chancery wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 6:43 pm
johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Tue Nov 07, 2023 8:10 pm
No idea. But the number of clergy from traditionally more conservative Christian denominations arrested for child sexual abuse (typically at least one a day on
Reddit's /r/pastorarrested forum) far outnumbers the number from more left-leaning denominations like Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Unitarians or Congregationalists. I haven't done an actual tabulation, but an eyeball glance at the articles over the last couple of months suggests that the evangelical crowd has displaced the Catholics at the top of the charts for arrests.
Of course you need to adjust the percentages for the shrinking size of the traditional denominations. I'm speaking as an Episcopalian and a choir school graduate. I'd like to think that my church's child sexual abuse problem is not huge, but I don't really know.
The shrinking size would be a consideration. I would also like to think that the work we have done you "Keeping God's People Safe" is helping reduce the incidents and even the opportunity (I speak for the Episcopal world but other mainlines are likely the same).
In my position, I am required to take the courses, I think every two years now, and also go through background checks which I just redid about a year ago.
Our training and work now has some key elements:
1. Our church must always be a safe place. We have established rules for some folks based on actions that while not necessarily abuse, crossed the line on a safe space so we needed to provide boundaries to keep it a safe space.
2. Victims (or even) have to feel it is safe to talk to parents and church leaders without being made to feel that it is their fault. Their story must be listened to and investigated with intention and care. The listening also includes others, even in cases outside of abuse (DEI walks closely with protecting God's people because it is about making it a safe, inclusive space where all matter).
3. We must be vigilant to recognize signs and prevent opportunities for abuse (and ensure folks protect themselves from accidentally creating what looks like an opportunity). It is not the LGBTQ+ or cross-dressing folks that are the risk but opportunities for somebody who "seems fine" to groom their target.
4. Basically, I am not allowed to have any sort of romantic relationship with others in the parish, or at minimum, those involved in choir and liturgy. By the nature of my role, I have a pastoral position and thus, a position of power (the power is not good or bad; it just is), so any relationship is not an equal but one where I hold the power. Thus, it is an inappropriate relationship in the church.
There are many other things too numerous to list here.
Having followed some conservative church issues with abuse in the church, I have noticed that they do not seem to have any policies regarding protecting the people and children of their congregation. It is probably made worse by an "I am in charge" philosophy that applies to the pastoral relationship and even the relationship in the family. Those who are not "in charge" (often women and children) are to do what they are told by the authority of the church or family. We have also seen that with charismatic leaders, followers develop very large blind spots (and leaders fall into the trap of protecting their position or their institution and not their flock).