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| Darwin Schauer was given parish responsibilities after being convicted as an offender. |
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| Joshua Scheer erased all the evidence on Steadfast Lutherans, as ordered by Matt Harrison. |
We
need a LCMS President that makes Child Safety and
Proactive Sexual
Abuse Prevention a priority.
Some
have called my work inside the LCMS to increase child
safety including a Proactive Sexual Abuse Prevention
Program political. It makes
me chuckle because I could care less whom is the LCMS
President but… I do want
a LCMS President that will increase child safety which
includes Promoting a Proactive Sexual Abuse
Prevention program.
Pastor
Harrison allowed the 14-member
task force to take nearly 10 years to complete (formed
in response to
Resolution 6-06 of the 2007 LCMS convention which was
charged with
identifying and creating resources and training
opportunities to help the
church address domestic violence, child abuse, and
clergy sexual misconduct)
under his leadership. What does this say about Pastor
Harrison priorities in
helping create resources and training opportunities to
help churches?
I
have been critical of the dangerous recommendation of
internal investigation and I have been addressing it
since around 2015 with the
National LCMS. As I communicated with a member of the
task force, this person
said the recommendation was supposed to be “report out
to civil authorities” –
which would be correct.
With
my daughters Sexual Abuse her former Catholic school’s
administration and some teacher’s handling of her Sexual
Abuse made my families
horrible situation miserable. I address the Green Bay
Diocese’s poor record of
background checks and needs of training of
administration and staff of how to appropriately
respond to a Sexual Abuse crisis. When a new Director of
Safe Environment was
hired the needed changes really came about. As Dr. Joe
Bound Director of
Education later described it “Jayne saw her work as a
mission, and everyone
worked with Jayne”.
My
local school and church Pilgrim has put forward an
Overature, which is like a suggestion, for the 2019
National Convention Pilgrim's
Overature Link that calls for hiring a
National Sexual Abuse Expert. The
Catholics have 80 or more Safe Environment Departments
and Directors.
My
first priority is that we reduce or stop Sexual Abuse to
LCMS children. We know 9.6% of children experience some
sort of Sexual
Misconduct before the finish high school and around 8%
of Sexual Abuses take
place at a school.
Since
we are a bottom up organization, I have been asking
LCMS Pastor Harrison to promote a Proactive Sexual Abuse
Prevention program
like Pilgrim’s Safe Initiative that is finishing up it’s
3 year. To my
knowledge, Pilgrim is the Safest LCMS church/school.
Visitors from other LCMS
schools or church have repeatedly said “it feels
different here” as we take
child safety seriously and it is visible and
substantial.
My
second priority is supporting a victim of Sexual Abuse
and their loved ones.
I
have heard back from alleged survivors of LCMS Sexual
Abuse survivors or their loved ones. The handling of
their alleged Sexual Abuse
situation made their horrible situation miserable too.
If you think the LCMS
does not have coverups and scandal just read about
Darwin Schauer.
Pastor
Harrison has communicated with me the following “We
take the matter seriously. We have a zero tolerance
policy which has been
followed for decades. If I do become aware of any case
that requires
ecclesiastical discipline, I will see that it happens
immediately”. Pastor
Harrison's email exchange with me link.
Of 1000 rapes only 6
perpetrator's link will be incarcerated.
How does zero tolerance Proactively
deal the 994 rapes that are not incarcerated?
Where
is Pastor Harrison’s zero tolerance and transparency
regarding
Darwin Schauer?
What
about alleged Sexual Abuse at Dallas Lutheran high
school’s by Jessica Krueger? How did Jessica go from
Dallas Lutheran to
Milwaukee Lutheran High school and eventually resigned
at a Wisconsin public
school? Where was or is Pastor
Harrison’s ecclesiastical discipline? It is
commonly referred to as “
Passing the Trash” when a school releases an alleged
person of Sexual Abuse and
gives that person a good review. Did Dallas or Milwaukee
Lutheran High School
“Pass the Trash”?
Most
important is that the victim and the victim’s loved
one’s be supported? I have seen it over and over victim
blaming or blaming the
victims loved one, instead of support, as was our case
too.
What
about this alleged Sexual Abuse? Ecclesiastical Discipline needed
link
Did
you know there is a National Lutheran Sexual Abuse
support group that has monthly conference calls to
support victims/survivor of
Lutheran Sexual Abuse. Most of the conversations, that I
have heard are about
the lack of support, coverups, mishandling or their
Sexual Abuse by Lutheran
Institutions.
My
third priority is that we respond appropriately to a
Sexual Abuse crisis. I asked Pilgrim’s Senior Pastor
what resources you had
from your organization - District and Nationally. He
said and I quote, “we were initially told there were
resources but there really wasn’t resources, we were
finally told we were on
our own”. This is why, a Sexual Abuse Expert is
need too.
Folks,
we are not Proactively Preventing, supporting
victims and their loved ones and responding to Sexual
Abuse in are LCMS schools
and churches correctly. We need a systematic Proactive
approach like at Pilgrim
with Pilgrim’s Safe Initiative. Our schools, churches
and Districts need a
National Sexual Abuse Expert to:
-
Proactively reduce or stop Sexual Abuse
-
Support victims and their loved ones of Sexual Abuse
-
Help a school or church appropriately respond to a Sexual Abuse crisis
-
Provide Sexual Abuse Awareness, Education and Mandatory reporting training
-
By doing steps 1-5 in that order, thus protecting LCMS institutions and Districts
I
have asked Pastor Harrison to pray for victims and loved
ones of Sexual Abuse several times as LCMS President and
all I have heard is silence!
I
have been praying
for a new LCMS President. The 14th
LCMS President who will increasing LCMS safety,
including a Proactive Sexual
Abuse program, for LCMS children.
Which
one of the two LCMS Presidential nominees are willing
to run on increase LCMS
child safety that includes a Proactive Sexual Abuse
Prevention Program?
What
if we had “safety improvement summer” like we did at
Pilgrim in 2016 where all the work has been done and
there eager to share! How
many LCMS schools and churches could increase child
safety with a new LCMS President that promotes LCMS
child
safety??
To
put this in context:
All
organizations that I have seen and read about have been
reluctant to put in a formal Proactive Sexual Abuse
Program. All organizations
that put in such a program would never want to go back
to there “old ways” when
they “see the light” in doing the right thing. I know we
a certainly EXTREMELY proud
of Pilgrim’s Safe Initiative as it keeps children safe
now and, in the future,
too.
Take
Care
Derek
Schmid
920/606-2194
Lcmschildren.org
Pray
to God but Continue Rowing to Shore
