically closed when an accused person died or renounced PC(USA) jurisdiction. (121-35)

04-E.3 – rewrites section D-1.0101 to give abuse accusers and survivors the right to participate in disciplinary cases . Up to now, only presbyteries and accusers have participated; accusers and survivors have had no formal standing in the church courts. (149-7)

04-E.4 – adds a section, D-10.0106, giving presbyteries, through their Permanent Judicial Commissions, authority to impose administrative leave on church employees accused of abuse of a child or an adult with diminished mental capacity. (127-29)

04-E.5 – rewrites sections D-10.0202 and D-10.0203 to ensure that accusers and survivors are kept fully informed about the disciplinary process and have the assistance of "advocates." Church law already provides this advocacy function for people accused of abuse. (153-3)

04-E.6 – adds a section, G-10.0202g(3), requiring a full reporting of the facts in abuse cases when alternative forms of resolution are employed, such as pre-trial agreements. Until now, records in such cases often have been sealed, and any resulting discipline not reported, which effectively kept the truth of abuse cases secret. (143-13)

04-E.7 – rewrites D-11.0403e to permit survivors to testify about the consequences of abuse after the accused is found guilty. (123-32)

04-E.8 – adds sections, D-12.0103d and D-12.0104c, to include "voluntary acts of restitution as a form of repentance" in connection with the rehabilitation process for convicted abusers. (126-29)

04-E.9 – rewrites sections D-13.0102 and D-13.0106 to give either party in an abuse case the right to appeal a verdict, and establishes the grounds for making such appeals. Until now, only a person found guilty has had a right of appeal. (132-24)

Hendrix said she hopes the "strong support" of the amendments by the presbyteries "turns into action – the writing of policies and procedures throughout the church that will make a real difference in preventing abuse." She said education is the key factor in combating child sexual abuse. "We need to start in the seminaries, educating ministerial candidates and reinforcing their need to take care of themselves," she said.

Masquelier agreed, and said he thinks it should be taken one step further: mandatory sexual-abuse training for all church workers and for anyone who serves on a denominational committee at any level.

Such a program was instituted in San Jose Presbytery while Masquelier was executive presbyter there.

"It's very helpful," he said, "because issues and questions get raised that people aren't really clear on, and everybody hears it the same."

Presbyterian News Service