Child sex abuse by Protestant clergy difficult to document

Child sex abuse by Protestant clergy difficult to document

Large number of denominations, nature of hierarchy make task elusive

Allegations and confirmed cases of sex abuse bypriests against children in the Catholic Church have been welldocumented since widespread reports of abuse first surfaced in theBoston area in the early 2000s.

But tracking allegations andconfirmed cases of misconduct by Protestant clergy is an elusive taskbecause Christianity's other ecclesiastical division is wildly diverse,congregational and sometimes staunchly independent compared toCatholicism's centralized hierarchy.

Ed Hart of the Central NewYork Baptist Association said all 42 churches in his jurisdictionoutlined by Broome, Tioga, Delaware, Herkimer, Steuben and Oswegocounties are autonomous. Local church leaders would handle complaintsagainst pastors at the congregational level but would not be requiredto report anything to Hart or any other denominational officials.

Inthe Southern Tier's largest Protestant denomination, all allegationsare investigated by the bishop and four district superintendents, saidDonald Perry, communications director for the Wyoming Conference of theUnited Methodist Church, headquartered in Endicott. But denominationalpolity does not require either the regional or national church to trackallegations and confirmed cases.

Still, some statistics can begleaned from three insurance companies that provide liability coveragefor 165,500 Protestant churches in the United States:

* Thelargest company, Church Mutual of Merrill, Wis., with 96,000 clientsincluding the Wyoming Conference, reported an annual average of 100child sex abuse cases during the past decade.

* GuideOne,headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, reported an average of 160reports every year for the past two decades among its 45,000 clients.

*About 75 claims have been investigated by Brotherhood Mutual in FortWayne, Ind., each year for the past 15 years, but the company did notspecify if all complaints involved minors.

Officials from allthree insurance companies said the number of cases has remained steadyduring the past two decades. The data released to The Associated Pressdid not include information about whether the accused was found guiltyby church or legal jurisdictions.

Few local cases

Hart said he knew of no credible child sex abuse allegations againstCentral NY Baptist clergy in the past decade. "It's their business;it's a totally voluntary affiliation," said Hart, who's headquarteredin Lacona. "If it were a big issue and the church didn't do anythingabout it, the association might disassociate itself from the church."

Nopastor among local clergy in the United Methodist Church is currentlyunder investigation, said Binghamton District Superintendent the Rev.David Masland. He said he knew of no credible child sex abusecomplaints against the conference's roughly 180-200 active clergy inthe past 15 years.

Among the 50 churches in the Central New YorkDistrict of the Wesleyan Church, no allegations are currently underinvestigation, Superintendent Wayne G. Wager said.

EpiscopalChurch officials in Central New York have handled several allegationsof alleged clergy sex abuse cases in recent years.

In late July,a retired priest was suspended for 20 years after a churchinvestigation and four affidavits showed that Edward Putnam engaged insexual activities with minors while rector at a church in Skaneatelesfrom 1986 to 1993. Putnam, 66, was chaplain to the New York StateAssembly in the 1990s.

In May 2006, Ralph E. Johnson voluntarilyresigned without admitting guilt amid a diocesan investigation intosexual allegations involving a boy while Johnson was rector of St.Paul's Episcopal Church in Owego in the 1970s.

Elsewhere, asalacious case that drew national attention involved Lewis Lee, pastorof the Christian Baptist Church in Sherburne, who abducted the teenagedaughter of parishioners in March 2006 before being arrested inMaryland and eventually sentenced to 11 years in federal prison forcrossing state lines to engage in sex with a minor, as well as amaximum of 28 years for felony rape.

Denominational differences

The Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodiesestimates at least 224,000 churches across the country could be listedas Protestant.

Many are aligned into similarly governeddenominations, including United Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopaliansand Presbyterians. Others carry a national name, such as Baptists, butgovern themselves at the local level without regard to stringentnational policies. Countless others are independent, with noaffiliation with any unit beyond their local church.

All thosedifferent organizational structures, which may or may not include acentralized hierarchy, make it impossible to accumulate all-inclusivedata about sex abuse allegations. No single organization or executivehas oversight over all Protestant denominations.

By contract,Catholic bishops commissioned the Center for Applied Research in theApostolate at Georgetown University to track and publish an annualreport on credible allegations of sexual misconduct among priests anddeacons. For 2006, CARA showed 635 new and "credible allegations" werelodged against 394 priests or deacons from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. Thatcompares to 695 in 2005 and 898 in 2004.

During the past twoyears, no "credible allegations" have been filed against priests ordeacons in the Syracuse Diocese, which includes Broome and Chenangocounties. In the Rochester Diocese, which covers Tioga County, twoallegations were lodged in 2006; four had been reported in 2005.

Protecting children

Since child sex abuse by Catholic clergy began making headlines,both Catholics and Protestants have taken steps to protect childrenfrom predators.

The Syracuse and Rochester dioceses havevictim-assistance coordinators who handle complaints of suspected abuseinvolving a minor and clergy, church employee or volunteer. Syracusehas a Safe Environment Program that requires all priests, paidemployees, child-care providers, cheerleading coaches and othervolunteers to complete a training session, as well as be screened andsign a code of conduct.

At its annual June meeting, WyomingConference established a Safe Sanctuary program that requires clergyand an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 local church volunteers who related tochildren to complete training by December 2008.

In reply to areporter's inquiry, United Methodist Bishop Susan W. Hassinger of theWyoming Conference issued a statement saying allegations are taken"very seriously" and credible complaints would likely result intemporarily or permanently removing a pastor from a church assignmentand possibly asking the clergy to surrender ministerial credentials. Atthat point, the accused would be identified through an announcement tothe church, and the complaint would be inserted into the pastor'spersonnel file and likely available for review by potential church orprivate-sector employers, Hassinger added.

In the WesleyanChurch, allegations would be investigated by the local church andreported to the district, Wager said. "The Wesleyan Church has zerotolerance for clergy abusing children, and if a pastor was determinedto be guilty, the person would be immediately dismissed as a pastor andbe forbidden from ever pastoring again," he said.

Episcopalians in Central New York who work with children must participate in safe-church training and undergo background checks.

"Wemay ask why this happened in our church and in our community," saidAdams about the recent Putnam case. "I have faith that we will see theeffect of God's reconciling grace in and through one another."