Restorative Justice for All Introduction: Recommendations of the Safe Congregations Panel

I. Web of Caring and Commitment

Interpersonal violence and sexual abuse are two of the most troubling issues we have to deal with in our society today. As we become aware of the abuse in families and congregations, we can become overwhelmed by the amount of pain that surrounds us and the frightening violations of trust and intimacy that have occurred in our religious communities. When abuse occurs there is great brokenness. The brokenness extends to the interrelated lifesystem of the congregation: the victim and victim's family; the congregation and wider association of congregations; the perpetrator's family, friends, and colleagues; and the perpetrator. Over the past two decades Unitarian Universalist lay leaders, ministers, and UUA professional staff members have increased their awareness of clergy sexual misconduct and raised their courageous voices to break the silence around incidents of clergy sexual abuse and call for justice and healing. We must heed this call. For the health and wholeness of our congregations and our association of congregations, we must respond compassionately with a web of caring and work for restorative justice with steadfast commitment.

A call for justice was voiced by UUMA chapters in the southeast and the Pacific northwest in 1984 and 1985 as they articulated their concerns about the effects of clergy sexual misconduct on congregations and ministry. They asked the UUMA executive committee to address issues of sexual ethics in the ministerial Code of Professional Practice. After careful dialogue and thoughtful discernment, UUMA ministers amended their Code in 1987 and 1988 to include sexual ethics. The Ministerial Fellowship Committee used this Code as a basis for addressing the issues of clergy sexual misconduct. Ministerial Fellowship Committee members have voiced their concerns and addressed these issues tenaciously in the 1990 decade by amending their rules and procedures and setting new credentialing policies.

Early in the 1990s the issue of clergy sexual misconduct took on increased urgency in the Unitarian Universalist Association because of reported incidents of misconduct and media attention on this problem. At the 1991 Hollywood, FL General Assembly the courageous voices of UU Women's Federation Board members and UUA Women and Religion Committee members issued a Call to Action. The Task Force on Clergy Sexual Misconduct (Task Force I) was convened with representatives from concerned UU organizations and planned their work in programming, education, and healing involving both laity and clergy. Their 1991 Call to Action concluded: "We join our voices together with concern for the victims, families, congregations, and clergy."

The UUA Department of Ministry and UUMA sponsored the 1992 training of ten clergy teams (led by Marie Fortune of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence) who then conducted trainings and educational workshops in most UUMA chapters and theological schools. Liberal Religious Educators' Association (LREDA) amended and expanded their Code of Professional Practice. In the UUA Religious Education Department, the Youth Office developed its Code of Ethics for Persons Working With Children and Youth in UUA Sponsored Programs in 1986 and the Curriculum Office published About Sexual Abuse and most recently Our Whole Lives.

In 1992 the UUA Board of Trustees appointed a Task Force on Congregational Response to Clergy Sexual Misconduct (Task Force II). It was charged with creating materials to deal with congregational responses to the issue of clergy sexual misconduct and to make recommendations concerning laity education. Its work produced a theological reflection essay, the creation and training of district Safe Congregations teams, and informational as well as worship resources for congregations. Their strong voices advocated for institutionalizing an ongoing response to clergy sexual misconduct.

Lay leaders and religious professionals published monographs on sexual ethics in UU journals and periodicals throughout the 1990s, and the UUA published Creating Safe Congregations: Toward an Ethic of Right Relations in 1997. In 1998 and 1999 courageous voices have been increasingly resolute in their attention to healing and justice for victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct. The Is Nothing Sacred Retreats and Second Circle Gatherings have focused the need for an institutional response and ministry with victims/survivors and congregations. For further references to our Unitarian Universalist history tending to these issues see the documentation in the resources section of the Creating Safe Congregations Workbook.

Current Unitarian Universalist Association initiatives toward inclusion, wholeness, and covenantal relationship are the common ground upon which the work of the Safe Congregations Panel stands. These endeavors continue to contribute inspiration for our recommendations. The Panel's reflections and recommendations are linked to, informed by, and in alignment with the following endeavors: interfaith coalitions, especially the Our Whole Lives sexuality education project; Journey Toward Wholeness; Fulfilling the Promise.

