By Geralda Miller
Reno Gazette-Journal
March 3, 2007
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070303/NEWS03/703030311/1002/NEWS
Clergy and the congregation at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd have had their Christianity tested since a sex offender has asked to worship there.
The pastors and faith community are grappling with the ubiquitous question: What would Jesus do?
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| The Revs. Carl Wilfrid and Rebecca Schlatter are pastors at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Reno. They and their congregation are having their faith tested since a sex offender asked to worship there. |
"I have thought for years that this would be the acid test of a group of Christians practicing what they preach," said the Rev. Carl Wilfrid, senior pastor. "Jesus makes it a priority to include people who mainstream society tends to push out: prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners, whatever. And so it's pretty clear that to be people of Christ you would work to include people."
The question is how should the faith community welcome 60-year-old Calvin Brugge, a tier three sex offender.
The emotions and opinions vary from loving support to outrage, the pastor said.
The Rev. Rebecca Schlatter, associate pastor, said it is simply a question of how to welcome Brugge. "Clearly, we are called to love," she said. "But is it safe to love this particular person up close?"
After several conversations with Brugge, his counselor, members of the congregation and other professionals, Wilfrid said the church has constructed a covenant with 17 conditions for Brugge, who said he will sign the covenant.
A group of people, called a support team, will meet with him regularly, and an accountability team will observe Brugge while he is on church property.
"This is a very strange welcome," Wilfrid said. "If you ever get welcomed to a group with a contract like that, you're in trouble."
Full disclosure
On an early Sunday morning in December, Brugge stood up when Wilfrid asked visitors to introduce themselves.
The pastor said Brugge identified himself as a client of Steve Ing's, a church member and counselor for male sex offenders.
"So that was code," Wilfrid said. "I knew who he was or what he was."
Brugge, who lives in Sun Valley, said Ing recommended his church.
"I didn't physically go search for a church" Brugge said. "I've taken the proper steps. I have enjoyed church community before, and I feel that it's been something that has been lacking in my life, something that I grieve that I don't have in my life."
Brugge is on parole for five more months after completing eight months in a California prison for violating his parole in 2005.
According to the state's sex offender registry, Brugge was convicted in California in 1989 for an "indecent act or liberties with a child." He was convicted in 1997 for "lewd/lascivious acts with a child, genital penetration with a foreign object."
The Regional Sex Offender Notification Unit defines tier three as an "offender who is assessed as posing a high risk of recidivism and threat to public safety."
Attending church, working with a counselor and group therapy, and having a support team and pastor from the faith community are valuable components that Brugge said he needs for rehabilitation.
"My only saving grace is to be open, honest and ask for
assistance," he said.
Concerned congregant
Mary Carlson was in a Sunday morning adult class when she said Wilfrid informed the group about Brugge.
"My response was astonishment that this individual had already been worshiping among us and that we were unaware of it," she said. "Evil has already touched our lives. I thought the church was a safe place."
Since Brugge arrived in church that Sunday in December, Wilfrid said it has been a "continuously snowballing conversation."
There were several talks with Brugge and Ing before a letter was sent to members and friends of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.
The letter spoke of safeguards that Carlson said helped her to feel a little better.
As a "highly protective" single mother of an 8-year-old girl, Carlson said she wants to know everything about Brugge and what he did to children.
"I want to know who he molested," she said. "I want to know the degree of molestation.
"I feel that the details of his crime will help to better assess the risk."
She said she feels alienated from many in the congregation because she is asking questions and voicing her concerns.
"If only you could be faithful and embrace this man as God has embraced us" is the message she said she has interpreted.
But Carlson said she is overly protective because the woman who was the child-care provider for her daughter is in prison for murdering a child.
"That's why I will go to the nth degree to get the information, and then I will make my decision," she said. She said she did not go to church last Sunday but plans to return and weigh her trepidation against her faith.
Calvin's covenant
Carlson has reviewed the covenant and said "it's a good document."
"I think they're proceeding in a cautious, diligent, loving manner," she said. "I really appreciate that."
Although Brugge can only participate in the 7:30 a.m. Sunday service, he cannot use the restroom or attend church-sponsored functions that include families with children, Carlson said she has her concerns.
"This covenant is suppose to reassure me that children will not be harmed," she said. "But he is a pedophile, and this pedophile might be fantasizing about this little girl across the aisle. "
Carlson said she would like to participate in a forum at the church that includes someone from law enforcement to talk about recidivism as well as an expert on sex offenders who is not an advocate for Brugge.
An observer's view
Kibbie Ruth, executive director of Kyros Ministry in San Mateo, Calif., said she is working with an average of one congregation a month on issues of sexual abuse and prevention. She has not read Brugge's covenant but said it was based on samples she sent them. She said she applauds the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd's proactive steps and public discourse.
"If someone is fishing for children, they probably are not going to agree on limitation on their participation in the church," she said. Releasing information about a sex offender in the congregation is going to affect victims of abuse, she said.
She said it is important to have a counselor at that meeting for discussions about a sex offender attending services and that such exchanges do not precipitate a drop in membership.
In one instance, she said it helped a child feel safe enough to inform the church about another sex offender in the congregation.
"Children are more at risk of abuse of in their congregation than any other institution other than their own family," Ruth said. "They are safer in schools, Boy Scouts, Little League. The offender knows that. Anybody fishing for kids knows that. Congregations tend to believe you can trust anybody who comes."
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