Avoiding Clergy Sexual Misconduct
Behaviors
Clergy sexual misconduct encompasses three primary categories: sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and sexual harassment.
1. Sexual Abuse: (a) Sexual involvement or contact by a clergyperson with a minor or a person who is legally incompetent. (b) Rape, which is a criminal offense, and any allegations must be reported to law enforcement officials immediately.
2. Sexual Exploitation: the misuse of power in a pastoral, teaching, or ministerial relationship. It primarily pertains to physical interactions between adults where an unequal power dynamic exists, resulting in inappropriate contact or assault. Sexually exploitive activities may encompass dating, intense kissing, touching breasts or genitals, making sexually suggestive comments, or engaging in sexual intercourse. A clergyperson engaging in a dating or romantic relationship with someone who relies on the clergyperson’s in their pastoral/professional capacity is considered sexually exploitive due to the imbalance of power, leading to harm not only to the victim but also to the congregation's trust in their spiritual leader.
3. Sexual Harassment (in the context of employment): Sexual harassment in the professional context of a clergyperson refers to misconduct as a supervisor of paid staff and volunteers. In line with the United States Federal Government's definition, sexual harassment includes the following: a) Unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors. b) Verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. c) Submission to or rejection of such conduct being used as a basis for employment decisions.
Examples of sexual harassment include but are not limited to: Persistent sexually oriented humor or language; inappropriate comments or questions about sexual behavior, preference, or orientation. Unwanted physical contact. Insults or demeaning comments about an individual's body or sexual characteristics. Displaying sexually suggestive or pornographic materials in the workplace. Sending demeaning, insulting, or sexually suggestive written, recorded, or electronically transmitted messages.
HOWEVER, Explicit acts are not the only way for Clergy Sexual Misconduct to occur.
"Professional sexual misconduct (PSM) is any sexual activity, with or without contact, between two people who have a professional relationship based on trust. Trust relationships in which the professional has a fiduciary role toward another person are inherent in the relationships between pastor/congregant, doctor/patient, therapist/client, teacher/student, and mentor/protégé. The abuse of trust by sexualizing these relationships constitutes unethical behavior according to most professional association codes, is usually considered immoral behavior in religious contexts, and in an increasing number of jurisdictions, may constitute criminal offense" (Thoburn, J., & Whitman, D. M. (2004). Clergy affairs: Emotional investment, longevity of relationship and affair partners. Pastoral Psychology, 52, 491–506. p. 498).
How does Trust play a role in your ministry?
How does authority and power show up in your ministry?
How might trust and power be sexualized independent of physical contact of sexual harrassment?
Antecedents[1]
Personal Antecedents
What are some personal factors that may increase a minister’s likelihood of misconduct?
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Consider: What are some personal practices that a minister can take to balance out the personal antecedents that could lead to sexual misconduct?
Interpersonal Antecedents
“Individuals are typically unaware of the contingencies controlling their behavior.” –Jacqueline B. Persons, The Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Praise: I am conscious of the ways praise of members influences my actions?
I am aware of the ways I pay attention to members who are more significant financial contributors.
I am aware of the ways a member’s support for my initiatives affects the way I do ministry?
Organizational Antecedents
What are some organizational factors that may increase the likelihood of misconduct?
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Group Discussion. Your group will be asked to discuss one of the following questions:
1. What are some practices around property and room use that contribute to healthy boundary navigation?
2. What are some practices around scheduling and recording keeping around that can support a minister with maintaining boundaries?
3. What are organizational-culture characteristics that contribute to healthy boundary navigation?
4. What sort of personnel policies can be in place that contribute to healthy boundary navigation?
Consequences
Consequences for the person directly affected by sexual misconduct.
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Consequences for the Church as a whole
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Consequences for the Minister
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Navigating Consequences
· We contribute to the damage the church has done around sexual misconduct whenever we limit our responsibility to our own personal behavior.
· Ministers have an obligation to practice healthy boundary maintenance for themselves and to model healthy boundary maintenance for their colleagues.
· Similarly, their practice of pastoral relationships will shape the way their parishioners experience future pastors. Setting the boundaries appropriately demonstrates responsible behavior.
Case Study
Robinson, Linda Hansen. “The Abuse of Power: A View of Sexual Misconduct in a Systemic Approach to Pastoral Care.” Pastoral Psychology, vol. 52, no. 5, May 2004, pp. 395–404.
"The client was a young ordained minister who was serving on the staff of a local Protestant church. The referral came from the regional denominational office of the church in which the pastor (alias: bill) served. The young pastor had expressed acute dissatisfaction in his marital relationship and was experiencing anxiety and depression which was noticeable by others with whom he worked and served. I began seeing Bill weekly and soon brought in his wife (alias: Nancy) to join with Bill in marital counseling.
"As the weeks progressed, Bill admitted that he was involved in a relationship with another woman in his congregation. He described this relationship as intimate, but not sexual. He would spend considerable time at the woman's home, visiting several times a week, including some late evening hours. He gave his wife and others the explanation that the woman needed counsel and pastoral care during an emotionally troubling period in her life. This woman would often call the pastor's house and he would carry on long conversations with her, sometimes during the family's dinner hour. (The couple has three young children.) Of course, this caused considerable hurt, anger, and embarrassment for his wife. Bill saw no reason for the concern, as he saw himself fulfilling his pastoral role by being available and offering pastoral care to the parishioner. What Bill did not admit until after in therapy was that the relationship with this female parishioner served his own needs for intimacy and affirmation, which he felt his wife could not provide. He became emotionally connected to the woman and regarded her as an intimate 'friend' as well as parishioner. The woman, in turn, perceived the relationship with the pastor as a personal friendship with sexual overtones, and had become increasingly demanding and dependent on Bill's time and attention.
"To further complicate matters, a family from a former parish, in which Bill served as Youth Minister, was bringing allegations of sexual misconduct against Bill. The family claimed that a sexual relationship had occurred between their daughter and Bill during the time he had served at their church several years prior. They were demanding expulsion of Bill from the ordained ministry, as well as threatening him, and/or the church, with a civil law suit. Bill denied the chargers, and had difficulty in understanding the alleged boundary violations. He described the physical contact with the young as similar to the kind of contact he would engage in with many of the girls in the church's youth group. It was his practice to have youth over to his home on Friday nights to talk and have fellowship, often renting a movie. His wife joined in on the initial part of the evening, but would retired to bed in the other room as the evening wore on. During these times it was his common practice to engage in hugs, back rubs, and other physical touching with group members, which consisted primarily of adolescent girls. Bill saw this as positive group 'bonding' and believed he was offering acceptance and affirmation to many of the girls who needed social and psychological mentoring. He denied kissing any of the girls or engaging in sexual contact, which were the accusations made by the young girl and her family." (p. 399).
Later in interpreting the situation. "The misconduct was part of interlocking systems within the religious community and within the wider culture. Here was a family and two congregations deeply wounded. I believe that Bill was a scapegoat for a religious system that did not want to look at the issues of sexuality and the imbalance of power in relationships between clergy and parishioners." (p. 399-400).
[1] ABC is used as a quick way for educators, clinicians, and other caregivers to assess specific behaviors in their care-recipients like an explosive outburst. We are bending it to think about the systems in which clergy sexual misconduct operates.