Another investigation is being initiated into alleged abuse at Presbyterian mission schools in Egypt and Cameroon.
In February, the council will be asked to consider proposed changes to the denomination’s constitution that would govern how sexual abuse charges would be handled in the future. Among the changes being considered: when a retired minister was determined to have committed sexual abuse, that person would be considered “retired” rather than “honorably retired.”
Paul Masquelier of California, who presented the proposed changes, also showed a presentation of photographs of the some of the survivors of the abuse in the Congo — photographs presented (with the survivors’ consent) on large screens as he spoke.
The results of the Congo investigation are “devastating to see, they’re shocking to see, they’re things that should never occur in the life of the church, but they happened,” Masquelier said. And when these children told adults what had happened, “people could not believe those charges, so nothing was done, and it continued to happen.”
As Masquelier described some of the changes in policy being proposed, he told the council: “This is not about legalism and technicalities. It’s about the people whose faces we see on the screens … We have a commitment we made to the survivors, that we’re going to bring these things before the General Assembly” and ask for change.
Even today, when sexual abuse occurs in the church, “some presbyteries deal with it much better than others,” Masquelier said. “We still live in a system where people want to cover it up.”
In March, the denomination will sponsor a retreat for the survivors, their spouses and significant others, their parents and siblings.
In Montreat, the council expressed their “shared pain” with the survivors, and prayed aloud a litany of repentance, praying for healing for the survivors, for forgiveness for Presbyterians who did not act to stop the abuse, for repentance for the denomination’s long silence, offering thanksgiving for the women who survived the abuse and were courageous enough to speak.
