Unsafe In Any Denomination - Women and Clergy Sexual Abuse

May 18, 2010

While the media's attention has been directed to the unconscionable cover-up of the sexual abuse of children within the church, the widespread problem of clergy sexual abuse of adult women has remained largely unreported. Newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun published stories last fall that highlighted this issue, but it has not received prominent or ongoing coverage.

Some observers believe that sexual abuse of adult women by clergy members is far more pervasive than sexual abuse of children. In fact, Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune, Executive Director of the Faith Trust Institute in Seattle, argues that adult victims of sexual exploitation by clergy "will be the next wave of the tsunami to hit the church" in numbers far greater than those of child victims of clergy sexual abuse. This view is shared by the Rev. Pamela Cooper-White, former director of the Center for Women and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., and currently Professor of Pastoral Theology at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Cooper-White estimates that a staggering 95 percent of victims of sexual exploitation by clergy are women.

Are sexual assault laws and the threat of lawsuits adequate to address the sexual exploitation of adult women by members of the clergy? Is consensual sex a factor that needs to be taken into consideration? Or, should we advocate for state laws that will make it clear that clergy are licensed caregivers and may not engage in sexual relations with parishioners? Some NOW activists are exploring solutions to this problem, which has often been greeted with silence.

Kansas NOW has endorsed legislation to criminalize sexual exploitation of adults by clergy, which was introduced for the third time during the 2007-08 legislative session. The proposed legislation adds language to include clergy among the licensed caregivers -- such as social workers and probation officers -- held criminally liable for "unlawful sexual relations" with those in their care. Very few states provide criminal penalties for this hidden form of sexual violation, even though the majority of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy are adults, primarily adult women.

This hidden epidemic knows no denominational boundaries. The most recent study, conducted by Baylor University in 2008-2009, surveyed 3,500 adults and 30 Christian and Jewish congregations affected by clergy sexual abuse. The findings revealed that "one in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader."

The Baylor study was the largest ever of clergy sexual misconduct with adults and provided further evidence that this is a pervasive problem, not merely a few random incidents. Dr. Diana Garland, dean of the School of Social Work at Baylor and lead researcher in the study stated: "What this research tells us . . . is that clergy sexual misconduct with adults is a widespread problem in congregations of all sizes and occurs across denominations."

A 1993 study found that 14 percent of Southern Baptist pastors responding to a survey admitted to inappropriate sexual contact with a congregant; in the same survey, 70 percent of respondents said they had knowledge of another minister who had sexual contact with a congregant. Stephanie Hixon, member of the United Methodist General Secretariat of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women, remarked at a 2001 UM-sponsored workshop that "the largest population of victim/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct [in the Methodist church] is women."

Julie Sevig, section editor of The Lutheran, stated in a 2002 special issue of this denominational newsmagazine that "the typical pattern of clergy sexual abuse in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America involves a male pastor and adult female." Likewise, Alexa Smith, in a 2000 cover article for Presbyterians Today, reported that the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) estimates there are about 50 clergy sexual misconduct cases every year. Cases in the PCUSA, according to Smith, "tend to involve adult women and male pastors."

Dr. Gary Schoener, Executive Director of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis, which serves both offenders and survivors of clergy sexual abuse, has consulted on over 2,000 cases of clergy sexual abuse and is one of the most outspoken experts on this issue. In a 2006 interview aired on the PBS newsweekly Religion and Ethics, he stated that "far more clergy have sexual contact with adult women or late adolescent girls than they do with kids of either gender," adding that "it's a widespread problem."

How widespread? In her 1995 book "The Cry of Tamar," the Rev. Pamela Cooper-White suggests that "somewhere from one out of eight to one out of three clergy have crossed sexual boundaries with their parishioners." Similar estimates are put forth by A. W. Richard Sipe, therapist and former Benedictine monk in his 1995 book "Sex, Priests, and Power." Based on his research, Sipe concludes that "at any one time 20% of priests are involved in a sexual relationship with a woman."

Other studies, such as those cited by Kathryn Flynn in her comprehensive study of The Sexual Abuse of Women by Members of the Clergy, published in 2003, substantiate the claim that "clergy are exploiting their parishioners at twice the rate of secular therapists." Comparing the matter in a different way, a United Church of Canada sexual abuse panel reported that "women are more likely to experience sexual harassment in the church than in the workplace."

When will survivors come forward to disclose their experiences? When will society speak out against this harmful form of sexual exploitation? Probably not until states make it clear that sexual contact between clergy and congregant is a criminal violation of the clergy's "fiduciary duty." Fiduciary duty refers to the relationship of trust and authority inherent between doctors and their patients, therapists and their clients, and law enforcement personnel and their charges. In several states, sexual contact between these professionals and their clients is a felony. But most states do not include clergy among the professions covered by such "fiduciary duty" laws.

In 2009 NOW passed a resolution calling for the criminalization of sexual exploitation of adult women by the clergy by adding religious leaders "to the enumerated categories of professionals covered in fiduciary-duty laws." Join NOW in supporting legislation to criminalize this form of sexual violence and expand fiduciary-duty laws to include members of the clergy as licensed caregivers. Take action NOW: "It's a crime, not an affair!"

More information:

NOW Fact Sheet and Action Guide: Sexual Abuse of Women by Clergy

State Laws Criminalize Clergy Sexual Relations with Congregant by The Silent Majority: Adult Victims of Sexual Exploitation by Clergy

Baylor Clergy Sexual Misconduct (CSM) study website

Executive Summary of Baylor Research

"How clergy sexual misconduct happens: A qualitative study of first-hand accounts," Peer reviewed article by Diana Garland and C. Argueta; Forthcoming, Social Work and Christianity