The interfaith "cloud of witnesses" who have educated, motivated and inspired us include many professional clergy, caregivers, and lay leaders. Marie Fortune (founder/director of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence) and Heather Block (author of Advocates Training Manual: Advocating for Survivors of Sexual Abuse by a Church Leader/Caregiver, Mennonite Central Committee, Canada, 1996) defined our work as "giving voice to the voiceless," called our attention to power and authority issues, and clarified many fiduciary responsibilities. The collaboration of the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ on the Our Whole Lives sexuality education project provided valuable insights to the Panel's work, especially the components of advocacy and training.

Journey Toward Wholeness initiatives and Fulfilling the Promise programs have enlightened and empowered the work of the Safe Congregations Panel. In collaboration with the Journey Toward Wholeness actions, we want a deeper understanding of our institutional responsibilities and judicatory accountability to oppressed groups, especially victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct. In keeping with the Fulfilling the Promise re-covenanting work, we covenant with each other and our Association to fulfill the principles and imperatives of our Unitarian Universalist faith. This means providing companions and safe places where justice, mercy and love are lived out for,by,with victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct.

With collective hands, understanding minds, transforming hearts, and hopeful spirits, we gain strength and wisdom to carry on and lead on in this valuable work.

 

II. Covenant: Fulfilling Our Promise

The work of the Safe Congregations Panel began in the fall of 1998. The Panel's origins are found in two sources. In the 1994 "Final Report to the Board of Trustees" given by the Task Force on Congregational Response to Clergy Sexual Misconduct (Task Force II), the second of three "concerted and comprehensive strategies" urged the Unitarian Universalist Association to: "Promote a well-publicized, coordinated institutional response to alleged misconduct to ensure justice making and support healing on the part of all involved." (Creating Safe Congregations, 106) The second source is the 1995 resolution passed by the UUA General Assembly entitled "Toward Safe Congregations and Right Relationship." (Creating Safe Congregations, 129-130) All five directives in this resolution ground and support the work of the Panel and this report.

The mission of the Safe Congregations Panel is: To recommend to the Association a UUA response and ministry to victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct. The covenant the Panel made in response to this mission is:

 

 

This covenant guided the Panel's meetings and work - the promises and commitments we made were integral to the fulfillment of our mission.

The Panel's mission and covenant must be understood in the context of the larger and more inclusive ones as described in the Unitarian Universalist Association's "Principles and Purposes." Here it is stated that the mission of the UUA is "to serve the needs of its member congregations … extend and strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions, and implement its principles" (its vision of the Beloved Community). With this as a mission, the congregations of the UUA promise and commit "to one another our mutual trust and support." It was in this larger context that the Panel began its journey to make recommendations for ministry and response to victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct.

Fulfilling our promise of mission, vision, and covenant was the essence of the Panel's challenge. It was a difficult and often painful challenge to acknowledge. Central to the UUA's mission and vision - and in the mission given to the Panel - is the Association's implicit understanding that its promise and commitment of trust and support for victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct has been lacking: response and ministry have fallen short of our covenant. That the covenant was broken was made explicit by the testimony the Panel heard from many: victims, family members of the victim and offender, congregational leadership and clergy colleagues, subject experts and denominational leadership, and a growing and deepening body of literature that affirms the remarks of one minister: "I believe in covenants, in the keeping of them, and in the pain that happens when they are broken." (Living the Sacred Trust, 126) The painful challenge is this: For victims/survivors, the mission of serving never reached them; the commitment of trust and support was elusive and often missing; fulfilling our promise was a dream unfulfilled.

 

III. Overview

In its two years of study, listening and discernment, the Panel heard victims/survivors (and their advocates) describe a constellation of feelings and responses to their circumstances and situations:

• Loneliness from the real and/or perceived isolation of the congregation, friends, family and other members of their support system.
• Confusion regarding so much: Why has this happened? How could it happen? Who can I trust? Who's to blame? What will happen? Will I be loved?
• Fear permeates even areas of living that are remote to the misconduct.
• Anger seeps into and emerges in even the most unlikely places.
• Betrayal, on every level, is a dominant and lingering feeling by victims/survivors.

