SINS OF THE FATHER
A recent report exposed priest and leaders in the archdiocese of Baltimore for the abuse of more than 600 children. As a result of this not so new revelation, a new bill, The Child Victims Act of 2023 is on review of the desk of Maryland’s Attorney General Anthony G. Brown. This bill will allow abuse survivors to pursue their victimization in civil court.
Archbishop William E. Lori said that the report is a sad and painful reminder of the tremendous harm caused to children and young people by some ministers of the clergy. He described the details as shocking and soul searching.
The history of this Baltimore archdiocese was acknowledged publicly in 2002 when the archdiocese publicly released the names of clergy members credibly accused of committing child sexual abuse dating back to the 1930s.
Make no mistake, however this report fails to expose the sexual abuse of not only children but of women and men in churches of all denominations, churches in and around this country and perhaps the entire world.
Incidents of wife swapping at church conferences, conventions and retreats have been reported and written about, one in particular was documented in an autobiography by a prominent surgeon who told the story of his mother being offered by his preacher / biological father to another preacher during a religious conference. His mother refused and fled with her children upon returning home. Other incidents include infidelity, incest, and inappropriate touching all at the hands of the man behind the robe or in this suit behind the pulpit.
I’ve heard horror stories of pastors touching young boys and girls of all ages and all denominations including my experience where at 11 years of age a pastor well known in the community for his “healing abilities” told me that he could heal my constant headaches. On this particular Sunday after Sunday school he asked that I take a stack of bibles and place them on the desk in his office. After placing the bibles on his desk the pastor walked in close the door and said this would be a good time to heal me and free me from the devil who is attacking me by inflicting pain in my head day after day. I wanted nothing more than for the intense pain to go away forever so I said, “Okay, what do I do?” He asked me to sit down on the chair, while standing in front of me, he placed his left hand on my head asked me to close my eyes and as he began to pray, he moved his right hand down around my chest he said, “I’m going to touch your heart so that God knows you are sincere in what you’re asking,” then he placed his right hand on my thigh sliding upwards under my dress and I jumped up. I need to go, I said, I’m sure everyone is looking for me. He said if we stop now you won’t be healed. I said that’s OK and I ran out the door.
I attended that church that Sunday with a family that lived a few blocks from the Lutheran church where I was baptized, the only church I had ever known. This family wanted me to experience what it was like to attend a Pentecostal Church. They told me that I was not fully Christian because I attended a church with all white people, therefore I was learning the white man’s religion, which is the religion of the devil. Well, I didn’t have the courage to tell them about their ungodly pastor, but I never attended that church again and more importantly, as much as I had every reason over those formative years while attending church to have nothing but gratitude and respect for my pastor, who was kind, decent, trustworthy, an upstanding pillar of our community, and a man of GOD then and until I saw him again at the ripe old age of ninety-one and near death in a hospital holding the hand of his wife, where he not only recognized me after not seeing me since I was 14 years of age, he called me by name, asked about my family and then took my hand, prayed and told me that GOD has and will always bless me and my family if we love, trust and worship him. Days later he passed away peacefully.
The valuable but sad lesson I learned from visiting the Pentecostal church and having that unfortunate experience with a man who called himself a man of GOD was a little known fact that I didn’t know at the time, which was / is that pastors, preachers, fathers are not all disciples of JESUS nor are they anointed by GOD to be holier than the average man. What I learned was the man behind the pulpit is simply a man. A man who is a human being capable of sin, he /she is no different and no closer to GOD than any other human being. While there are people of God who say they were called to preach but, not all are chosen by GOD. I respect and appreciate that preachers deliver the word of GOD as it is written in holy scriptures of every faith and every denomination known to God and man, but the man behind the pulpit is still just a Man.
If you or someone you know has been physically or sexually abused by a pastor, doctor, teacher, scout leader, school counselor, anyone or any authority figure, please tell someone, please report the abuse, please seek help. In an emergency call 911 all non-emergency callers please call the NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE 1-800-656-4673 (HOPE) 24 hours, 7days per week, 365 days per year.
Noteworthy: When you call 1-800-656-4673 (HOPE) you will be routed to a trained sexual assault service provider in your area trained to provide confidential support and service.
