Around Dallas, the church scandals seem to have no end

[okay]

As the church we need to get our act together. From the article:

A running list of local pastors “involved in controversies this year” maintained by the local television station WFAA now contains 17 names, including five involving criminal charges.

Around Dallas, the Church Scandals Seem to Have No End

In this part of Texas, a pastor with a clean reputation is not to be taken for granted.

www.nytimes.com

 

[RileyG]

The truth is like a roaring lion. It can’t stay hidden.

 

[chevyontheriver]

As the church we need to get our act together. From the article:

A running list of local pastors “involved in controversies this year” maintained by the local television station WFAA now contains 17 names, including five involving criminal charges.

Around Dallas, the Church Scandals Seem to Have No End

In this part of Texas, a pastor with a clean reputation is not to be taken for granted.

www.nytimes.com

It used to be that evangelicals enjoyed piling on Catholics about sexual abuse problems. I will not return the favor. It is a painful thing for this to become public, but it is better than it continuing to be hidden away. It can be very demoralizing even if it is only a small percentage doing these sordid things. Persevere in faith even while it feels dismal. Never allow anything to be covered up. Pray for justice and truth to win out. The snakes in the grass do not win. God wins.

 

[RileyG]

It used to be that evangelicals enjoyed piling on Catholics about sexual abuse problems. I will not return the favor. It is a painful thing for this to become public, but it is better than it continuing to be hidden away. It can be very demoralizing even if it is only a small percentage doing these sordid things. Persevere in faith even while it feels dismal. Never allow anything to be covered up. Pray for justice and truth to win out. The snakes in the grass do not win. God wins.

I’ve heard it’s even more common in Protestant sects nowadays.

Regardless, it’s sickening.

 

[the Vital One]

As the church we need to get our act together. From the article:

A running list of local pastors “involved in controversies this year” maintained by the local television station WFAA now contains 17 names, including five involving criminal charges.

Around Dallas, the Church Scandals Seem to Have No End

In this part of Texas, a pastor with a clean reputation is not to be taken for granted.

www.nytimes.com

99.5% of pastors don't commit crimes or have affairs. The 0.5% who do end up in the news and get all the attention.

Dallas is a huge city, so 17 people of any occupation doing something wrong isn't very surprising.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I’ve heard it’s even more common in Protestant sects nowadays.

Regardless, it’s sickening.

It's all too common. And sickening.

Since there aren't many accountability structures for Protestants, and many of them are functionally independent congregations anyhow, the data mostly isn't there for a comparison. BUT insurance payout data can provide a solid clue that there is as much or more abuse happening in Protestant circles. Probably about the same magnitude. It's just that it seldom makes the news and may never actually be made public for some small Protestant church. What newsroom cares if First Whatever tiny congregation has an abusive pastor. Unless it's a mega-church the newsroom doesn't particularly care. But Catholics have been a pile-on target for a few decades now. Catholics got creamed on this because dioceses keep records, and with a subpoena those records can be used at trials. The other reason Catholics got creamed was that dioceses, being big entities, got sued big. And of course the other reason Catholics got creamed is the tendency to hide things, a bad but natural tendency, that were already in diocesan records. You can't get much money from a tiny congregation of 50 people. You can laugh all the way to the bank suing a diocese of 100,000 people or more.

What we need more of is coming clean about this, all of it, whether it's abuse against boys or girls or vulnerable adults or just the pastor fooling around with someone he's not married to. It's good that Catholics went through this debacle. There will be some more filth (pope Benedict's term) still in the pipeline. It's good that the evangelicals are going through it. The hope is that we will come through cleansed and more attuned to our mission of saving souls. It may seem to have no end but it will taper off. We need to discover who the perps are and assist the victims.

 

[RileyG]

It's all too common. And sickening.

Since there aren't many accountability structures for Protestants, and many of them are functionally independent congregations anyhow, the data mostly isn't there for a comparison. BUT insurance payout data can provide a solid clue that there is as much or more abuse happening in Protestant circles. Probably about the same magnitude. It's just that it seldom makes the news and may never actually be made public for some small Protestant church. What newsroom cares if First Whatever tiny congregation has an abusive pastor. Unless it's a mega-church the newsroom doesn't particularly care. But Catholics have been a pile-on target for a few decades now. Catholics got creamed on this because dioceses keep records, and with a subpoena those records can be used at trials. The other reason Catholics got creamed was that dioceses, being big entities, got sued big. And of course the other reason Catholics got creamed is the tendency to hide things, a bad but natural tendency, that were already in diocesan records. You can't get much money from a tiny congregation of 50 people. You can laugh all the way to the bank suing a diocese of 100,000 people or more.

What we need more of is coming clean about this, all of it, whether it's abuse against boys or girls or vulnerable adults or just the pastor fooling around with someone he's not married to. It's good that Catholics went through this debacle. There will be some more filth (pope Benedict's term) still in the pipeline. It's good that the evangelicals are going through it. The hope is that we will come through cleansed and more attuned to our mission of saving souls. It may seem to have no end but it will taper off. We need to discover who the perps are and assist the victims.

A lot of Protestants who are independent don’t keeping records, so it goes undocumented and unreported in some cases.

Well said and well written.