Screen cap of porn by choir school resident pornographer Eric Erving. Full frontal nudity redacted.
This morning’s post is a short one. But it’s important.
Simply put, look for additional issues to come out of St. Thomas’ and its choir school over the failure of church officials to fulfill their duties under state law as mandated reporters of possible child abuse.
What are those duties? Although the law, like many, has a lot of ins-and-outs, they can easily by summarized: If you have reason to suspect child abuse or neglect, you must report it. That’s the case even if if the abuse happened long ago. And there’s no exception in the state law for confessions to a priest or clergyperson.
What does that mean for St. Thomas?
Right now, we’re working to get to the bottom of things, but there is clear evidence of a breakdown in mandatory reporting that extends all the way to top leadership, And those issues include the choir school.
We also think it’s safe to predict that Matthew Moretz was involved in these issues, and may face criminal liability.
Nor are we super sympathetic to Moretz when faced with this possibility. After all, he’s the guy whose LinkedIn profile brags about how he’s COO of a church with a $15 million annual budget — despite the face only about $1 million of that comes from plate and pledge. Meanwhile, the church has been covering massive budget shortfalls from its investments for 39 of the last 40 years, even as it continues to spend like a drunken sailor on the Friday evening after payday.
As in an $8 million condo for rector Carl Turner, even as he jet sets back and forth to the UK, even while doing nothing to grow the parish?
Get real.
As for Moretz himself, he’s the dunderhead who can’t even be bothered to run background checks on church staff, and tries to make excuses for sexual assault.
And let’s not be fooled by Moretz’s excuses and explanations. Not only is safeguarding largely a matter of common sense, but anyone who’s been to seminary has had safe church training.
As to Moretz and his unexpected “sabbatical,” we doubt he will be back. But if he does return to St. Thomas,’ even briefly, it’s time to hold the church accountable by withholding all funding. Simply put, there’s no excuse for funding evil, no matter how banal it may be, or how concealed behind the trappings of the choir it is.
Same goes for Turner. The church needs fewer trips to the UK and less living life large, and more work on growing the church right there in Manhattan.
Nor is the vestry off the hook.
The sort of systemic meltdown we see at St. Thomas’ happened only because a compliant, feckless vestry allowed it to happen. So to kick back now and say, “We’re looking forward to the changes coming to St. Thomas,” doesn’t cut it.
Moreover, the Diocese is far from blameless in this matter. In addition to its corrupt handling of the various church disciplinary complaints now pending against Turner and Moretz, it’s been common knowledge for years now that there are problems at the church.
Meanwhile, people like Bill Davis have gotten away with murder for years now, becoming more brazen over time. Indeed, Davis has allegedly told people that “the action happens on the third floor.”
What the hell? St. Thomas is supposed to be a church, not a gay bar.
Speaking of, when did it become okay to have a resident porn producer like Erich Erving living at the choir school? We support the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons in the life of the church, but that doesn’t extend to acting like a pig.
So, stay tuned. If nothing else, criminal charges are pending in this matter, and we expect there will be more fireworks before all is said and done,
Leave a Reply