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	Making the Best of a Pastor Scandal By Indianapolis Star Robert King March 30, 2009 http://blogs.indystar.com/thoushalt/2009/03/making_the_best.html Nobody in their right mind likes to see a pastor at a church caught up in some sort of scandal. Aside from the embarrassment factor, scandals can split churches, drive away members and give people who love to bemoan hypocrisy in the church just one more example for their collection. But it is also true that the way a church and the pastor handle the trouble can help set the stage for better days. Dealing with the issue properly can be a way, in a sense, to remove a cancer. If the accusations prove false, the process can also show that the organization has the ability to sort out fact from reality. I recently wrote about a church where things have gotten very messy. But consider how two other Indianapolis churches dealt with issues with their pastors that came up this month - issues that seemed to be handled cleanly and directly. *At St. Paul's Episcopal, the Rev. Richard Winters actually confessed a two-year extramarital affair with a member of his congregation to his bishop, Rt. Rev. Catherine M. Waynick. Winters said he confessed after the counsel of a fellow priest, who urged him to "come clean." Winters was given a 5-year suspension from the priesthood. Waynick wrote a very direct, very frank letter to the congregation that was mailed to homes of parishioners explaining the situation in direct terms. She said many people are wounded by such "betrayals of trust." She also suggested prayer for Winters and his family. In an interview, Winters answered every question I asked him and didn't try to put the blame on anyone but himself. He said Waynick's sentence seemed fair and just. "I very much regret my actions and the damage I've caused and the hurt I've caused my family, especially my wife, but also the people of St. Paul's, who are just wonderful people and together we did some wonderful things the past six years," Winters said. Wonderful things indeed. St. Paul's recently completed at $14.5-million building project. The church had grown about 20 percent in the past year, with an average weekly attendance of about 500, according to senior warden of the vestry Bill Tindall. Winters said it was too early to know whether he would try to return to the priesthood. For now, he said, it is enough that he and his wife are committed to working on their marriage and he to finding new employment. *At Calvary Temple Indianapolis, the story of the removal of Rev. Jerry G. McCamey appears to be one of a church and its denominational association -- the Assemblies of God -- who took accusations about their pastor very seriously. The allegations were first made in December to the office of the Indiana District of the Assemblies of God, which started an investigation. Don Gifford, superintendent for the Indiana District of the Assemblies of God, said the district employed the services of a private detective as part of its probe. Gifford said McCamey, who could not be reached for comment, admitted during the process that he had crossed professional and physical boundaries. But the investigation by the district office and the church turned up additional information. He made a point of saying immorality "adultery is anything you give to someone else other than your mate that only belongs to your mate." The findings prompted Calvary's 4-member board to unanimously move for McCamey's resignation, said Rev. Phillip Meade, a longtime associate pastor at Calvary who is leading the church in the interim. They also prompted the district office, which credentials assemblies' ministers, to dismiss McCamey for "moral failure involving sexual misconduct." That decision was approved by the national headquarters of the Assemblies of God. That means McCamey can no longer preach in Assemblies churches. Gifford said it is important that ministers be "blameless and beyond reproach." And when the investigation was finished, the information was shared with the congregation. "Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly so that others may take warning," Gifford said. Beyond that, Gifford said there is another philosophy behind the punishment. "We believe that even in discipline of an offending person that is for their own benefit so that they won't repeat the offense."
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