MD- Prominent ministers back accused wrongdoer

Shame on those ministers who are now publicly rallying around Rev. C. J. Mahaney just because a legal technicality voided most of the child sex abuse and cover up suits lawsuits against Sovereign Grace Ministries.

It’s dreadfully hurtful to child sex abuse victims when people in authority publicly back accused wrongdoers. And it hinders criminal investigations because it intimidates victims, witnesses and whistleblowers into staying silent.

Support Rev. Mahaney if you must. But do so privately in ways that don’t further harm depress and scare other child sex abuse victims into keeping silent and thus helping child predators escape detection and prosecution.

At best, it’s disingenuous for these ministers to “take sides” now, while at least two victims’ abuse and cover up suits are pending.

At worst, it’s mean-spirited.

It’s always heartbreaking to us to see congregants immediately and publicly rally for an accused child molester instead of keeping an open mind and urging anyone with information to come forward.

Clohessy said the church’s decision to stand by Mahaney sends exactly the wrong message to victims of sexual abuse — whether hurt at Sovereign Grace Ministries or elsewhere -

As responsible adults, we must make it less hard, not more hard, for victims of these heinous crimes and cover ups to step forward, get help, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing.

Mahaney is innocent until proven guilty, of course. But the public support sends the message to others that the alleged victims are either wrong or lying. That, in turn, frightens other victims into staying trapped in frustration.

Finally, Boz Tchividjian of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) is right to question why these ministers over look the fact that “Mahaney was actually the Senior Pastor at one of these churches where all of this horrific abuse allegedly occurred AND that [he] discouraged these families from bringing this matter to the God ordained civil authorities.”

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