[jennie]

My therapist suggested I write a letter to church officials and let them know that my father is a pedophile and that I intend on going to the media/press with this info.

Background info:

According to church policy, if a person claims to repent from their prior sins, and if for approximately seven years has shown good works (helping community, daily devotions, regular church attendance, honesty, good reputation, etc.) then, he/she can be considered for church leadership positions, including pastoring of others. This really bothers me because he should never ever be around kids, period.

My father has a local pastoral license. He was incestuous with me (3 to 12 yrs old). I have no proof he has hurt other children. I suspect he has hurt my brothers when they were little.

Question:

Should I write this letter and threaten the church I will go public with this info? My therapist said that the threat would be good enough, whether or not I had really intended on going to the media with this info. The goal would be to change church policy and not allow pedophiles (or "former" pedophiles) to be pastors, especially not preaching in a congregation with children present. (The children would see this man as a person he/she can trust . . . which in time, could possibly enable the pedophile to abuse kids.)

What do you think? It's really scary for me to confront people with authority.

wow.....having had some experience with this of problem....i still don't know what to tell you....i've considered telling my ex's church about him.....he's a deacon.......i imagine the threat to go public would do the job. wht type religion is it? this is really a hard one....pat

[jennie]

The denomination is a conservative protestant church, similar to Methodist.

well, of course it's your call...how do you think you would feel if you made the call?

[jennie]

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well, of course it's your call...how do you think you would feel if you made the call?

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fayerody . . . I guess that is the point. How intuitive you are! I wish someone could choose for me *pout* . . . and help me write the letter. I guess that I could ask my therapist to help me write it. How do I feel about writing a letter? Scared to write it and scared not to write it. It's not my responsibility if my father hurts another kid but I feel obligated to get the word out to the church members that he's preaching but also may be tempted to hurt a kid.

[CJR520]

I think the pastor of the church should know. There is absolutely no reason to put any other children in harms way!!! This guy is sick!! A man in a church near here, who was acting as minister, was picking up a teenaged girl to give her a ride to church since her parents did not always go to church. Everyone thought this guy was the greatest! Little gal ended up being sexually abused by the minister!! The family was apalled because they had believed and trusted this man. The church broke up, minister went to prison. Tell someone!! Please don't let this go.