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	Episcopal Church: Former Erie Bishop Abused Girls Erie Times-News July 12, 2010 http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100711/NEWS02/307119880 A former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania sexually abused at least four girls while he was leader of the Erie-based diocese. The abuse by the Rev. Donald Davis was made public today by the diocese's current bishop, the Right Rev. Sean Rowe, who learned of the abuse earlier this year from one of the victims. "Our first goal is to tell the truth," Rowe told the Erie Times-News today. Davis, who was bishop of the diocese from 1974 to 1991, died in 2007. In a pastoral letter read today after services in each of the 13-county diocese's 34 churches, Rowe apologized for what Davis did. Rowe asked other victims to come forward and contact him at 456-4203 or bishop@dionwpa.org. "Sexual abuse in any form is abhorrent in any community, and as your bishop, I feel particular pain that one of my predecessors betrayed the trust and innocence of children," Rowe said in the pastoral letter. "On behalf of the church, I offer an abject apology to Bishop Davis' victims, their families, and everyone whose trust in the church has been violated, and I ask for your forgiveness." Rowe said it is possible that there are other victims of Davis and the church wants to offer them help in healing. Two of the four girls were abused at a diocesan summer camp while the other two were abused repeatedly over time, according to Rowe's letter. In an interview today with the Erie Times-News, he said the girls were around the age of 10 when the abuse occurred. The woman who alerted Rowe to the abuse, in a phone call March 30, was abused sometime between 1978 and 1980, he said. Rowe declined to reveal any other details about the women or the nature of the abuse, citing their privacy and desire to remain anonymous. After receiving the March call, Rowe began an investigation and learned of the three other victims. He also said he learned that his predecessor, Bishop Robert Rowley, who died in January, was aware of the abuse and had reported it to the Office of Presiding Bishop for the Episcopal Church. In 1994, Davis, who was then retired, was essentially removed as a bishop of the church, although the abuse wasn't made public. Rowe said that if allegations of sexual abuse involving children were made today against a living member of the clergy, civil authorities would be contacted and church law processes begun.
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