Church to Revisit Rules on Handling Sex Abuse

The nation’s largest Presbyterian church will consider reforming how it handles sexual abuse cases after a report said a serial molester might have been stopped if officials had intervened.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) released a 173-page report this week detailing the sexual abuse of at least 22 women and girls by a former missionary in the Congo. The focus of the investigation died in 1999.

A church-sponsored Independent Committee of Inquiry focused on abuse allegations between 1946 and 1978, but the abuse continued as late as 1985, when the minister worked at the prominent Highland Park Presbyterian Church in the Dallas area.

The panel found at least 48 instances of abuse, some occurring while the girls were sick in bed or while the minister’s wife was in the next room. Victims also accused the wife of “harassing” them and urging them to drop their claims.

Allegations were filed against the minister by eight victims in 1998. Church leaders formed the five-member panel soon after, but he died before any criminal or church charges were filed.

The commission recommended 30 changes in the church policy, including requiring church employees to report knowledge of abuse, requiring any adult found guilty of abuse to be “summarily dismissed” from missionary service, possible restitution for victims and a toll-free hotline to report abuse.