Bishop
Provide Pastoral Response
Whenever a report of alleged misconduct is made to the Intake Officer, the Bishop of the Diocese is to provide for an appropriate Pastoral Response. The Response should embody respect, care, and concern for the affected persons and communities. The Response should be designed to promote healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life, and reconciliation among everyone involved or affected.
In each Pastoral Response, the Bishop is required to offer pastoral care to each person who may be affected by an alleged Offense or act of misconduct. Specifically, pastoral care must be considered for the complaining party, the complaining party’s family, the clergyperson, the clergyperson’s family, injured persons or other people affected by the alleged misconduct, and any affected community (congregation or institutional ministry), as well as witnesses in the case.
The provision of a Pastoral Response is typically implemented by a person designated by the Bishop. That person then becomes responsible for implementing the appropriate Pastoral Response. The duties of this person may include coordination of pastoral care and coordination of communications between the Bishop and these people or groups. In the process of providing the Pastoral Responses, due regard must be taken for appropriate degrees of confidentiality and privacy, as well as the principles underlying Title IV, i.e., Title IV.1.
Participants
Depending on the nature of the misconduct involved, the Complainant may also be in need of support in the form of pastoral care, counseling, medical or psychological attention, or other services. Complainants should be asked to disclose any such needs at any point in the process, usually to the Intake Officer or the Bishop unless a Pastoral Response person has already been designated for them.
Along with gathering information concerning the alleged misconduct, the Intake Officer should elicit from the Complainant and other affected persons what their needs are in connection with the events described in the complaint or in being part of the disciplinary process. That concern extends to their families, the congregation, and other affected persons. At the time the clergyperson is informed of the matter, similar offerings of pastoral services should be made. Care should be given to ensure that any Pastoral Response provider has no involvement in the circumstances of the alleged misconduct as a witness or affected person.
A clergyperson, when learning that he or she is the subject of a Title IV complaint, may suffer serious upset and require an appropriate pastoral response personally and for his or her family members. The pastoral response should be offered at the first instance of any notification to the clergyperson of the matter, and otherwise the clergyperson is encouraged to request such supportive services at any time.
In Title IV, the expectation of a Pastoral Response in every case is considered as important as the disciplinary investigation and proceedings themselves. This is consistent with the stated values of the disciplinary system to promote healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life, and reconciliation among all involved. The Bishop is to appoint people to help fulfill this obligation to serve as Pastoral Response providers. They are often, but need not be, clergypersons, but they need to be skilled in either case. Pastoral Responses may also include providing for professional counseling services or other related services at the expense of the Diocese. These resources should be identified well in advance of any complaint that might arise, in order to be able to deploy them in a timely manner when needed.
Advisors must be aware of the availability of Pastoral Response resources, and ask for them on behalf of their clients as needed.
The Standing Committee must be aware of the Pastoral Response requirement and the need to identify sufficient diocesan resources that the services can be timely offered when needed.
Staff may be involved in helping secure the services of Pastoral Response providers, and in handling the administrative and financial support required for their services. Staff may also be helpful in identifying appropriately credentialed persons for appointment by the Bishop.
