Dealing with the Troubling issue of Child, Sexual Abuse from a Pastoral Role:

We live in troubling times. To use the old KJV language "perilous times." Part of the peril of our day has to do with the swirling issues in regard to human sexuality. Some of the dangers are obvious--there are those who adopt clearly wrong/destructive behavior and hurt not only themselves but others. On the other side is the reality that dangers lurk for those of us who are just trying to figure out what is the right response. How do those of us seek to proclaim God's truth and hope navigate these troubled waters? Some of us, who have reached a certain age, have seen the public and official agencies change views and policies. Some of these changes are for the worse, some for the better. Present attitudes and legal requirements concerning the abuse of children represent one area that has changed in recent decades. A case can be made that with the new abortion law just signed in New York, and the one being considered in Virginia, that our culture has forsaken its responsibility to protect the most vulnerable. I can't and won't argue with that, but that is not my purpose today.
The same bureaucratic machine that protects the right to kill the unborn, and perhaps the just-born, can cause a great deal of trouble for the pastor or other religious worker who is just trying to do the right thing. The Roman Catholic Church historically did the rest of us clergy a great service (though some would say what I'm about to say is a dis-service to many) by maintaining the sanctity of the confessional. As I understand it it is, "the absolute duty of priests not to disclose anything that they learn from penitents during the course of the Sacrament of Penance (confession)." Those of us who pastored in traditions that don't have confessionals generally adapted and adopted that general principle and applied it to matters shared with us in counseling or other pastoral ministry. Readers who are interested can search for ways in which this practice has been challenged in recent decades. It needs to be understood that while the general principle of pastoral confidentiality should be upheld, maintaining an absolute seal on information received in pastoral settings creates ethical problems.
In my pastoral ministry the expectation that I gave to people in counseling, etc. is that I will not tell/share anything that is inappropriate for me to share. The obvious implication being that there are some matters that I conclude should be shared. If the counselee is not comfortable with that assurance they can seek other counsel. We can talk more about that later. I have a different purpose today.
In my humble opinion, it is clear that pastors, youth leaders, and others who are likely to come face-to-face with child-abuse, or behavior that leads one to reasonably suspect that child-abuse it taking place be informed about what the law says about their responsibility to report.
My thoughts were jogged by two good articles that I read in the last couple of days:
What Clergy Need to Know About Mandatory Reporting, and 
What Churches Need to Know about Sexual Crimes.
The second of the links above is particularly helpful in that it contains links that lead to several databases of information. As usual Gene Edward Veith is helpful. Both articles point out that laws vary from state (or in my case territory) to state. Also, it is clear that this is an area of law in which changes have been made, not only in actual statutes but in the way courts are interpreting them.
The articles provoked me to check what the law says in my new home, Guam. I would encourage my colleagues to do the same in the place where they serve. 
I was reminded of a reality that I knew, but which is often not front and center in my thinking. For purposes of the law, a child (minor) is anyone not yet eighteen years of age. Even in the college setting where I currently work I on occasion deal with people who, for purposes of this law, are defined as children. 
The Archdiocese of Agana is currently mired in a horrendous clergy sex-abuse scandal. The problem is not isolated to the Roman Catholic Church. A pastor friend of mine is on the docket to testify about another pastor's alleged abuse of a teen church member. Keeping these kinds of problems in mind, one can understand the motivation for the portion of Guam's Child Protective Act that specifically states that clergy are not exempted from reporting requirements. Many would say that the consequences for failing to report are not enough, but they are serious enough to bring fear to my heart.

"Any person required to report pursuant to § 13201 who fails to report an instance of child abuse which he or she knows to exist or reasonably should know to exist is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by confinement for a term not to exceed six months, by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by both. A second or subsequent conviction shall be a felony in the third degree. Fines imposed for violations of this Chapter shall be deposited in the Victims Compensation Fund."

I know there may be times in which conscience may compel one to "obey God rather than man," and face the consequences. That's not my point today. As I began, we live in troubling times. It is wise to know the lay of the land and give some forethought to what one will or won't do. If these thoughts put you on track to do that, you are welcome.

