UNITED STATES
The Presbyterian Outlook
June 8, 2018
By Leslie Scanlon
The 2018 General Assembly is being asked to consider the implications of #MeToo in the church — including a recommendation from the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns that the denomination’s stated clerk issue a confession on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for its failure to listen to the victims of pastoral sexual misconduct.
That recommendation also asks for some effort to be made to quantify the number of sexual misconduct charges presented at all levels of the church, including in congregations.
And it calls for the creation of a task force composed of victims of sexual assault and advocates of victims, which would conduct a comprehensive examination of PC(USA) policy, judicial process and rules of discipline regarding sexual misconduct.
Also (perhaps surprisingly) coming to the assembly is this question: whether a violation of a council’s sexual misconduct policy should be seen as contrary to Scripture and the denomination’s constitution, and thus subject to the Rules of Discipline.
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