Pastor Was Suspended Over Sexual Activities

Ending two years of secrecy, Presbyterian church officials said Tuesday night that the Rev. Donn Moomaw, who was former President Ronald Reagan’s minister, engaged in “repeated instances of sexual contact” with five women while pastor of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church.

Moomaw, 63, who 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, was also suspended as a clergyman until 1997.

The women, who were not identified by church officials, did not file lawsuits against Moomaw or the church over Moomaw’s 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 whether the women were members of the Bel Air Presbyterian congregation or how they had met Moomaw. He also did not state if Moomaw’s transgressions took place on church property.

Doak said Moomaw resigned after a group of 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 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. Moomaw had previously pleaded no contest to the charges brought before the presbytery’s Permanent Judicial Commission.

After the ruling was read, Paul and Sherie Zander, a Brentwood couple who said they are close friends with 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.

The church decision prohibits Moomaw from performing any ministerial functions or counseling during his suspension. He also may not travel beyond the presbytery boundaries--essentially the Westside and South Bay plus Hawaii. The decision also stipulated that Moomaw must continue therapy and meet monthly with a church committee.

Moomaw converted to Christianity while in college and went to seminary instead of the National Football League. He helped to found the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

After serving 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.