Earlier, Anglican Watch reported on the arrest of two St. Thomas Fifth Avenue employees over allegations of sexual assault. Now, the church’s rector, the Rev. Carl F. Turner, has made matters far worse, sending out a notice about the alleged victim that we believe to be defamatory. A copy of the notice, which is on the church website, follows:
So, what does this mean in the present situation?
For starters, the complainant in the matter alleges that two St. Thomas church employees, William Davis and Fr. Mark Schultz, sexually assaulted them. Based on these allegations, the alleged victim filed a Title IV clergy disciplinary complaint, which the Diocese promptly dismissed. Sources close to the matter tell Anglican Watch that the Diocese has reopened the case, and the Bishop Diocesan has recused himself over a possible conflict of interest—but not before retaliating against the victim by barring him from all churches in the Diocese. (Which, by the way, the bishop does not have the legal authority to do.)
That retaliation is a per se violation of church canon IV.3.1(e), which forbids retaliation against any person for filing a Title IV clergy disciplinary case, participating in a Title IV case, or opposing any conduct illegal under church canons.
But it gets better.
Turner, the rector of St. Thomas, makes several claims in his message that we conclude are defamatory. We believe several are defamatory per se, which means that damages do not need to be proven.
Turner’s questionable statements about the victim:
- Creating safety issues, including bringing a weapon on church premises.
- Damaging church property.
- Making threatening phone calls.
- Harassing parishioners.
- Making harmful false allegations.
Further, Turner goes on to claim that the alleged victim was arrested by the NYPD and charged with criminal damage, and that St. Thomas’ is cooperating with the NYPD and the District Attorney to “ensure everyone remains safe.”
In response, Anglican Watch contacted the church wardens via the following email.
The response?
You guessed it. Total silence.
Even worse, the church’s non-response follows a previous email in which we asked why individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges are still employed by the church. Needless to say, no response to that email, either. (Under the canons, the wardens have a fiduciary responsibility to the church. How does ignoring allegations of sexual assault comport with being a fiduciary? We’d be grateful if someone would enlighten us.)
We also contacted the NYPD about these allegations and ran a background check on the alleged victim. Everything came up clean.
Not content to stop there, we contacted the district attorney’s office and various city officials and found zero evidence to support any of Turner’s claims.
In other words, all the evidence suggests that Turner is lying. None of the evidence suggests he’s telling the truth.
Our own experience supports these conclusions. As is often the case in situations like this, we’ve become friendly with the alleged victim and find him highly credible.
Connecting the dots
To be clear, we’ve seen this pattern before, invariably from a sociopathic member of the clergy who gets called on the carpet. Indeed, the situation is, itself, indicative of an abuser in a position of power:
- Pull a DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender)
- Claim the victim is a physical threat, domestic terrorist, or some other nonsense.
- Assert that the victim is harassing and threatening church members.
- Attempt to discredit the victim generally via a smear campaign. Favorite tactic: “He’s unbalanced/unhinged/unstable,” etc.
For example, this played out with:
- Phil Snyder at Tenth Presbyterian, who blew the whistle on multiple cases of sexual and spiritual abuse at the church, including issues with Liam Goligher, who was having sex with married parishioners in public parks.
- Austin Davis, who flagged Mike Huckabee’s speechwriter, John Perry, as an active pedophile who ran a so-called “safe house” for children at the Church of the Covenant in Nashville. Church elders did their best to sweep the matter under the rug, even as they ruined Austin’s life. (And now, Mike Huckabee, our ambassador to Israel, says everything’s good because Perry repented. Sorry, dude, it doesn’t work like that.)
And, of course, other cases come to mind.
But in both the Snyder and Davis cases, neither church has ever repented of its conduct, thus safely relegating both houses of worship to the category of “whitewashed tombs.”
Nor is it likely we will see accountability in either case. Judicatories love to clutch their pearls, murmur about reputation and trauma, and treat these matters as water over the dam. Thus, the modus operandi becomes protecting the organization rather than the Christian mandate of bringing light to the darkness.
In other words, this entire situation is one of sexual harassment and retaliation, and we’re not going to put up with it.
Next steps
Despite our sometimes fearsome reputation, we want to be fair.
So, this is the deal:
St. Thomas and the Rev. Carl Turner have exactly 48 hours to do the following:
- Provide a case number and other details of the criminal charges they claim were filed against the alleged victim in this case.
- Provide the names and contact information of the church’s contacts at the District Attorney’s office and the NYPD.
- Provide names, dates, and details of the claimed harassment perpetrated by the Title IV complainant.
Note that claims of criminal conduct are, in most jurisdictions, defamation per se, and damages need not be proven as a result. Moreover, in a civil case, unlike a criminal case, guilt can be inferred from silence, so we will treat a failure to respond as evidence that St. Thomas and the Rev. Carl Turner — and the wardens — knowingly lied when making the claims cited above.
Alternatively, Turner and the wardens may publish a written retraction and apology.
If neither happens, Anglican Watch will file a Title IV complaint against Turner, Schultz, and others. After all, if what Turner says is true, he should have no problem providing evidence to back his claims. Indeed, we will gladly publish any such evidence, appropriately redacted. And if what he has said is false, he should have the, um, spine to retract his fabrications.
As for the Diocese and Bishop Heyd, we have zero tolerance for their fun and games, so they better get their act together and do it soon. Indeed, Turner is actively causing harm to a #churchtoo victim and should be suspended from ministry immediately. Same for Schultz.
Nor should anyone forget: By its own admission, St. Thomas’ has a long and sordid history of sexual abuse.
Unless St. Thomas’ immediately acts to address the issues in this case, Anglican Watch will do everything in our power to shut the place down. And yes, we recognize the church has an endowment, etc. But all the money in the world won’t do the church any good when people realize that sexual harassment and retaliation are okay in the church, and the pews empty out as a result.
Try us.
And finally, our usual disclaimer to the inevitable attorneys: Insert the word alleged in front of every sentence in this post. That said, we believe the victim and stand with him.
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