Brutal Sex Crimes, Cover-up Alleged in Church Lawsuit

By Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal
May 16, 2013

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/faith/2013/05/15/brutal-sex-crimes-cover-up-alleged-in-church-lawsuit/

Church workers committed repeated acts of sexual and physical abuse on young children, conspired with their superiors to cover up such crimes and recruited juveniles to join in the abuse, according to a newly expanded lawsuit filed in Maryland against the Louisville-based Sovereign Grace Ministries.

The recently resigned chairman of the denomination, Maryland pastor John Loftness, is among those newly accused. Two plaintiffs — identified by name in the lawsuit, even as some plaintiffs remain identified by pseudonyms — allege that Loftness repeatedly sexually and physically abused them as young girls in past decades. A third plaintiff alleges that when he reported to Loftness that he was molested as a boy by an adult male member, Loftness allegedly told the boy to re-enact the alleged molestation, then later required the boy to meet with and forgive the abuser.

Loftness denies all allegations.

The 46-page lawsuit is the second amended version of one originally filed last year, seeking class-action status and accusing the denomination of systematically covering up sexual abuse in its ranks right up to the present. The church and its leaders allegedly permitted “the abuse of children to occur in church buildings, [a] school building and during church retreats and other events,” the lawsuit says.

Eleven plaintiffs are suing. The case was filed in Montgomery County, Md., longtime base of the denomination. Many of the incidents allegedly occurred in Maryland and Virginia.

Many of the allegations center on actions in what were once two of the largest congregations in the denomination, Covenant Life Church of Gaithersburg, Md., and Sovereign Grace Church of Fairfax, Va. Both recently left the denomination amid controversies over its leadership,

Claims in a lawsuit give only one side of a case. This one recounts a litany of horrors, allegedly perpetrated both by church leaders and members, whose actions were allegedly known to church leaders who nevertheless are accused of allowing them continued access to children.

Sovereign Grace Ministries says in a statement its own internal review has not found evidence of a coverup.

“Without minimizing the serious nature of these allegations nor the grievous harm individuals may have experienced, we understand that it is possible for people to be wrongly accused,” its statement said. “We thank God for the judicial system where these allegations can be brought, a defense made, and a verdict rendered through a fair and just process.”

In a statement, Loftness, pastor of Solid Rock Church in Prince Georges County, Md., said he has never physically or sexually abused anyone or “sought to shield someone I knew to be a pedophile from legal consequences for his actions.” His statement gave no indication of stepping down either temporarily or permanently.

Sovereign Grace Ministries is a network of dozens of churches and is influential in New Calvinist circles — a multi-denominational movement with emphases on such things as God’s power, church discipline and the authority of male pastors over churches and fathers over families. The denomination has lost numerous churches in the past year amid controversies over its leadership, as we’ve written about here.

The denomination opened its first Kentucky church in Louisville last year and has none in Indiana. It has had long ties to Kentucky, however. Its longtime former president, C.J. Mahaney, has spoken at large conferences here connected to the Calvinist movement. Sovereign Grace leaders have worked with faculty at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in such areas as conferences and training.

The lawsuit alleges molesters associated with Sovereign Grace Ministries — individually and in tandem — raped and beat young girls and penetrated them with foreign objects including a plastic rod. It alleges a gang rape occurred at a church retreat when members were staying at an Indiana University of Pennsylvania dormitory. [Update: Not to be confused with any IU campus in Indiana.]

Some of the alleged abusers have already been convicted or face pending criminal charges, according to the lawsuit.

The suit alleges that church leaders — including Mahaney, who recently ended his long tenure as president — knew of abuse and conspired to cover it up. It alleges church leaders obstructed criminal investigations and failed to alert other church members to the presence of abusers with access to their children.

The lawsuit alleges one abuser instructed reluctant boys to beat a girl who was their friend to demonstrate males’ dominance. It alleges church leaders sought to minimize the criminal consequences of another abuser in order to return him to his role as head of his family.

Sovereign Grace recently filed motions seeking dismissal of the lawsuit on various grounds, including First Amendment protections for religious organizations.