Pastor Reveals Reasons for Resignation : Clergy: The Rev. Donn D. Moomaw says he is leaving Bel Air Presbyterian Church because he ‘stepped over the line of acceptable behavior’ with some church members.

The Rev. Donn D. Moomaw, who resigned his 29-year ministry at Bel Air Presbyterian Church two weeks ago, told his church that he did so because he “stepped over the line of acceptable behavior” with some members of the congregation.

In a Feb. 8 letter to the 2,400-member congregation, the popular clergyman and pastor to former President Ronald Reagan said he decided to seek help after years of denial and unsuccessful attempts to deal on his own with unspecified childhood issues.

Moomaw, 61, did not return a telephone call Friday, and a church spokesman said he was not authorized to offer an explanation of what Moomaw meant by unacceptable behavior.

Moomaw’s Feb. 4 resignation stunned the congregation and Presbyterian leaders throughout the West, who said Moomaw’s decision came as a surprise.

At that time, his church said only that Moomaw had “compelling personal reasons” for quitting and declined to elaborate.

But in his letter, a copy of which was obtained Friday by The Times, Moomaw went further, saying it involved unacceptable behavior with members of his flock.

“With my recent facing of issues dating from childhood, years of denial and faulty coping techniques, it’s become clear I have inappropriately tried in my own strength to work through my own problems,” said Moomaw, who is married and has five children.

“Along the way, I have stepped over the line of acceptable behavior with some members of the congregation. Now I am getting honest with myself and others maybe for the first time.”

In the letter, Moomaw said he agreed with his doctor, pastoral friends, church members and others that “nothing less than full time should be given to my healing.”

“I will begin immediately to fully evaluate my strengths and weaknesses. I will be studying and sparing no expense to honestly come to grip with issues that have inflicted pain on myself, my family and others,” Moomaw wrote.

Church spokesman Charles Slocum, a member of the church’s governing board, said Friday that he would not elaborate. “As far as saying more than what Donn says in the letter, that’s not my story to tell,” Slocum said. He said the church considered Moomaw’s reasons for stepping down “a family matter.”

Congregation members are scheduled to vote Sunday on whether to accept Moomaw’s resignation. If they do--as Moomaw has requested--the Presbytery of the Pacific, the regional governing body of the church, must concur.

The presbytery’s committee on ministry has conferred privately with Moomaw and leaders and members of his congregation. The committee is scheduled to make its report to the full presbytery March 9, moderator Frank Marshall said Friday.

Presbyterian law sets general guidelines on relationships between individuals in a position of church leadership and members of their congregations. But Marshall, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Westchester, said the limits are not detailed.

Moomaw, an all-American lineman at UCLA in the 1950s, rose to national prominence after he became the only clergyman to participate in Reagan’s first inaugural in 1981. Four years later, Moomaw was invited to offer prayers at Reagan’s second inaugural, along with other clergy. When Reagan was California governor in 1968, he appointed Moomaw to the State Board of Education.

Moomaw also officiated at the 1984 wedding of Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis. More recently, he attended the former President’s 82nd birthday celebration Feb. 6 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley.

Moomaw was ordained in 1957 after graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary.