New Sexual Abuse Claims Against Catholic Cardinal in Los Angeles

From: The Washington Post


{Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, for more than 25 years the savvy shepherd of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, retired nearly two years ago to a renovated yellow house behind his childhood parish, pledging to stay in the spotlight by continuing to fight for the rights of immigrants.

But the cardinal now finds himself in a most unwelcome spotlight, one that he sought for years to avoid. Internal church personnel files released this week as part of a civil court case reveal that he and his top adviser knowingly shielded priests accused of child sexual abuse from law enforcement. In one letter, the cardinal ordered a clergyman to stay in New Mexico, where he had been sent for treatment, to avoid the possibility of being reported to the police in California.}

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/us/mahony-shielded-abusive-priests-documents-show.html?_r=0

Security at Church: I came across this article this morning. As I read through the story, my attention was drawn to the fact that the charges against Cardinal Mahony were NOT related to his direct actions in sexual abuse; however, related to the accusation that he shielded priests and their actions from the police.

Unfortunately, I am starting to see a pattern related to this topic. This is a similar complaint to the story we shared regarding The Rock Church in California. It is also similar to some of the allegations against Sovereign Grace Ministries in Louisville, KY (formerly Gaithersburg, MD). This begs the questions “where are we going wrong within our churches”? How can we prevent this from happening in the future?

As I have stated before on this website, my goal is to shed light on events happening in churches across the country and provide my thoughts along with resources on how to protect your local church from similar events happening at your place of worship. I have no intention of highlighting any one specific church, denomination or religion. Whether it is a Catholic Parish, Baptist Church or Non-denominational place of worship we can all learn from the experiences of others.

Sovereign Grace Ministry Abuse Articles

From: The Washington Post

Suit accuses Sovereign Grace Ministries of covering up alleged child sexual abuse

A Montgomery County Circuit Court lawsuit accuses past and current leaders of a 100-church evangelical denomination of covering up sexual abuse of minors, forcing small children to “forgive” abusers and ostracizing families who wouldn’t hide the alleged crimes.

The lawsuit filed Friday adds more accusers and more accused to a complaint filed last fall against Sovereign Grace Ministries, a movement founded in the 1970s in Gaithersburg. Among those named now is co-founder Larry Tomczak, who was a key figure in the movement’s early years but split from it bitterly in the 1990s.


Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/lawsuit-accuses-neo-calvinist-church-movement-leaders-of-child-sexual-abuse/2013/01/14/6e671764-5e94-11e2-90a0-73c8343c6d61_story.html


From: WJLA ABC 7

Sovereign Grace: More allege church hid sex abuse

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Five people have joined a Maryland lawsuit that claims a Kentucky-based evangelical church group covered up allegations of sexual abuse against children and failed to alert police and shield children from known sexual predators.

The new plaintiffs join three women who filed a civil lawsuit against Sovereign Grace Ministries in October. The suit accuses church leadership of encouraging parents of alleged victims to refrain from reporting abuses to police and creating "a culture in which sexual predators were protected from accountability and victims were silenced."

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/01/sovereign-grace-more-allege-church-hid-sex-abuse-84100.html#ixzz2IWoqpe2l

Original Blog Post on Internal Sovereign Grace Ministry Connect Website

Note: Please see previous post for explanation of below

Circa 2010

I noticed that there were some previous blog posts on “chops” regarding the topic of background checks. This is an important issue and good place to start this week’s security post. 

Many states require background checks for anyone who will be working with children. It is important for your church to have an application process for selecting and vetting individuals to work in children’s ministry. These laws normally always apply to both employees of the church, as well as, volunteers. Part of the application process should include a questionnaire regarding past criminal history. You want to be sensitive and provide an environment for this questionnaire to be private and confidential. Many people are ashamed of their sinful past. Even if they have turned from their sins, many still do not want to open up the door to the past issues of their former life. You want to respect there privacy; however, you also need to stress the importance of them being open and honest when it comes to the legal ramification of a criminal past. The Lord may have forgiven them; however, the many legal systems have not. Regardless of forgiveness and change some convicted crimes legally require disclosure.

The application and questionnaire should just be a starting point. As mentioned before many states require a background check to be conducted by both the state and the FBI to allow someone to work with children. This may sound like it is a big and confusing task. Do not be alarmed! It is easier than you think.

Some states will allow the person wishing to be checked to initiate the process on their own by going to the local or state police station. The police station will finger print them on the spot. Most of the time there is a preprinted card with a background questionnaire on the back of the form. This form is then sent into the state and for a small fee, normally paid by the person submitting the application. The state will return a full background check to the person noted on the form. Please be aware of an important detail related to how this normally works. Fingerprint background checks only investigate if a person has been convicted of a crime in the past. It will not give you a detail report of every incident they have been involved in. A fingerprint based background check also does not involve interviewing and questioning an applicant, their friends, relatives, or co-workers. This is simply a check to identify prior convictions of a crime. It is also critical to note that some jurisdictions only require a state level fingerprint background check. This means that if a person has committed a crime in another state it may not show up on the check. If your church is going to require a fingerprint background check than make sure that it also includes the National FBI check as well.

You might be tempted to think that this is a little overkill. In my opinion and professional judgment when it comes to protecting the children of our church, nothing is overkill. Would you be comfortable with a convicted felon watching your child?

We all want to protect our children; however, we should also want to protect those members of our church that do have a criminal past. Some members may still be on probation. The terms of their probation may limit them from certain activities. For example, many states restrict convicted felons from ever working with children. As a church we want to ensure that we do not have a member of our congregation volunteering to serve in a position that ultimately is causing them to break the law? We want to serve and protect them as well.

Many people have already posted other suggestions for companies that will conduct detailed background checks for you. All of these are great ideas. A fingerprint background check in just a start. Your goal should be to strive for your church to conduct full checks of all volunteering and employees working at your church, especially with children!!

Please feel free to comment on my posts, as well as, ask any security related question that your church is seeking answers to.

Helpful Link:

www.nsopw.gov

This site is the official national database for registered sex offenders. It is free to use and should be a start for all your searches. 

Church Abuse - Security - Sovereign Grace Ministry - SGM

I am not really sure where to start this blog post. For the last three years I have dedicated my spare time to post helpful information related to church safety and security. I have spoken with countless numbers of people trying to help them increase the safety and security of their places of worship. Now… My church of almost 30 years and “former” church parent ministry is plagued with their own “apparent” scandal related to both sexual abuse and abuse of pastoral authority. I have purposefully been quite related to the events that have been occurring. For months I have been asked to comment on the issue. I have decided that I cannot run a website dedicated to church safety and security and NOT talk about a major issue that is unfolding right in front of my eyes.

How and why did we get to this point! By no means am I attempting to say that I have had all of the answers. Many of the claims and allegations against both Sovereign Grace Ministry (SGM) and Covenant Life Church (CLC) stem back 25 years… From a Safety and Security prospective I can honestly state that I have first hand observed Covenant Life Church make many positive changes over the last 5 years towards their policies and procedures related to safety and security. The question will remain was it too little too late?

When I started this website 3 years ago, I was approached by two individuals from SGM and asked to contribute information about church safety and security on their internal church leadership website. Their passion and desire was to get this information out to their family of churches so positive change could be made in the best interest of their church membership. I decided that my first post should be related to children’s ministry and the importance of conducting background checks. (Original Blog Post will be posted in a separate securityatchurch.com post). I received immediate positive feedback from the content of the message from the two individuals who were in favor of the content being shared. Unfortunately, an individual in SGM leadership felt that the content of my post should not be viewed as the opinion of SGM. He did not want SGM churches to view my suggestions as coming with the authority of the parent ministry. My blog post was removed and my invitation to post future content related to church safety and security was revoked! This decision was not the desire of the two individuals who originally asked me to contribute. In fact to this day they are both still huge supporters of my efforts and securityatchurch.com! (Note: One of the individuals no longer works for SGM).

I am including the original SGM Blog Post in my next post for you to read and decide for yourself… Maybe the SGM leadership should have had their local churches view this information as the opinion of the parent ministry! What is your local church or church parent ministry doing to actively protect you and your local church? If they ever have the unfortunate situation to have the national press and local legal system evaluating them, will the outcome show an active desire to help the church be a safe place or a hidden effort to prevent resources and information from being shared and spread?