Sexual Abuse and the Church
Both Protestant and Catholic Churches have been encountering painful, embarrassing, expensive, and time-consuming problems created by ordained and duly credentialed clergy who have been guilty of sexually abusing persons in their parishes while presumably acting in pastoral capacities.
On the heels of the nationally publicized Porter case in the Catholic Church, the first of 16 civil suits has been heard in Hennepin County District Court against Albert Magnuson, former pastor of Redeemer Covenant Church of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Redeemer Church was named with Magnuson in the suit. The first plaintiff, Steven Walker, asked for $1.4 million in damages. Though Magnuson said he recalls contact with about ten youths, he denied sexual contact with Walker.
"I am ashamed“ he said, “of the fact that I did touch some young people. It probably is a problem” (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dec. 9, 1992). “Probably” is surely an understatement. The fact that Magnuson had sexual contact with a significant number of young boys who saw him for counseling has already resulted in a confidential out-of-court settlement between the plaintiffs and the Covenant Church. There is no “probably” about the time and energy demanded of Covenant leaders and members of Redeemer Covenant Church to deal with the implications of the charges against Magnuson. Nor is there any “probably” about the legal fees that have been and are being incurred.
Magnuson pled guilty in 1991 to abusing a 14-year-old and was convicted under Minnesota Statutes of Sexual Criminal Conduct in the Second Degree. He has served a year in the Hennepin County Workhouse and is on probation for 15 years. Second Degree (there are five degrees) means that a person has engaged in sexual contact (not penetration, which is First Degree) with a youth who, if under 13, is 36 months younger than the perpetrating person, or, if 13-16, 48 months younger. The law states that “neither mistake as to the complainant’s age nor consent to the act by the complainant is a defense.”
In the recent trial, after hearing more than a week of testimony and after three days of deliberation, the jury decided that Magnuson “had committed sexual abuse and that the acts took place while he was the church’s pastor, but it was unable to decide whether Walker was due monetary damages” (Star Tribune, Dec. 23, 1992). As a result, there must be another trial.
Here are a few relevant facts and some questions.
1. Civil suits are for the purpose of determining if damages have been done and, if so, what is equitable compensation.
2. What damages? Victims of abuse of this sort report psychological, emotional, academic, and occupational problems as a result of molestation. Typical psychological impact of sexual abuse includes anxiety, depression, lower sense of efficacy, and perceptions of one’s self as a victim. Behavioral manifestations include phobias, obsessions, compulsions, somatic complaints like sleep disturbance, and dissociation. A frequent diagnosis is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
3. The Statute of Limitations limits the time period during which a person can bring a suit. The limit is six years in Minnesota. A special “window” was opened from mid-1991 through mid-1992, during which time suits could be brought regardless of date of occurrence. However, no more than six years could have elapsed between the time a person recognized that he or she had been injured and the date of filing.
4. Who is responsible? Albert Magnuson is responsible for his actions whatever they were. Was Redeemer Church negligent in overseeing Magnuson’s activities as pastor? Redeemer says no. Their attorney argued that these actions were beyond their scope and that it has not been established that they could have “foreseen” Magnuson’s actions.
Were the Covenant Church, its ministerium, or specified elected officials negligent? Responsibility for Magnuson has not been admitted by these parties. President of the Church Paul Larsen reported, however, that a settlement had been reached between the denomination and the plaintiffs. This is a confidential settlement. The amount is undisclosed and “church officials did not admit any liability” (Star Tribune, Dec. 23).
Though Covenant officials acknowledge no liability, their insurers must have, or they would not be willing to pay any damages. Insurance does not cover willful and intentional acts like Magnuson’s; rather, it covers the liability of those who were deemed responsible for him.
5. Is the exposure of the denomination completely limited by the settlement? Will the insurance be adequate to cover the monetary liability of the Covenant Church and its Northwest Conference? What will Redeemer do if it must pay damages?
6. How was Magnuson able to continue so long without exposure or discipline? Was it because of the powerful tendency to keep such matters secret? ... because most victims did not want what happened to them known publicly? ... because Magnuson maintained a powerful conservative evangelistic posture? ... because, as a frequent religious emphasis week speaker at Minnehaha Academy and a leader in Covenant Bible Camps, he seemed unassailable? ... because, though sexual contact like this was always seen as immoral, people only recently became aware that it was criminal?...
Titles of books written on the subject in the past decade or so reflect how the crime of child sexual abuse is usually kept secret and talked about little: Conspiracy of Silence, Butler; I Never Told Anyone, Bass and Thornton, Eds; and The Best Kept Secret, Rush. Cases such as Porter’s and Magnuson’s have great impact on the Church. As difficult as it might be, the more we get the facts straight and the more we talk about them accurately, the better off we are likely to be.
Because of a child’s vulnerability, child sexual abuse is the most serious sexual violation that can happen in the church. Churches must be safe havens for children. How can churches insure protection of children and how can the false allegations be separated from the true?
As I observed the testimony and cross-examination in the Walker case for two afternoons, my appreciation for our legal system deepened. The importance of the right to bring a complaint and to make a defense, the rules of evidence, the role of the judge, and the right to a jury trial were brought home to me. If our legal system has problems, they are nothing compared to the problems we would have without it.