There's more about the late Bishop Paul Moore, who was revealed by his daughter to have had a long-term adulterous sexual relationship with one man, who told her there were "other men" involved with her dad too. The current Episcopal bishop of New York, Mark Sisk, has accused his predecessor of being "an exploiter of the vulnerable" -- presumably because the man with whom Moore became sexually involved first approached him about being received into TEC. And there were complaints that Moore had a habit of doing this sort of thing, it seems. From the Episcopal News Service story:
Sisk wrote that Moore's offense was made worse by the manner in which it began, calling the circumstances "a fundamental violation of an ordained person's vow to minister to the needs of those entrusted to his or her care; never is this more so than when working with the vulnerable who have come seeking pastoral care."Sadly the violation of trust that Ms. Moore reports is consistent with behavior recorded in complaints about Bishop Moore's exploitative behavior received by the office of the Bishop of New York," Sisk said. "As Canon Law required, the concerns of those complainants (who wished their identities held in confidence) were duly conveyed to the then Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning for disposition."
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) issued this statement about Bishop Moore's situation:
We commend Bishop Sisk for acknowledging that Bishop Paul Moore, his widely-respected predecessor, sexually exploited a young man. We call on Sisk, however, to disclose more information about earlier complaints of sexual misconduct against Moore.Honor Moore's New Yorker profile of her father is very moving and it sounds as though Bishop Moore and the young man she calls "Andrew Verver" had a caring relationship. But regardless of how others may depict or define it, it is always unhealthy and abusive when a powerful clergyman or woman has any kind of sex with a congregant or would-be congregant. The power imbalance is just too great.
Some ministers have sexual relationships with peers, colleagues or even consenting strangers. That's different. But ministers can never initiate or have sex with anyone who seeks spiritual guidance.
All of his achievements do not obscure a sad truth: Moore abused his power and exploited a younger man who came to him for spiritual help. That's tragic.
We hope that others who may have been hurt by Moore come forward and get help.
SNAP is right; Bishop Sisk needs to make the substance of the formal complaints made against Moore known.
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"Read Bishop Sisk's account. It's more complete than Honor Moore's."
But no more revealing. There's no evidence he was putting "sexual moves" on him during the time he was considering joining the church. I agree that it was improper, but whether it was abusive is really another question.
I and not homosexual so I am probably not one to say too much about things I do not know much about. Some positions such as ministers, teachers, doctors, counselors, etc should not have certain types of relationships with people in their charge for some things regardless of the age difference. However, the situation being what it is; without that certain reticent of the female part, homosexual-male-on- male stuff will be very hard to prevent or mitigate by protocals that may work to some degree for heterosexual situations.
In other words "boys will be boys", regretably in a way we do not usually talk about.
Or am I missing something here. I am no expert on the homosexual sub-culture.
Actually, goodguyex, "boys will be boys" or variations thereof is a very common problem in gay male culture. As a friend of mine put it, "women are trained to say no to sex. Guys are trained to say yes. When it's two guys, there's no one saying no." As a matter of biology and socialization, there's some truth to this. But we're no less capable of, and no less responsible for, controlling ourselves and behaving honorably than straight men and women. I believe that the some of the prevailing attitudes toward sex in gay subculture are profoundly unhealthy, but that's a whole other blog post.
Even if Bishop Moore's relationship with the man in question wasn't predatory in the fashion some are suggesting, it was still wildly inapporpriate on multiple levels.
allen, thanks for the reply.
As a married bisexual-- more gay than straight-- and Episcopalian, I wish to comment on Allen's phrase, "wildly inappropriate." The God I worship does not judge harshly those who are true to themselves, including their sexual identity. Those of us born before Stonewall and the gay rights era had to choose between respectability (wives and children and our closet as gays) and ridicule as queers in a gay-hating culture. Frankly, the choice is sad. Bishop Moore is a hero of mine for his social activism. I would be presumptious to judge his indiscretions. He and I did (and do) the best we can in an imperfect world. May he rest in peace.
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