FALLS CHURCH (VA)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
January 21, 2025
By Douglas LeBlanc
The Washington Post has published a 5,300-word story about multiple allegations of sexual abuse against Jeffrey “Jeff” Taylor, a former employee of The Falls Church in northern Virginia. The story said the FBI may be investigating the allegations, but the FBI declined comment.
Taylor served as the parish’s director of youth ministries from May 1990 to August 1999 and director of adult discipleship from September 1999 until February 2002. The Falls Church was an Episcopal congregation then, but joined the Anglican Church in North America when the ACNA was formed.
Like British layman John Smyth, Taylor reportedly showed a frequent interest in how often teenaged boys in his care engaged in masturbation, and the sizes of their penises, according to the story.
The Falls Church affirms the church’s historic doctrine on sexual morality, but the story suggests that even this detail became a tool in manipulating boys.
Citing an anonymous accuser, the story by investigative reporter Ian Shapira said that Taylor “fondled the middle-schooler with lotion in the middle of the night.”
Shapira’s report added:
“He kept saying, ‘You seem stressed out, you seem anxious,’” said the youth group alumnus, now a partner at a financial firm in his 40s, who is speaking for the first time with a news organization about his allegations. “I recall feeling shame. The next morning, Jeff said, ‘Did you feel that, too? This was an evil room, and we need to pray about this room.”
Another man, identified only as D, described being sodomized by Taylor when he was 14 or 15.
The Post reported:
“It would be too painful or intense and then we’d stop,” D recalled. “The next morning, he’d get up and put on his priest collar and head to the church.”
Taylor found ways to justify their encounters.
“This is good that you’re expressing this now and not acting out on this homosexual lifestyle.”
Taylor “referred The Post to his attorney, Christopher McDowell, of the law firm Strauss Troy” in Cincinnati, the story said. “McDowell said his client has not worked for any religious organization in more than 15 years. He said that Taylor did not want to share his ‘employment information’ because ‘people have contacted his employers in the past regarding these allegations.’”
The Post reports that leaders of The Falls Church were negligent in their responses to reports of these abuses. The paper often quotes from an investigation by employment attorney Eddie Isler of the IslerDare law firm in Vienna, Virginia. The report, and supplements to it, are available through The Falls Church, which devotes a webpage to the matter.
The report mentions that Bishop Christopher S. Warner of the ACNA’s Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic has issued Godly Admonitions affecting former rector John Yates and rector Sam Ferguson.
In a pastoral letter to his diocese, Bishop Warner wrote that a Godly Admonition is “meant to be reparative,” unless it is not followed, “and then there are grounds for severe disciplinary actions. Normally the existence of a Godly Admonition is entirely private between a Bishop and a Priest. However, balancing the privacy of the clergy and the integrity of the Church, under this particular circumstance and for the sake of the victims, I’m taking the unusual stance of making known that this admonition has been given. While the details will remain private in order to maintain the integrity of Godly Admonitions for all clergy, its existence is hereby made known.”
Since his years with The Falls Church, Taylor worked for Church of the Apostles in Atlanta (a “non-denominational church with Anglican roots”) and Christ Church (ACNA) in Atlanta. Christ Church forced Taylor to resign in September 2009. He then worked for the East Georgia chapter of the Red Cross, the University of Cincinnati Foundation, and the Cincinnati Nature Center. Taylor was ordained to the priesthood while he worked for Christ Church.
Taylor’s oldest son, the Rev. Porter Taylor, was interviewed for the story. The rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta, Taylor broke ties with his father after learning of the accusations in 2023, and has urged alumni of the Falls Church’s youth group to contact the FBI if they have allegations against his father.
“The abuse is horrifying in its own right, but what also concerns me is the number of times his behavior was overlooked, left unchecked and protocols broken, enabling him to move from church to church and gaining access to even more students,” Porter Taylor said.
This article has been reprinted with permission from The Living Church.
Douglas LeBlanc, Associate Editor of The Living Church, writes about Christianity and culture.