Breaking News: Greg Kelley, Alleged Child Abuser Whose Conviction Was Overturned, Sends Threatening Emails to Fellow Blogger
If my experience with Episcopal priest Bob Malm has taught me anything, it’s the importance of maintaining free speech. That includes standing up for fellow bloggers. So, before we go any further, let me say this to Greg Kelley: I’m publishing about you too. If you want to make Amy “highly regret” anything, I guess you’ll need to… Read More »
Two Leaders Show How Churches Really Move Past Abuse
Primer: Victim Blaming 101
Jules Woodson first appeared in the media roughly a year ago, when fellow blogger Dee Parsons, among others, covered her sexual abuse at the hands of her former youth pastor, Andy Savage. A teen at the time, Jules accepted a ride home from Andy, only to be coerced into a sexual encounter along a dark road. Since then,… Read More »
Thugs in the Pulpit: Avoiding Abuse from Church Leaders
“When it comes to controlling human beings, there is no better instrument than lies. Because you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.” Michael Ende link Over the weekend, I decided to Google church and pastoral abuse. Normally, we already have a situation in… Read More »
Life after Trauma. Charities who work for peace and the healing of Survivors
I have recently come across the work of an organisation that seeks to help promote peace, the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. The names are those of the two boys who lost their lives in the terrorist bombing outrage in Warrington in 1993. This organisation recognises that working for peace needs to have three parts to… Read More »
Vt. Episcopal Bishop Shannon MacVean-Brown On Inclusion
Shannon MacVean-Brown, the newly elected bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, recently spoke to National Public Radio (NPR) about the challenges facing The Episcopal Church (TEC) particularly in a region where relatively few attend any church, and where TEC has a small footprint. Her comments on inclusion are noteworthy, particularly as they pertain to abuse. “If the… Read More »
Moving Forward to Address Clergy Misconduct
Years ago, activists within The Episcopal Church began clamoring for the development of programs to prevent and address sexual misconduct. The move came at a time when the church was struggling to find ways to include those who historically had been marginalized on the basis of gender, national origin, sexual orientation, and other criteria. Many among those groups… Read More »
Things I Think
The following excellent observations on abuse of power and church is courtesy of the Rev. Richard Newnham, His blog is here. 1. I talk a lot about how the “business model” has usurped the “family model” of church governance…the “congregation” has replaced “employees” and they have as much say about how the church is run as the average… Read More »
Long-Term Effects of Church Abuse
Reprinted with permission. Stephen Parsons, a retired Anglican priest, publishes Survivingchurch.org, a blog dedicated to church abuse of every sort. After church on Sunday I took part in two conversations over coffee which indirectly touched on the church abuse issue. Neither mentioned in any way spiritual/sexual abuse, but each of them reminded me how much and for how… Read More »