The release of the Freeh report the morning of July 12, has focused attention once again to the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. According to the 267-page report authored by former FBI director Louis Freeh, who was hired by Penn State trustees to investigate, university officials at the highest level, including revered coach Joe Paterno, used their influence to cover up Sandusky’s abuse of boys both at his home and on campus.
This report is certain to start a new wave of discussion (and disgust) about a topic we would all rather avoid. But, maybe that’s why Penn State officials chose the “head in the sand” management method. Even the church—or perhaps it is more correct to say especially the church—would rather avoid such stomach-turning discussions as child sex abuse.
Jim White
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My purpose is not to provide yet another exposé on Penn State, Sandusky and the Freeh report. Rather, my aim is to remind us of four important (though unpleasant) realities every church must consider:
First, cases of child sexual abuse are not only grossly immoral, they are also felonies. Every state mandates that health care and counseling professionals report suspected cases of child sexual abuse. Indiana requires anyone suspecting such abuse to report it. Florida has enacted legislation that matches Indiana and takes it a step further. According to the Miami Herald, “Under the measure, which takes effect on Oct. 1, anyone—from university coaching staff to elementary school teachers to administrators to students—who ‘willfully and knowingly’ fails to report any suspicious sexual abuse they encounter will face fines of up to $1 million per incident and face potential criminal charges.”
Authorities and legislators argue the merits of that level of required reporting. Some, even in the field of child protection, argue that the fear of such fines will lead to a multitude of false accusations not only sullying the reputations of innocent people but wasting state agency resources in following them up.
All this is to merely point out that state legislatures are taking seriously the lessons learned from Penn State—and so must churches!
Some Penn State officials erred because of the personal relationships they had with Sandusky. They didn’t want to hurt him. Others erred because they were more concerned about the reputation of the university or its football program than with the welfare of Sandusky’s victims. Churches, too, can fall victim to these same pressures.
Second, as appalling as they are, we have learned from the troubles of the Catholic Church that these kinds of demeaning and destructive deeds occur even in churches. And not in Catholic churches only. My father was a deacon in a small town Baptist church in rural Missouri when they called a new pastor. These salt-of-the-earth folks are not only good-hearted, they are also naïve to the ways of sexual perversion. They were shocked out of their innocence, however, when someone from Arkansas called to say that their new pastor had been guilty of child molestation in that state prior to moving north. It proved to be true.
A third reality is that churches need to develop and adhere to policies in place that protect both children from abuse and staff members from false accusation. As a former pastor myself, I know how diligently 99.9 percent * of pastors work to strengthen and protect their flocks from all harm. Still, the terror created in children and the long-term damage done to them (not to mention the damage done to churches) by the .1 percent * requires that churches be careful in selecting pastors and staff members. The State Board of Missions for the Alabama Baptist Convention has produced a helpful booklet on preventing sexual misconduct in churches.
Finally, if the unthinkable does happen, transparency is the only appropriate action. Child sex abuse must be reported. Churches naturally want to protect the reputation of the church and to keep the kingdom of Christ from being damaged by publicly exposing such immorality within itself. Adding to the reluctance to be open is the desire to protect the victims. While the latter is desirable, choosing to cover up something like this is to invite the kind of retribution the Catholic Church has experienced and that Penn State is certain now to undergo.
In the past, the value we Baptists attach to local church autonomy has sometimes made it easier for predator ministers to slip through the nets of justice. Lacking an authoritative hierarchy, good-hearted and often naïve church folk were left completely to their own devices. Wanting to believe that transgressing clerics had sought forgiveness and abandoned evil behavior, churches have sometimes allowed guilty ministers to resign quietly and slip away to new and unsuspecting congregations.
This cannot be allowed. Ever. Those who are guilty of such unspeakably horrible deeds must be held accountable, and those who cover them up become complicit in future abuses. Almost without exception, the sad result is more children become victims. And, rather than protect the reputation of the church, attempted cover-ups tarnish it even further.
Undeniably, it is a sad commentary on the human condition that this topic is the subject of an editorial in the Religious Herald. But we live in a fallen world. There is a place where this kind of malevolence never occurs; where nothing happens that shouldn’t; where innocent children are never victims of the perversions of adults; and where adults never fall victim to their own immoral lusts. But that place is in the next world, not this one. Until we take up residence there, we must be vigilant.
* These figures are my own estimates and intended to convey our awareness that only a tiny minority of pastors and staff members are guilty of such abuse.
Jim White ([email protected]) is executive editor of the Religious Herald.