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Church leaders speechless
By Matt Westerhold
Almost three months after launching an investigation into allegations that a local bishop molested two boys beginning in the late 1970s, leaders of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World Inc. church have not announced any findings. They also will not say whether any disciplinary action has been taken in response to the allegations. It appears, however, the church took no action after investigating, or church leaders failed to address the molestation allegations, entirely. Church leaders said in September the Rev. Rufus Sanders would step down from his leadership post At Emmanuel Temple on Adams Street in Sandusky while church leaders investigated allegations made by brothers Roy and Victor Matthews. It has not been confirmed, however, whether Sanders ever stepped down or if he remains bishop. The Matthews brothers contend Sanders repeatedly molested and raped them when they were children. Achie and Odell Matthews, their parents, were founding members of Emmanuel Temple, and Sanders was its founding minister. The Register received an undated memo that appeared to be from Bishop Theodore L. Brooks Sr., presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies in October, shortly after publishing a series of news stories about the allegations. The memo was addressed to the national church organization’s board of bishops. I have asked Bishops Sam Moore, Gregory Newman and Billy G. Newton to investigate and report back to me within the next 10 days,” the memo from Bishop Brooks states. Sanders appears to have never denied the allegations and has declined all comment on them since they were first reported Sept. 28. He and his attorney did not respond to questions about whether he was asked to step aside, or what he’s told church members about the allegations. They also did not respond to questions this week about what outcome resulted from the investigation. Wyatt McDowell, an attorney for the world church, did not respond to an email delivered to him, refusing to say anything about the church’s investigation, whether Sanders has been restored to his leadership position, or if any action would be taken as a result of the investigation. He has not returned telephone messages and email addresses for him appear to have since been disabled after the initial contacts with him. McDowell’s company, ClergyZoom, formerly National Church and Clergy Management Assistance Corp., specializes in “the administrative, governance and legal needs of clergy persons, churches and religious organizations,” according to its website. McDowell refused to respond to questions about whether he’s represented the world church in similar circumstances in the past and whether there were other pending claims of abuse against the church. But McDowell is not the only attorney who’s gone mum since the Register reported the allegations from the Matthews brothers. An attorney for Roy and Victor Matthews also has not responded to inquiries from after he sent an email to the Register on Oct. 19 and said he was representing them. It’s unknown if the brothers reached a financial settlement with Sanders or the national church organization. Roy and Victor Matthews, now ages 54 and 56, prior to hiring an attorney, told the Register that together with their siblings and in-laws they confronted Rev. Sanders in March 2017 and he acknowledged the abuse. They also reported the abuse to police in 2016 but were told charges could not be filed due to the amount of time passed since the abuse ended. The statute of limitations for rape in Ohio is 25 years. In written statements, Roy Matthews alleged other boys who attended the church when he did, and later, were also abused by Rev. Sanders. Brooks’ memo was forwarded to the Register via a church email account that was later disabled. It appears that most, or all of the available email addresses for church leaders have been disabled, or are otherwise made inoperable. Brooks never said what action would be taken after he received the results of the investigation. In his memo, he cautioned his board members not to talk to the media about the investigation. He also said nothing about the alleged victims but urged church members to pray for Sanders and his wife. “Thank you for your help with this matter. Most importantly keep Bishop and Lady JoAnn Sanders in your prayers, as well as The Emmanuel Church family,” Brooks wrote, in closing. Diminishing returns Meanwhile, a man molested by a Catholic priest when he was a grade school student in the 1950s at Immaculate Conception school in Bellevue said he met with Bishop Daniel Thomas, leader of the Toledo Catholic Diocese, last month. “We met for about an hour,” said George Keller, 71, who lives in Bellevue and is retired after a career at the former Ford Motor Co. factory in Sandusky. “I brought up to him about inviting fallen away Catholics back to the church. He didn’t want anything to do with that.” Clergy sexual abuse of children re-emerged as a serious concern for Catholic church leaders after a Pennsylvania grand jury issued a report in September that identified more than 1,000 victims of sexual abuse by more than 300 priests and bishops, who failed to protect children after the abuse was exposed. The abuse also permeated seminaries in the state, where young men go to train to become priests, according to the grand jury report, and church leaders transferred pedophile priests to new assignments at other parishes in the state rather than remove them from pastoral service, perpetuating the abuse across dioceses in the state. The priest who abused Keller — Father Leo Welch — served at St. Mary’s in Sandusky from 1952-56. He was at Immaculate Conception in Bellevue, Keller’s parish, from 1956 until 1962, when he was transferred to Christ the King Church in Toledo. Welch left the priesthood in 1965, according to records the diocese shared with the Register for an article in 2002. Several other Catholic priests who served in Sandusky also have been identified as abusers back in the 1960s, including Father Richard Yeager and others. Keller said he hopes the church is able to draw people back, and Bishop Thomas suggested he work at that at his own parish. “I look at the molestation issue now as a blessing in disguise. It’s given me a voice,” said Keller, who worries that church leadership isn’t doing enough to attract young people from being drawn to other churches and away from their Catholic parishes. “It seems like the church is hell-bent on self-destruction.” Like Bishop Brooks of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World church, Bishop Thomas, who grew up in Pennsylvania and was raised Catholic, initially responded to inquiries from the Register about the grand jury report but later stopped responding to questions. The Pennsylvania grand jury report about clergy abuse, and other scandals in other communities, have shaken the confidence of many Catholics, according to a December 2018 article in “Catalyst, A Journal of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.” “Three years ago, roughly half of Catholics thought (Pope Francis) was doing a good job dealing with this issue, but now only 29 percent feel this way,” the article states, citing a poll of practicing Catholics.
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