Annie Laurie Gaylor - Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children

Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children

"He's a respected member of our community..."

"...one drop of ink in crystal clear water..."

"Hey, Father, we've got a little problem..."

"It's not our job to judge... it's the Lord's job."

"He's a wonderful person. He's got our support 100 percent."

"When he preached, his face was just shining like an angel."

"It's not for you to judge. That's for God to do."

"He's a good man. If he did this, he will have to answer to God when he dies."

"I thought he was doing the right thing, because he was a priest."--Eleven year old boy victim

"I feel like my church has betrayed me."--His mother

"We have the right to know if an abuser is living among us."--Letter to editor

"Something like this can destroy a person."--Parent

"Being a preacher, we thought he was a good man."--Father of girl victim

"This is the worst case of sexual abuse I've seen during my 30 years in law enforcement."--Sheriff

"He wrapped himself in religious piety, used his position in the church and the community to shield himself and... to find children... to seduce them."--U.S. Attorney

"The defendant used his position of trust to get these girls."--Prosecutor

"Dressed up in sheep's clothing, he is a wolf that preys on our children."--Prosecutor

"This family turned to the church for help, and all the doors slammed shut."--Victims' Attorney

"I think the Catholic Church has its atonement to make as well. They helped create you."--Judge

"Priests now have a license to sexually betray their parishioners and the church will turn its back on innocent victims."--Attorney

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
--Matthew 7:16,18,20

"Since the primary motive of the evil is disguise, one of the places evil people are most likely to be found is within the church. What better way to conceal one's evil from oneself, as well as from others, than to be a deacon or some other highly visible form of Christian within our culture?.... I do not mean to imply that the evil are anything other than a small minority among the religious or that the religious motives of most people are in any way spurious. I mean only that evil people tend to gravitate toward piety for the disguise and concealment it can offer them."
--Martin Buber
Good and Evil
(Philosopher/theologian)

"... [Regarding] the convention that clergymen are more virtuous than other men. Any average selection of mankind, set apart and told that it excels the rest in virtue, must tend to sink below the average."
--Bertrand Russell
"Religion and the Churches," 1916
(Philosopher/ social critic)

Dedication

This publication is dedicated to Sherry,
three times the victim of religious men,
and to the multitude of children
betrayed by "pillars of the church."

Acknowledgment

The author is indebted to newspapers and reporters in North America for disclosing the facts on clergy abuse of children, sometimes involving exemplary investigative journalism in the face of heated controversy. The author is also grateful to the many readers of Freethought Today who conscientiously clipped and sent in many of the news accounts used in this book, as well as to several individuals, especially former minister Dan Barker, for encouraging an activist stance.

Contents:

Chapter 10 -- HEAR NO EVIL

INTRODUCTION: A religious scandal

This is a book that had to be written, not one that I or our organization had ever sought to publish. It started writing itself when, through the pages of our monthly newspaper Freethought Today, we started chronicling the alarming and startling number of criminal cases involving ministers and priests who are molesting children. The sources are unsolicited clippings from area newspapers sent in by our relatively small readership. A brief sampling from over the years:

Case, 1982: A Louisville, Kentucky pastor convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse of young boys testified anonymously before a Senate subcommittee in April, 1982, about hunting boys for sex. He recounted how he had cruised areas where teenaged boys congregate in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Louisville. He received a suspended sentence in March 1982 of 10 years in prison and was given five years' probation. (Source: Lexington Herald, 4/2/82)

Case, 1983: Rev. Wilbert Thomas, pastor of the Christian Alliance Holiness Church in Trenton, New Jersey, was indicted on charges of conspiring to control his congregation through criminal acts, including sexual assault, lewdness, involuntary servitude and beatings of women and children. He was convicted in 1985. (Source: Trenton Times, 2/83; 1985)

Case, 1984: Denouncing the "high degree of viciousness and cruelty" in the crimes, a judge sentenced Rev. Lawrence Gerard Smith, a priest, to eight months in prison. Smith, who was convicted of molesting Vietnamese boys he worked with in Hayward, California, was accused of taking advantage of their inability to speak English. (Source: [Lehighton, Pennsylvania] The Times News, 3/1/84)

Case, 1984: Rev. James E. Wynn, pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Temple in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for sexually assaulting two young girls who were members of his congregation. Wynn was diagnosed as a "compulsive, repetitive sex offender" by doctors who examined him. The girls ranged in age from nine to 13 at the time of the assaults, which occurred at church or in the minister's home. The pastor steadfastly maintained his innocence. His attorney Charles Frankel told the judge at the time of sentencing that his client "stands before your honor with a clear conscience head unbowed." The church fired him from his duties a month after his conviction. Superior Court Judge James Kennedy stated that "these offenses involved the most drastic breach of trust anyone can imagine." (Source: Newark Star-Ledger, 10/13/84)

Case, 1985: Rev. P. Henry Leech, one of three Roman Catholic priests in Rhode Island accused in 1984 of having sex with children, pleaded no contest in August 1985 to eight counts of sexual assault, including sodomy and battery. (Source: Newark Star-Ledger, 8185)

Case, 1986: Baptist Rev. Bobby Harold Epps of Starke, Florida pleaded guilty in May, 1986 to performing a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a child under the age of 16. He was convicted of fondling a girl in a church office, and masturbating in her presence when giving her a ride home following a church activity. (Source: Gainesville Sun, 5/28/86)

Case, 1987: Father Robert William Klein of Brainerd, Minnesota, was found guilty on December 18, 1987 of third-degree sexual conduct involving children. Klein possessed a collection of 650 photos of boys modeling underwear or wrestling, and was described as "on the spectrum of what it means to be a pedophile." The priest/child molester used treats such as cookies, trips to Dairy Queen, and a treehouse in his backyard to lure youngsters. County Attorney Stephen Rathke said Klein might be a good, generous man, but "unfortunately, he's also a child molester." (Source: Brainerd Daily Dispatch, 12/18/87)

Case, 1988: Rev. William S. Barrett, a rector of Episcopal churches in Moreau and Fort Edward, New York, pleaded guilty to providing alcohol and drugs and showing pornography to two 14 year old boys with whom he engaged in oral sex. Barrett's crimes were particularly shocking to those who knew him since he had made a 20-year volunteer career of supposedly helping troubled youths. He was a certified foster parent for eight years, and had founded Project STRIVE in the late 1960s, a program for troubled youths. Barrett was known as a very religious man, who offered prayers during class reunions. (Source: Schenectady Gazette, 1/15/88)