In spite of these feelings and responses to misconduct, the Panel was impressed, heartened and, frankly, often amazed, given the intensity of experiences and feelings, at the commitment many victims/survivors have made (directly and indirectly) to restoring mutual trust and support in their congregation, among their family and friends, in the UUA. In spite of the emotional and spiritual wounds that remain open or that have scarred, the overarching goal for many is restoration of the covenant, not retribution for offenses against them. Of course justice must be served, but let it be restorative and not retributive justice.

The Panel affirmed that we are seeking a just ministry and response to clergy sexual misconduct reflective of these characteristics:

• Compassion for victims/survivors. Without compassion there can be no ministry; without ministry, all responses will be shallow ones.
• Clarity of the process for victims/survivors as well as those providing ministry and response.
• Fairness so that ministry and response are equitable and even-handed.
• Confidence in the process and personnel, regardless of where it starts and who is involved.

 

IV. Recommendations

At the 2000 General Assembly, Executive Vice-President Kay Montgomery provided bold leadership in ministry and restorative justice for victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct when she acknowledged constructive action being take to address this issue. She said unequivocally that the Association has largely failed the people most hurt by sexual misconduct (the victims/survivors) and apologized. She pledged that this gap, this failure, will be remedied.

In keeping with this bold leadership, the Panel's report is composed of several sections: an Introduction which includes its recommendations, a theological and spiritual grounding for response and ministry, the view as seen from the perspective of a victim/survivor, the role of victim/survivor advocacy in ministry and response to clergy sexual misconduct, a pamphlet explaining the UUA response and ministry to victims/survivors for all congregations, leaders and staff, and finally a glossary of terms.

The Panel urges the reader to digest the report in its entirety, not merely the recommendations since many of the recommendations will only be fully understood in the context of the additional sections.

In summary, the Panel recommends:

The UUA implement a plan of response and ministry to victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct with restorative justice as the primary goal. The Association commit to and put in writing a plan with quarterly progress reports to the UUA Board of Trustees; that there be an interim progress report to the 2001 General Assembly with a plan timeline, description of trainings, and how the plan will be implemented; that there be a final report to the 2002 General Assembly describing the implementation of these recommendations and the operation of the program.

 

