wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Child sex abuse amendments ratified

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8765 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05311
June 14, 2005

Child sex abuse amendments ratified

Changes prompted by Pruitt case represent
a 'fundamental shift' in PC(USA) response 

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."

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