Suit accuses Sovereign Grace
Ministries of covering up alleged child sexual abuse
By Michelle Boorstein,
Jan 15, 2013 12:38 AM EST
The Washington Post
A Montgomery
County Circuit Court lawsuit accuses past and current leaders of a 100-church
evangelical denomination of covering up sexual abuse of minors, forcing small
children to “forgive” abusers and ostracizing families who wouldn’t hide the
alleged crimes.
The lawsuit
filed Friday adds more accusers and more accused to a complaint filed last fall
against Sovereign Grace Ministries, a movement founded in the 1970s in
Gaithersburg. Among those named now is co-founder Larry Tomczak, who was a key
figure in the movement’s early years but split from it bitterly in the 1990s.
Eight alleged
victims are named. Tomczak is the only alleged abuser named. He is accused of
forcing a victim over a period of 25 years to strip “against her will” and
assaulting her .
Tomczak became
well-known with Sovereign Grace leader C.J. Mahaney years ago for launching
what is now a thriving trend of neo-Calvinism. Neo-Calvinism teaches that
people are steeped in sin and need strict spiritual oversight.
Tomczak is a
pastor in Tennessee. Mahaney moved Sovereign Grace’s headquarters last year
from Gaithersburg to Kentucky amid controversy within the churches over his
leadership.
The movement’s
flagship church, Covenant Life in Gaithersburg, became
independent a few weeks ago after public disagreements over views of pastoral
authority.
Tomczak said
his family experienced “spiritual abuse” decades ago, at the hands of other
clergy who publicly criticized his actions. In a Post story in 2011 about rifts in the Sovereign Grace
movement, he called for more openness and contrition about behavior
within the group.
In an e-mail
Monday, Tomczak said he “had no participation or involvement in these areas
that were cited” and plans to file a motion to remove his name from the suit.
Sovereign Grace
spokesman Tommy Hill said the abuse of a child is “reprehensible and evil. We
ask for patience as we carefully review and investigate these new allegations.
We continue to pray for all those affected by this lawsuit,” he said in an
e-mail.
The suit names
Sovereign Grace churches and schools in Fairfax County and Gaithersburg,
including Covenant Life. It also names various leaders of the movement and
accuses them of covering up the alleged crimes.
“Defendants
failed to report known incidences of sexual predation to law enforcement,
encouraged parents to refrain from reporting the assaults to law enforcement,
and interposed themselves between the parents of the victims and law
enforcement in order to mislead law enforcement into believing parents had
“forgiven” those who preyed on their children,” the complaint says.
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