Lessons from a couple of great scholars like Professor Brainard the inventor of Flubber and Dr. Quick Draw McGraw:

I just read Al Mohler's apology and explanation about his former support of C. J. Mahaney, of Sovereign Grace Ministries.
I read Dr. Mohler's piece at a time when several sources of input are coalescing into a general caution in my consciousness. Let me explain.
We live in a day that discourages investigation and contemplation. The instant comment or retort is highly admired. If you think about something too long, and "too long" can be as little as the proverbial "sleep on it," you'll lose your place in the discussion.  It's like commenting, while on a road trip, about something you noticed an hour ago. The rest of the travelers are already into the scenery that presents itself NOW. Right or wrong, some people praise me by telling me that I think well on my feet. The desire to live up to that approbation makes what I'm talking about a particular temptation for me.
To give a very unscientific explanation, it seems that our minds work according to a set of unseen algorithms. When a piece of "news" is introduced into the marvelous computer known as my brain, it first passes through a set of rudimentary filters: 

• Do I agree or disagree?
• Do I like or dislike?
• Is this about friend or foe?
• Is there potential in this news to help or hurt me?
• etc., etc..

Somewhere there is a blinking light that says, "Check it out"



But like the conscience that can be seared (1 Tim. 4:2), that warning light has been dimmed or hidden by clutter. The need for speedy response tends to make the pulsating warning more of a nuisance than a caution.
"I know something people need to know." or,
"I need to protect this good person who is being treated badly." or,
"This is so right I need to put my "AMEN!" in the comment stream."
I may even breathe a prayer. "Lord, please let my comment/blog-post/tweet/email to my loyal readers show up before Dr. Big-Name's." 
I don't want to impute my faulty reasoning to another so I'll simply quote Dr. Mohler,  "I deeply regret this. I frankly was not equipped to sift through the allegations and did not grasp the situation, and I am responsible for that and for not seeking the counsel of those who were." 
If the President of Southern Seminary, with a capable staff of researches to work with, is not equipped, what chance do we mere mortals have?
I'm going to try to avoid doing what I'm saying not to do, but consider the Jussie Smollett episode. I have no way of knowing who is right and who is wrong--that's a big part of the point of this post--but I figure a foreign news agency is my best hope for objectivity. The BBC gives an overview of what allegedly happened.  That word, "allegedly," deserves a comment. In the brief article, I counted about 15 times that words like alleged, reported, he said were used.  This kind of self-protective language has become ludicrous.

Journalist Harris Sherline says, "'Alleged' has become perhaps the most overworked and misused word in the American lexicon. His article,  goes on to ask, ". . . does using the word 'alleged' in every reference to a crime really protect the rights of the accused . . .?" I'll confess my bias. I think it often has more to do with protecting the writer than anyone else. 
But getting back to the alleged Smollett incident, when it was first reported, folk with one view of the way things are responded with outrage in one direction. Then when the police were reported to have alleged that Mr. Smollett faked this so-called attack, others with a different view of the world jumped on their own bandwagon and proceeded down the information superhighway with the volume at deafening. Let the dust settle? If I do that, I'll be seen as not appropriately outraged. We even have a new term for it, virtue signaling--the conspicuous expression of moral values. No one wants to be seen on the wrong side of history (look it up), and since history is constantly being made and just as quickly being forgotten I need to make my view known quickly. Since the virtue that folk are signaling varies from one side to the other this game can be like playing ping-pong with a ball made of flubber (Boy, I'm showing my age on that one.) Some online commenters will actually shame others because they were too slow to draw their virtue-signaling six-gun.

I like Dr. Mohler. His writings have been helpful to me. I appreciate his apology, not only because it appears to be (there I go) a sincere attempt to do the right thing, but because it is instructive. 
With the clarity of hindsight, Dr. Mohler says, "I did not even grasp the context I was speaking into." 
How many times have I been guilty of that--not allegedly guilty, but guilty? The answer is many times.
He points out as well that his earlier statement was made on the basis of wrong information. " I did not realize until this past year. . . . When this issue resurfaced a year ago, I was made painfully aware of my serious mistakes."
My late Father frequently said to me, "Now son, let that be a lesson to you." I pray that it will be, not only to me, to Dr. Mohler, but to those of you who allegedly read my blog.