Episcopal church reveals sex abuse by ex-Erie bishop

Staff/wire report

ERIE, PA.

Worshippers gathering for Sunday services at Episcopal churches in the Erie diocese received a stunning announcement: Their former bishop had sexually abused young girls.

The news came in a letter written by the diocese’s current bishop, the Rev. Sean Rowe, and was read at all 34 Episcopal churches in the 13-county Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. The diocese includes St. John’s Church in Sharon, Church of the Holy Redeemer in Hermitage, Trinity Church in New Castle, and Church of the Epiphany in Grove City.

The abuse involved the Rev. Donald Davis, who served as the bishop there from 1974 until 1991. Davis died in 2007 in Florida at the age of 78.

“Sexual abuse in any form is abhorrent in any community, and as your bishop, I feel particular pain that one of my predecessors betrayed the trust and innocence of children,” Rowe wrote in the letter. “On behalf of the church, I offer an abject apology to Bishop Davis’ victims, their families, and everyone whose trust in the church has been violated, and I ask for your forgiveness.”

Rowe said he first learned of the abuse in March, after one of the victims called him. He determined her story was credible and learned of three other girls who said Davis abused them. The abuse happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some at the diocesan summer camp and others over time, when the girls were about 10 years old, he said.

Rowe said the girls, now grown, wished to remain anonymous.

He said part of his motivation for going public was to reach out to identify more victims, if they exist; Rowe said no other victims had come forward as of Monday. Otherwise, it was just about honesty, he said.

“Churches and church communities ... tell the truth and it’s the right thing to do,” Rowe said Monday.

He said his predecessor, the Rev. Robert Rowley, knew about the allegations as early as 1993 and helped arrange counseling for the girls. Rowley died earlier this year.

In 1994, Davis was asked to resign from the House of Bishops, removed from performing priestly duties and sent to a psychiatrist, Rowe said. The abuse allegations were never made public.

Rowe said that if such an allegation were made today, the diocese immediately would contact police and begin canon law processes.

“The church must be a place where people can come with the deepest wounds and vulnerabilities and be safe. Our churches must be places where children are nurtured and respected and cared for and never harmed or abused in any way,” Rowe wrote. “I regret deeply that this has not always been the case in the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.”

Jim Steadman, a lawyer who represents the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, said he believes the diocese made a payment for counseling for one of the victims. He said he doesn’t know how much the payment was or when it happened because the records are not clear.

Steadman said there is no litigation currently pending before the diocese involving the abuse.