LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The nation’s largest Presbyterian church will consider a host of reforms on how it handles sexual abuse cases after a damning report said a serial molester might have been stopped if officials had intervened.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) released a 173-page report Oct. 1 detailing the sexual abuse of at least 22 women and girls by a former missionary in the Congo. The center of the investigation, William Pruitt, died in 1999.
A church-sponsored Independent Committee of Inquiry focused on abuse allegations between 1946 and 1978, but the abuse continued as late as 1985 when Pruitt worked at the prominent Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas.
The panel found at least 48 separate instances of abuse, some occurring while the girls were sick in bed or while Pruitt’s wife was in the next room. Victims also accused Pruitt’s wife of “harassing” them and urging them to drop their claims.
While the report does not name Pruitt specifically, officials at the Louisville, Ky.-based church acknowledged he was the focus of the investigation.
Allegations were first filed against Pruitt by eight victims in 1998. Church leaders formed the five-member panel soon after, but Pruitt died before any criminal or ecclesial charges were filed.
The Congo school closed its doors in 1968, and the church continues to operate 29 overseas schools. The panel recommended additional investigations into abuse charges over three decades from a school in Egypt, as well as a school in Cameroon from the 1960s.
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