Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue: reflections on the meltdown over allegations of sexual assault and related topics

Over the past few weeks, we’ve received several emails from apologists for the debacle at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and its corrupt handling of allegations of multiple incidents of sexual assault/harassment by gay church persons connected with the church, including a priest, Mark Schultz. This post explores the history of our coverage of these issues and several related issues.

Presumption of innocence

A common theme in this feedback is that those accused enjoy a presumption of innocence, and that somehow, by reporting on these allegations, we’ve gone a step too far. That argument is misplaced, and here’s why.

First, we are careful to make clear that these are allegations, thus maintaining the presumption of innocence from a legal perspective.

That said, the underlying argument misses the point.

Specifically, we have:

• Interviewed more than 20 sources for our coverage.
• Run background checks on all parties involved.
• Sent reporters undercover to St. Thomas church events.
• Identified and interviewed other alleged victims who do not personally know the plaintiff or anything about his allegations, but complain of almost identical experiences.
• Uncovered multiple instances of deceptive conduct by St. Thomas staff and clergy, including behavior that evinces awareness of guilt.
• Interviewed multiple former parishioners.
• Sent numerous requests for police and other government records.
• Obtained access to internal St. Thomas documents and discussions.

In other words, we have not relied on the complainant’s assertions in forming our conclusions, but instead on myriad external reference points.

The result?

All evidence suggests that the plaintiff’s allegations are accurate. No evidence supports a contrary conclusion.

We’re not being kind

Spare us.

Retaliating against someone who complains of sexual assault/harassment by falsely calling them a “domestic terrorist” and claiming that they have repeatedly assaulted church members is the very definition of evil.

As for claims by Carl Turner than the church takes allegations of abuse seriously and that this is a “highest priority,” that is BS, world without end.

The reality is that St. Thomas took nine months to address these allegations, doing so only after a lawsuit had been filed. Meanwhile, alleged assailant Mark Schultz continued in active ministry.

Folks, we need to be clear on something: The moment a credible allegation of sexual assault is made against clergy, he or she must be immediately suspended in order to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of any possible Title IV investigation.

And yes, we are feeling more than a little irritable about this debacle, and we don’t care whether anyone likes it or not.

It’s not consistent with journalistic integrity to make snarky comments about folks at St. Thomas

Nowhere does Anglican Watch claim to be a neutral journalistic forum.

To the contrary, we make no bones about it: Our sympathy and support goes entirely to those hurt by the church. And being snarky/feisty is a reasonable outcome when confronted by misconduct in the church.

You don’t want to see the Episcopal Church succeed

To the contrary, nothing would make us happier than to shutter the blog and instead enjoy retirement, including hanging out at the gym, working around the house, and making homemade bread. 

But, the Episcopal Church being what it is, we’re busy. Really busy. As in, almost more than we can handle.

Our fond hope is that Sean Rowe and others will clean up the denomination. But with an almost 2,000-year head start, the Episcopal Church clearly has an advantage over anyone seeking reform.

But you’re also critical of Sean Rowe

Yup. More than one thing can be true.

We support Sean Rowe, and indeed he was the rector of AW editor Eric Bonetti’s childhood church in Franklin PA. Rowe, like Bonetti, also is a Grove City College alum. (How the heck did that happen? Bonetti is probably the least likely person out there to graduate from Grove City. But I digress.)

We also recognize that Rowe is nothing if not a politician. And politics often is the art of the possible, not the obtainment of the perfect.

Still, we ardently object to Rowe’s decision to close the Title IV cases against Bishop John Howard. We do so on both practical and theological grounds. And we’ll have more to say on that in future posts.

On a practical level, saying, “Too bad, so sad, he retired before we could snag him,” incentivizes people to further bad behavior. And that is particularly troubling at a time when many straight, white, cisgender rectors and bishops are hanging on to their jobs, to the detriment of many younger and more diverse clergy. Meanwhile, these older priests often have an alarmingly narcissistic sense of entitlement in which they get big salaries, for small amounts of work.

On a theological level, the Episcopal Church has a bad habit of sweeping previous bad behavior under the rug. As a result, it creates metaphorical skeletons in the closet, which linger for decades to come, surfacing at just the right time to cause further problems.

Indeed, healing requires disclosure, both of the underlying misconduct and the resulting trauma. Additionally, we must unpack the church’s potential complicity in these matters.

Without these, any “healing” typically is nothing more than a feel-good exercise, for we cannot be in right relationship when we do not know the truth about others.

And there is the issue of the denomination’s faulty theology of forgiveness, which is often built around, “Well, I stopped doing that, so we’re good,” or, “I said I’m sorry.” But neither reflects a Christian understanding of repentance.

We believe that fixing the egregious problems in the Episcopal Church requires transparency, disclosure, and accountability, all of which remain in short supply.

You’re gunning for Carl Turner, Matthew Moretz, etc.

Here, a nuanced understanding is needed.

To be clear: Turner, Moretz, Heyd, and the rest of this disreputable lot have betrayed the trust of the church and the public. They have caused lasting and largely irrreparable harm to the mission of the church. And they have caused trauma to the victims in this case, which includes St. Thomas’ itself.

As such, we believe they need to be held accountable. All of these guys need to go.

We also see nothing of the message of the Gospels in the juxtaposition of Turner’s $8 million crib and his trashing of an alleged victim of sexual assault. Indeed, how is this Christian?

Nor is it like the issue just came down. Turner, Heyd, and the rest have had nine months to retract their fabrications, apologize, and make restitution. They’ve made no effort to do so, and so at this point, they own this mess.

It’s wrong to bar someone who makes “pornograhic art” from living near children at the choir school

To be clear, the condominium inhabited by Mark Schultz and his husband, pornographer Erich Erving, is located within the choir school building, which is owned by St. Thomas.

As such, fair housing laws do NOT apply to this situation.

Nor does it matter whether the porn in question targets straight audiences, gay audiences, or little green men from Mars.

The reality is this is not appropriate for someone living in church-provided housing, any more than would be a meth lab, a porn video producer, or a prostitution ring.

Relatedly, someone who, like Mark Schultz, is accused of sexual assault should be immediately removed from proximity to children and other vulnerable populations. This is both common sense and consistent with the denomination’s safe church policies.

Beyond that, we’ve had several people disagree with these statements. To that, all we can say is, “You have issues and need professional help. And while you’re at it, you need to reflect on your ethical reference point.”

The Episcopal Church is a leader in safe church policies

At one time, back when the Daughters of the King and other groups were pushing hard for sexual misconduct training and prevention, this was true. But it hasn’t been true for more than 40 years.

Moreover, Title IV, the clergy disciplinary process, is a paper tiger at best.

Indeed, one of the recent changes to safe church policies (not per se a part of Title IV, but standards that, when breached, may implicate Title IV) was a requirement that churches regularly audit their compliance with safe church guidelines. Thus far, we have seen one, yes, exactly one, Episcopal Church that is compliant.

Thus, while several of the clergy involved need to face Title IV proceedings, the process is not a panacea.

Moreover, the wretched handling of the original Title IV complaint in this case underscores a systemic and structural problem with Title IV, including the fact that intake officers are not independent of the episcopacy and consistently refuse to follow the specifics of Title IV.

You’ll be happy if Heyd, Turner, Moretz, et al gets removed

Damned right. Lip-smacking glee.

There’s no room in the episcopacy for corruption.