wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] GAC approves sexual abuse amendments

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Note #8153 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04119
March 2, 2004

GAC approves sexual abuse amendments

Book of Order changes would strengthen handling of abuse cases

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - The General Assembly will be asked to approve nine proposed
amendments to the Book of Order intended to strengthen the church's policies
and procedures for dealing with sexual-abuse cases.

The General Assembly Council (GAC) approved the suggested changes during a
meeting last month, and will recommend that commissioners to the upcoming
216th General Assembly send them to the presbyteries for ratification.

A three-member panel is looking into allegations that children of
Presbyterian Church (USA) missionary workers were physically or sexually
abused in church-run boarding schools in Cameroon and Ethiopia between the
1940s and the 1970s.

The allegations being investigated by the Independent Abuse Review Panel
(IARP) surfaced during an earlier inquiry that found that more than two dozen
children of missionary parents in the Congo had been physically or sexually
abused there between the 1940s and the 1980s.

In its 2002 report, the Congo panel, known as the Independent Committee of
Inquiry (ICI), proposed 30 corrective measures, most of which have been
implemented by denominational entities over the past 18 months.

 "The church has a sacred responsibility to do everything we can," said the
Rev. Paul Masquelier of San Jose, CA, chair of the work group charged with
implementing the ICI's recommendations.

The suggested amendments include:

* An addition to G-11.0103o giving presbyteries authority to modify pastoral
relationships, including leaves of absence and administrative leaves. Now,
Masquelier said, "presbyteries can approve or dissolve calls, but nothing in
between."

* A related new section of G-14.0506b(4) to provide for leave of absence and
administrative leave options in pastoral calls.

* Additions to d-1.0101 giving survivors and accusers of abuse the right to
participate in disciplinary cases. Now, Masquelier said, "disciplinary cases
are a matter of the presbytery versus the accused - this change will
recognize that all those affected by abuse are participants in the
disciplinary process."

* Changes to D-11.0403e to permit survivors to testify about the consequences
of abuse after the accused has been found guilty.

* Changes in D-13.0000 to give presbyteries the right to appeal a first-level
verdict in an abuse case, but only on technical grounds. Currently,
Masquelier said, only the accused has the right of  first-level appeal.

* A new section G-9.0503 to provide for "pastoral inquiries" in cases where
the accused dies or renounces the church's jurisdiction before a judicial
proceeding is concluded. "We've experienced this ourselves," Masquelier said,
referring to the Pruitt case. "If the purpose is to find the truth and
restore survivors to wholeness, then the process must proceed to closure."

* Additions to D-10.0000 to ensure that accusers and survivors are fully
informed about the disciplinary process and have the service of "advocates"
to help them through it. Church law already provides this advocacy function
for persons accused of	abuse.

* New sections D-12.0103d and D-12.0104c to include "voluntary acts of
restitution as a form of repentance" as part of the rehabilitation program
for convicted abusers. "The goal of church discipline is to make everyone
whole again," Masquelier said. "This allows for voluntary acts of
restitution, which are meant to facilitate restoration and healing."

* A new section G-10.0202g(3) requiring a full reporting of the facts in
abuse cases in which alternative forms of  resolution are employed, as for
example when the parties reach an agreement before trial. "In many cases of
alternative resolution, files are sealed and forms of discipline are not
reported," Masquelier said, "and so the truth is never known. Think of the
damage done to the Catholic Church. This amendment says in no uncertain
terms, 'There will be no secrets.'"

* A new section D-12.0105e removing the word "honorably" as a description of
a retired minister who is removed from the office of Minister of Word and
Sacrament because of sexual abuse. "Loss of the use of the term 'honorably'
... is a symbolic act that expresses the church's assessment of the serious
nature of the offense," Masquelier said.

* New sections (and renumberings of sections) in G-6.0204, G-6.0304 and
G-6.0402 to require all church officers - ministers, elders and deacons - to
report information about the abuse of a child or of an adult of diminished
mental capacity to civil authorities unless confidentiality laws prevent it.
Masquelier called for "a standard of practice within our church that is
weighted toward a principle of protecting children from sexual abuse, in
contrast to a principle of preserving confidentiality."

The members of the IARP panel investigating the Cameroon and Ethiopia
allegations are Ann Thomas of Dallas, TX; Lois Edmund of Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada; and Nancy Poling of Evanston, IL.

Thomas, who recently retired from a career in health policy and social work,
has special expertise in child and adult guardianships, and extensive
experience with abused adolescents. Edmund, a psychologist and the daughter
of missionaries, was a member of the ICI and several other committees
investigating abuse of missionaries' children; she teaches conflict
resolution at the University of Winnipeg. Poling, who also served on the ICI,
 is an academic tutor at Kendall College and a freelance writer and editor.
She is the editor of the book, Victim to Survivor: Women Recovering from
Clergy Sexual Abuse.

Anyone with information about abuse is encouraged to write to the panel at
IARP, Box 195, 908 Audelia Road, Suite 200, Richardson, TX 75081, or call the
PC(USA)'s toll-free abuse hotline: (888) 728-7228, ext. 5207.

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