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This story located at: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/07027.htm
07027 January 11, 2007
Pittsburgh pastor commits suicide in wake of TV probe
Dugan admitted to having sexual encounters with a man
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - A Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh took his own life late last year after learning that a local television station was about to broadcast an expose on his sex life that alleged illegal behavior.
The body of the Rev. Brent J. Dugan, 60, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon in suburban Pittsburgh, was found Nov. 3 in a motel room in Mercer County, PA, located about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, according to local newspaper reports.
The Mercer County coroner's office said Dugan died that day of an overdose of alcohol and aspirin and ruled his death a suicide, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said.
KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, which is owned and operated by CBS, planed to air an investigation of Dugan in what the station called "reports of public and illegal sexual behavior."
Dugan learned of the investigation after KDKA ran promos for the scheduled broadcast, the Post-Gazette said. The promotions, which did not identify Dugan, referred only to a "local minister."
Dugan acknowledged in a letter he left behind for his congregation, which he had pastored since 1988, that he had occasional sexual encounters with a man who eventually betrayed him by setting up a meeting at an adult bookstore where KDKA-TV recorded him, according to the Post-Gazette.
The Post-Gazette said the reporter who conducted the investigation explained during a broadcast that he had been working on the piece for a month and had "uncovered illicit, possibly illegal, activity by a local minister, activities which at the very least violated the rules of his denomination."
Ironically, the station decided the night before Dugan killed himself not to air the story after it received information from someone close to Dugan that indicated that he was considering doing harm to himself, the Post-Gazette said, adding that it was not clear if Dugan ever knew that the station had decided not to run the segment.
A statement released by the session of Community Presbyterian Church said, "we are a community in grief" over Dugan's loss.
"As a favorite person to many of us, our beloved pastor is now gone, and we will never understand all of the reasons for his actions," the statement said. "But we will cherish the many gifts he gave to us each week and each year as he helped to make our lives full of the Word and grace of God."
The Rev. Jim Mead, pastor to Pittsburgh Presbytery, said in a statement posted on the presbytery's Web site that "Brent was and is deeply respected in this presbytery, known for the fruit he bore in ministry, his caring and thoughtfulness, and for his humble, missional leadership. He was a very dear man."
Mead, who could not be reached for additional comment, read the letter Dugan wrote to Community Presbyterian Church during a Pittsburgh Presbytery meeting last month, according to the Post-Gazette.
In the letter, Dugan apologized for the shame he believed he had brought on the presbytery, the newspaper said. Dugan said he had struggled with his sexuality all his adult life, hoping to fall in love with a woman, but concluding he was to devote his life only to his congregation, according to the Post-Gazette.
Dugan said he did so until four years ago, when he became close friends with a man who claimed to love him, and with whom he had occasional sexual encounters, according to the Post-Gazette. That man cajoled him into leaving specific kinds of sexual fantasies on his answering machine, and then betrayed him by setting up a meeting at an adult bookstore, where KDKA-TV recorded him, Dugan wrote.
He urged his fellow pastors to renounce any sins they might be tempted to commit and live pure lives. He also explained that just before KDKA confronted him, he had accepted a call to become pastor of a congregation in Northern California.
Dugan was a graduate of Edinboro College in Edinboro, PA; Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Survivors include his mother, Joyce Lawson (Dugan) Decker of Edinboro; and a brother, Brenda Petrick Dugan of Cambridge Springs, PA.
Community Presbyterian church was formed in 1987 when Ben Avon's two Presbyterian churches, Ben Avon Presbyterian Church on Church Avenue and Woodland United Presbyterian Church on Dickson Avenue, joined together due to declining membership.
The Rev. Jean H. Henderson, interim pastor of Community Presbyterian Church, said in a message she read at a memorial service for Dugan that was later posted on the church's Web site, that "forgiveness pours from our eyes and our hearts and our mouths for you today, Brent. But peace in our hearts? That will take a while, at least for me. Some of us are having trouble forgiving ourselves that we couldn't have prevented your suicide - that somehow we didn't hear your silent screams and your masked loneliness. Peace will come, Brent, maybe in the morning, maybe in the morning*"
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