1. Highest priority in this plan of ministry and response be the development and implementation of an advocates program based on the model in Section II. We recommend employing Ms. Heather Block, author of the Advocacy Training Manual, (or a person of equivalent ability and experience) as a consultant to work with the UUA to develop a UU advocates model. Development of the advocates model will include representatives from the Safe Congregations Panel, staff and other UU leaders in this field.
2. The Association create an Office of Restorative Justice (ORJ) with a coordinator to be named by the UUA Executive Vice-President in consultation with the Safe Congregations Panel. The ORJ mission be to provide ministry/response to victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct and coordinate the Association's work toward restorative justice. The ORJ will:
   • Work with Heather Block (or equivalent person) in the creation and implementation of the advocates program, and coordinate the program on an on-going basis;
   • Participate on the Safe Congregations Team;
   • Receive all inquires and complaints of clergy sexual misconduct. The Coordinator will work with and advise the inquirer/complainant/victim/survivor regarding the possible options;
   • Consult and support and provide resources for the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, the Department of Ministry, the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, and the Department of Congregation, District and Extension Services, and other UU bodies as needed;
   • Contribute to and learn from interfaith efforts on this issue and keep the UUA informed;
   • Monitor and annually report to the UUA community at General Assembly and on the UUA web site all UUA activities concerning possible and confirmed clergy sexual misconduct (csm) and all institutional responses including:
     • Number of inquires received about csm;
     • Number of reports received of csm
     • Number of reports of csm investigated;
     • Number of reports substantiated (and not substantiated) of csm;
     • Number of persons requesting advocate support;
     • Number of persons offered advocacy support;
     • Number of persons using advocacy support;
     • Collect and make available reports by advocates and reports by complainants/victims/survivors regarding how well the UUA ministry/response is meeting program goals;
     • Direct costs of the program by major component
     • Consistently evaluate and publish the success of and the challenges to the program by involving advocates and victims/survivors in assessment.
   • The ORJ have its own UU web page accessible to all congregations with resources which could include pamphlets, this report, links to related web sites and additional literature and material.
3. The Director of the Department of Ministry no longer serve as the Executive Secretary of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and be involved in ministry/response on an as-needed basis only.
4. The Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) review its procedures to ensure that language and process provide respect, safety, and ease of use for complainants. The Committee consult with former complainants in reviewing procedures. In keeping with the MFC's goal of ensuring that our movement is served by responsible ministry, we recommend that they work together with the ORJ to build a process that lowers the risk of filing complaints against ministers by ensuring that a complainant is informed and consulted at critical points in the process. In this way the MFC may contribute to building a model through which restorative justice is possible.
5. The Safe Congregations Team be expanded to include the ORJ Coordinator and the MFC Executive Secretary. The Team's meetings be regularly scheduled.
6. The printing and distribution of a pamphlet that gives a summary of the UUA's "Ministry and Response to Victims/Survivors of Clergy Sexual Misconduct." This pamphlet be sent to all congregations, UU leaders and staff and a copy be available from the UUA homepage.
7. The President of the UUA provide continuing leadership on the issues addressed in this report. Opportunities for such leadership could include:
   • Making a public apology to the victims/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct;
   • Letters of apology sent to all victims/survivors and their families and the congregations effected;
   • Devoting a columns in the UU World to this;
   • Posting a letter to the home page of the UUA web site;
   • Writing a letter to clergy and Board members charging them with;
   • Establishing at the General Assembly an annual President's Lecture (or discussion or workshop) on Safe Congregations, beginning if possible in 2001.
8. We acknowledge and support the current Department of Ministry (DOM) practice of informing congregations in the search process of ministerial misconduct. We recommend in addition that the DOM inform all congregations in the Search Process that included as part of a minister's file is a signed or unsigned covenant in which the minister has pledged to abide by the UUMA Code of Professional Practice. Also a part of this file will be an acknowledgement from the minister that she/he has been urged to receive training in an appropriate clergy sexual ethics and/or safe congregations class or workshop. An appropriate class or workshop in sexual ethics and/or safe congregations be required by the MFC of all candidates seeking UUA fellowship.
9. UUA legal counsel consult with legal counsel from faith communities who have progressive ministry/response models grounded in restorative justice-making.
10. Funds be budgeted for the ORJ, advocacy programs and a Fund for Restorative Justice for victims/survivors.
11. All field staff be trained in the process and educated about the advocacy model. Also, field staff be trained in working toward restorative justice for congregations as secondary victims/survivors.
12. The complainant be included in any voluntary resolution: restorative justice will be achieved only when ministry/response involves all the parties.
13. Once charges are brought against a minister, the Association be in the role of complainant and the victim/survivor in the role of witness.

 

V. Beginning: A Journey Toward Wholeness

The Panel reviewed models developed by several faith communities. We discussed the issues with individuals and groups - Unitarian Universalist and others - who are among the most committed, inspired and creative people addressing the challenges of ministry and response. We thank them all for their willingness to sit with us, giving us their time, energy and encouragement. We especially thank Kay Montgomery, UUA Executive Vice-President, for her commitment to this issue and her steadfast support of the Panel. Also, without the presence and passionate commitment of Patricia Hoertdoerfer, staff liaison, our work would not have been as informed or clear. Finally, the Panel thanks with deep gratitude the victims and survivors who shared their stories, often reliving them: it is our hope that their participation in our work will shape a future very different from the reality they experienced.

Ministry and response to victims and survivors of clergy sexual misconduct is a beginning: the beginning of the UUA's active systemic role in maintaining our covenant of mutual trust and support, the beginning of restorative justice, the beginning of a journey toward wholeness. Submitted by:

Fredric J. Muir, Chair
Annapolis, MD (1998-2000)

Julie Denny-Hughes
Raleigh, NC (1999-2000)

Becky Edmiston-Lange
Houston, TX (1998-1999)

David Hackett
Annapolis, MD (1999-2000)

Pat Hoertdoerfer, staff liaison
Boston, MA (1998-2000)

Michelle Hunt
Washington Crossing, NJ (1999-2000)

Anna Belle Leiserson
Nashville, TN (1998-2000)

John Manwell
Baltimore, MD (1998-2000)

Mary Katherine Morn
Nashville, TN (1998-2000)

Gretchen Woods
Corvallis, OR (1998-1999)