Association
Church and Ministry Committees are not well known by parishioners in
the pew, but their role is a vital one: they are charged with determining
whether a person is fit to serve as a minister.
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November
1, 2001
To all Members of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church
of Christ
This is to inform you that the authorized ministerial standing
of Suzanne Parker Higgins has been terminated by the Pilgrim Association
of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.
Accordingly,
the Pilgrim Association Church and Ministry Committee believes
you need to know that any letters you may receive from Suzanne
Parker Higgins are from, or refer to, the cause of a person who
no longer has authorized ministerial standing in the United Church
of Christ.
Dale A. Hempen
Associate Conference Minister Southeast Area
Marcia
Cham Chair,
Church and Ministry Committee
Pilgrim Association
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These
committees – made up of lay and clergy members from local churches –
determine whether someone is eligible for ordination, and they authorize
local ministries. They also provide continuing support to pastors who
may need it.
“Church
and ministry committees are probably the most important committees in
the United Church of Christ,” said Charles Close, chair of the Massachusetts
Conference Board of Directors, who has served on Church and Ministry
Committees in three associations.
“This is the committee where the rubber hits the road. Really, these
committees are the gatekeepers to the denomination,” Close said.
Perhaps
the most difficult role for Church and Ministry Committees is responding
to charges of clergy misconduct. To assist them in that role, the Conference
has recruited a number of response teams to investigate alleged cases
of clergy misconduct and present their findings to the appropriate Church
and Ministry Committee. In early December, 30 clergy members and lay
leaders from around the Conference were trained at an overnight retreat
to serve on response teams.
“The work of the response teams is an important ministry,” said Close,
pastor of the North Falmouth Congregational Church. “The response team
brings a sense of fairness and pastoral care to the process of investigating
charges. As we move into an age when we are more up front about misconduct,
and more and more misconduct is being exposed to the world, we need
to be accountable.”
The teams consist of two members, one clergy and one lay, one male and
one female. They operate outside their own Associations to avoid conflicts
of interest, and only respond to written, signed accusations of clergy
misconduct.
“The
response team contacts the person making the allegations, reviews the
circumstances, and also talks with the person who is the alleged perpetrator
and gets his or her view of the situation,” said Dale Hempen, Associate
Conference Minister for the Southeast Area. “They also talk to any other
people who should be interviewed, such as church staff.”
Hempen said most misconduct cases, but not all, involve alleged sexual
misconduct or inappropriate relationships. “They generally have to do
with crossing boundaries,” he said.
The response team then writes a report, and both the accuser and the
accused agree that it reflects their views accurately before it is presented
to the appropriate Church and Ministry Committee. The Church and Ministry
Committee can then either decide that it has enough information to make
a determination as to what should be done, or it can ask for further
investigation. The Church and Ministry Committee has the authority to
take disciplinary action if necessary, up to and including revocation
of a minister’s standing.
The Conference first trained response teams about 10 years ago, when
the leaders of church and ministry committees came together and said
they needed a better way to handle clergy misconduct cases.
Linda Bixby, a member of the Federated Church of Charlton and a response
team member, said the development of the teams was a big improvement.
“I was on a Church and Ministry Committee for three years, then chair
for another three years, and during that time we dealt with five misconduct
cases,” she said. “It is a time-consuming process, and an emotional
process. We felt we needed the Conference to put together response teams.”
Prior to the development of response teams, Bixby said, Church and Ministry
Committees were dealing with accusations from within the Association,
and they were both investigating the accusations and deciding the cases,
which made the process much more difficult.
“This is a very good process, it’s much better than what we had,” she
said.
Bixby said as a response team member she has handled three cases within
the past two years. And while she said it is difficult work, she also
feels it is very important.
“Clergy abuse has always been around, but was never brought to the surface,”
she said. “But with this system in place in the United Church of Christ,
it is our way of saying we are going to do something about these types
of cases.”
Hempen said having a procedure in place with trained response team members
also protects the Associations from lawsuits in cases where clergy may
have their standing revoked.
“Such an action is not done lightly, it’s done very procedurally,” he
said. “It’s just so important that the churches and ministers know that
there is a uniform procedure, that we’re not picking on people.”
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