Moomaw Lapses Were Sexual, Church Reveals

Ending two years of secrecy, Presbyterian church officials said Tuesday night that the Rev. Donn Moomaw engaged in “repeated instances of sexual contact” with five women while pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church and suspended him as a clergyman until 1997.

Moomaw, 63, who was former President Ronald Reagan’s minister, abruptly resigned in 1993, saying only that he had “stepped over the line of acceptable behavior” while pastor of the hilltop church on Mulholland Drive.

The women, who were not identified by church officials, did not file lawsuits against Moomaw or the church over his sexual activities, which took place from 1983 to 1992, said the Rev. Charles Doak, administrator of the Presbytery of the Pacific, the church’s regional governing body.

Doak did not say if the women were members of the Bel Air congregation or how they met Moomaw. He also did not say whether Moomaw’s transgressions took place on church property.

Doak said Moomaw resigned after fellow ministers confronted him, saying he had violated an informal agreement with them to stop counseling women seeking religious or personal guidance.

Moomaw, a 6-foot, 4-inch former lineman for UCLA football teams in the 1950s, was not present as a church official read the ruling against him before a hushed audience of 1,000 congregants at the church. He previously pleaded no contest to the accusations brought before the presbytery’s Permanent Judicial Commission.

After the ruling was read, Paul and Sherie Zander, a Brentwood couple who described themselves as close friends of Moomaw and his wife, Carol, said they were disappointed that it implied Moomaw had sexual intercourse with the women.

“There was no intercourse--it was just sexual intimacy with these women,” Paul Zander said. He did not elaborate.

The church decision prohibits Moomaw from performing any ministerial functions or from counseling during his suspension. He still lives near the church on a pension he began receiving in the fall of 1993, when he turned 62.

The decision also said he must continue psychological therapy and meet monthly with a church committee.

Moomaw became a born-again Christian while in college and went to seminary instead of accepting an offer to play in the National Football League. He helped to found the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

After serving at a church in Berkeley, he was named pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian in 1964 and soon was leading a growing congregation that included Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

While governor of California, Reagan appointed Moomaw in 1968 to a four-year term on the State Board of Education.

Moomaw offered prayers at Reagan’s presidential inaugurations in 1981 and 1985.