In a letter released Sept. 16 to members of the seminary community, Mulder apologized and wrote that “in the final years of my presidency I yielded to personal temptation by inappropriately engaging in sexual conduct outside my marriage vows, my pastoral vows, and contrary to Scripture.” Mulder wrote that he was addressing the community with “a deep sense of contrition and regret” and acknowledged that he is being treated for manic depression and is recovering from alcohol abuse and several strokes.
At least some members of the seminary trustees became aware last September of allegations of sexual misconduct involving Mulder and adult women, according to Michelle Melton, a seminary spokeswoman. The trustees spoke with Mulder about the allegations, and he acknowledged they were true, Melton said.
The trustees “took prompt action,” she said, and Mulder resigned in October 2002, saying in his letter of resignation that he had suffered a series of mild strokes and “I want to devote more time to my dear family.” The trustees said at the time only that they were accepting Mulder’s resignation as being in the best interests of the seminary, but Dorothy Ridings, chair of the trustees, said in an interview that the board’s knowledge of Mulder’s affairs “absolutely” was a factor in his resigning.
Ridings also declined to give any information about the women involved, and would not say whether any of them were staff members or students at the seminary. “The women involved have entreated us to maintain the confidentiality of their identities, and we will do that,” Ridings said.
But she also said the seminary does have strict policies involving sexual harassment. “You’d better believe that any institution ought to be concerned about that, if there were students involved. We’ve got policies all over the place,” Ridings said, and “that would be a major concern if it were an issue.”
Riding said she knows of no formal complaints or legal action that anyone has initiated against Mulder.
Ridings and John Kuykendall, the seminary’s interim president, met Tuesday with faculty, students and staff at the seminary to tell them what was happening, meetings that Ridings called “enormously positive and reassuring … There were tears, there were a lot of prayers” and “people saying we could be stronger because of this.” Some students spoke of the power of forgiveness, she said, and of the recognition that they will face these same issues after they graduate and begin serving churches.
Transylvania Presbytery, which includes Lexington and the eastern part of Kentucky, met Sept. 16 in Stanton, Ky., and heard a report involving Mulder from the presbytery’s Permanent Judicial Commission. That report, the result of Mulder’s self-accusation and the resulting confidential inquiry, concluded that Mulder “acted contrary to Scripture, the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, the policies of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Standards of Ethical Conduct for Ordained Officers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)”
The PJC’s report states that Mulder will be excluded from any privileges and responsibilities pertaining to the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament for 14 months, beginning Sept. 4, 2003. During that time, Mulder is to participate in supervised counseling and rehabilitation.
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Ridings acknowledged in the interview that the trustees were uncomfortable with not being able to discuss, when Mulder resigned, his reasons for leaving – a situation “which bothered us a lot.” But she said the board felt it had to respect the confidentiality of the presbytery’s process, and “that’s what made it kind of miserable for many of us.”
Asked what she thinks the impact of the news will be on Louisville Seminary, Ridings said, “the jury’s still out on that.” In his letter, Mulder asked for forgiveness of his sins. He wrote that “I am addressing through medication and therapy my manic depression, which I failed to recognize at the time, and which contributed significantly to my inappropriate behavior. I am also recovering from alcohol abuse and several strokes I suffered during this same period.”
Mulder, 57, also wrote that “it is my sincere hope and expectation that my misconduct will never be repeated.” In an effort to understand why he acted as he did, and to keep it from happening again, “I am engaged in an ongoing program of counseling, medical treatment, spiritual guidance and regular exercise, ” he wrote.
And Mulder wrote: “To my friends and colleagues, to the Seminary community, to the church, to the women involved, and, especially, to my family, I wish to say simply, `I am sorry.’ I lost my way; I am now trying to find it again. With God’s grace, and with the help of others, I will.”
During his 21 years as president, Mulder is credited with strengthening Louisville Seminary’s faculty, programs and infrastructure. He managed the overall growth of the seminary’s endowment from $11.5 million in 1981 to $73.8 million in 2000, and increased the number of faculty endowed chairs from one to ten.
He is also credited with helping to bring the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to Louisville.
This is the second time in three years that the president of a PC(USA) seminary has been implicated in sexual misconduct, and both led to their resignations.
Donald McCullough, a minister who led San Francisco Seminary for six years, resigned in May 2000 for “inappropriate conduct,” three days before the Permanent Judicial Commission of San Francisco Presbytery found McCullough guilty of two counts of sexual abuse — one while he was pastor of Solana Beach church near San Diego and one between the time he was elected president of SFTS in May 1994 and his installation in October of that year.
According to the Book of Order, sexual abuse is defined as “any offense involving sexual conduct in relation to any person when the conduct includes force, threats, coercion, intimidation or misuse of office or position.”
