and Preventing Clergy Misconduct

Title: ELCA Members Get Resource to Help
Deal With Understanding and Preventing
Clergy Misconduct
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 1, 1996

UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING CLERGY
MISCONDUCT (75 lines)
96-10-030-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There are two times
congregations may
confront clergy sexual misconduct: after it
happens or before it
happens. "Safe Connections: What
Parishioners Can Do to
Understand and Prevent Clergy Sexual Abuse"
is a resource to help
members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America deal with
both of those times.
     "We want the resource used first of all
to prevent abuse by
providing tools to congregational members to
use in doing their
part to create a climate that does not
tolerate the abuse of the
pastoral office ... and to help laity
recognize signs of danger,"
said the Rev. Janice Erickson-Pearson,
project director for the
ELCA strategy for responding to sexual abuse
in the church.
     She also described the 62-page booklet
as something to "put
in the hands of people who are asking `What
happened here?'"
     The key to prevention is education,
says the booklet. "As
parishioners learn about the dangers of
clergy sexual abuse, they
are empowered to act to protect themselves,
to set and maintain
boundaries, to recognize danger and to be
alert and attentive to
their own safety and that of others around
them," it says.
     "Safe Connections" includes a list of
15 "practical steps we
can take to prevent sexual boundary
violations." The list
includes several items that care for the
personal needs of the
pastor, such as ensuring time off,
vacations, continuing
education opportunities, and fair and
adequate compensation. It
encourages the pastor to "get a life," to
spend time with family
and friends and not to become isolated.
     "If your pastor is single, take time at
the beginning of the
ministry, or now, apart from a crisis or
experience of
misunderstanding, to clarify expectations of
healthy respect for
boundaries, in the event of a dating
relationship with a
parishioner," the resource offers.
     "We hope the resource will promote
healing, when abuse
occurs," said Erickson-Pearson, "by
providing a community of
understanding and compassionate response to
victims and their
families and by providing the necessary
information about what
has happened, so that the congregation can
begin its own healing
journey."
     The booklet describes the boundaries
between clergy and
parishioners as "lane markers that make it
possible for us to
relate, to be close, to be connected, and to
do so in ways that
are helpful, meaningful and safe." It gives
sample boundaries
for common and unique relationships. It
also gives both the
clergy and parishioners the responsibility
to honor those
boundaries and to recognize when they've
been violated.
     Erickson-Pearson developed "Safe
Connections" as part of the
education, training and prevention goals of
the "ELCA Strategy
for Responding to Sexual Abuse in the
Church." The ELCA Church
Council approved the strategy in 1992, and
she presented the
booklet to the council when it met here
April 12-15.
     David J. Hardy, ELCA general counsel,
stressed that the
resource is only a resource for Lutherans
and not an expression
of church policy. It contains a disclaimer
that it is does "not
necessarily reflect the views of the ELCA."
     The ELCA Division for Ministry strongly
encouraged the
church's 65 synods to distribute the
resource to congregations,
through synod assembly packets or through
other channels. It was
given to all synod bishops.
     "Some synods are using this piece as a
part of their
training for clergy and other rostered
leaders," said Erickson-
Pearson, "and some other synods are
interested in using this as
the basis of forums."
     "All seminaries will receive copies,"
she said. "Some
seminaries are interested in using it as
part of their training
for students."
     "Safe Connections" is distributed
through Augsburg Fortress,
publishing house of the ELCA.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir.,
ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2958; Frank
Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956