Defellowshipped Unitarian Universalist Ministers And UUA Child Sex Abuse Cover-Up And Denial - What's The Connection?

How about this apparently quite recent UUA web page titled:

UUA Clergy Removed or Resigned from Fellowship with Completed or Pending Misconduct Investigations

which publicly names the comparatively few Unitarian Universalist ministers who have either been defellowshipped by the UUA's aptly named Ministerial *Fellowship* Committee aka MFC, or who have resigned from fellowship to avoid being defellowshipped by the MFC, that I just found tonight as a result of running a new search for:

"Mack Mitchell" + Unitarian

Please keep in mind that this seemingly very recent UUA web page clearly states:

"The list below is in no way a complete historic record. It represents only cases where there were formal misconduct complaints filed, adjudication by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) and a minister was either removed from Fellowship or resigned in the midst of a misconduct process."

Be assured that literally hundreds of UUA congregations have been affected by clergy sexual misconduct of one kind or another, sometimes multiple times by several different "less than perfect" UUA ministers. . .

This official list is nevertheless quite revealing, even if it only represents the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" of Unitarian Universalist clergy who are guilty of clergy misconduct of one kind or another.


UUA Clergy Removed or Resigned from Fellowship with Completed or Pending Misconduct Investigations

The UUA is a justice-seeking institution committed to accountability and safety for our faith communities and the people we serve. This includes transparency regarding clergy who have been removed from UUA Fellowship due to violations of the UUMA Code of Conduct or other behavior deemed unbecoming of a minister by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee of the UUA, which has sole authority over the granting of ministerial credentials as well as the removal of such credentials. Recognizing that the standards for clergy conduct have evolved, and continue to do so as our understanding has grown about the nature of abuse, the list below is in no way a complete historic record. It represents only cases where there were formal misconduct complaints filed, adjudication by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) and a minister was either removed from Fellowship or resigned in the midst of a misconduct process.

The UUA’s commitment to Congregational Polity means that only congregations have the right to ordain ministers, and thus the MFC does not have the power to remove ordination, or even to force a minister to resign if a congregation does not vote removal or termination. In the interest of accountability and the safety of the congregations and communities we serve, the UUA believes that a minister who has been removed from Fellowship is unfit to serve under the ethical standards we expect from UU ministers.

end quote

Please take note of the fact that this official list of the UUA's Ministerial *Fellowship* Committee says:

1984 Alexander (Sandy) McEachern: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct - criminal conviction for child molestation)

and:

1993 Mack Mitchell: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (criminal conviction for statutory rape and kidnapping)

yet the UUA Board of Trustees, as represented by UUA Moderator Jim Key aka Risk Management Consultant James "See NO Evil" Key, claimed that:

"There were no incidents of abuse of children or elders in my investigations."

in the UUA Board of Trustees' "less than honest" official apology for clergy sexual misconduct committed by UUA clergy that UUA Moderator Jim Key inappropriately inserted into the middle of his first Moderator's Report to a General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association aka UUA GA in June 2014.

Please also take note of the fact that this official list of the UUA's Ministerial *Fellowship* Committee minimizes, and even sanitizes, Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell's criminal conviction for the rape of a vulnerable teenage Tibetan refugee who he lured away from her parents in India with promises of "a better life in America" when she was 15-16 years old, and proceeded to (ab)use as a sex slave at his Unitarian "parsonage" in Northboro, Massachusetts, for six years before she was finally able to break free from him in her early twenties. It is my understanding, based on newspaper reports, and other seemingly credible sources of information, that Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell was convicted of "forcible rape", and also "unnatural rape", of one Phuntsok Meston aka Phuni Meston, and that there were several other teenage Tibetan refugee victims of Rev. Mack Mitchell's sexual abuse, indeed sexual slavery. Funny how the UUA's ever so "transparent" Ministerial *Fellowship* Committee speaks only of "statutory rape", and not the "12 counts of UNnatural rape and five counts of indecent assault and battery" that this UPI news report speaks of. . .

Please also take note of the fact that the UUA's Ministerial *Fellowship* Committee only saw fit to finally get around to removing aka "defellowshipping" its hebophile rapist minister Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell for "Conduct Unbecoming" in 1993 (indeed late 1993 if I am not mistaken. . .) even though Rev. Mack Mitchell was convicted of rape, and sentenced to a minimum of four years in jail, more than a year earlier in the spring of 1992 according to this UPI article dated June 3, 1992.

Ministers Removed from Fellowship by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee

(NOTE: Misconduct involving a minor, senior or disabled individual will be noted. No notation will mean the misconduct involved an adult).

1968 Karl Hultberg: Removed from Preliminary Fellowship for Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

1985 Don Wheat: Removed for Settlement System Violation (reinstated in 1987)

1988 John Harold Hawkins: Removed for Non-disclosure of Previous Felony Conviction (sexual misconduct with a minor)

1990 Anthony Friess Perrino: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

1992 Jonathan Dobrer: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct); 1992 appealed; 1993 removal upheld

1993 Mack Mitchell: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (criminal conviction for statutory rape and kidnapping)

1996 William G. Wagner: Removed for Noncooperation and Noncompliance; appealed to Board of Review and returned to fellowship

1998 Don Bissett: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct); 2002 applied for reinstatement; appeal denied

2014 John C. McCarthy: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming and Noncooperation (financial malfeasance)

2017 Ron Robinson: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (criminal possession of child pornography)

2020 Todd Eklof: Removed for Noncooperation (bullying and abusive behavior)

2021 Scott McNeill: Removed for Conduct Unbecoming (bullying and abusive behavior in the workplace); appealed to Board of Review; appeal denied

Ministers Who Resigned Fellowship Pending Misconduct Reviews

1966 Ross Alan Weston: Plagiarism complaint

1973 William Fortner: Financial Malfeasance (also asked to resign from congregation & in 1977 was removed from Accredited Religious Educators list)

1984 Alexander (Sandy) McEachern: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct - criminal conviction for child molestation)

1984 John Quirk: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

1991 Peter Jenkins: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

1994 Forrest Whitman: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

1994 Andrea Greenwood: Resigned Preliminary Fellowship (investigation incomplete)

2000 G.C. Bartlett Gould: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2002 George D. Exoo: Conduct Unbecoming (conducting a ministry of assisted suicide without accountability or oversight)

2005 Doug Strong: Conduct Unbecoming (non-disclosure of previous criminal conviction; and conviction of public exposure)

2007 David Ord: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2008 Louis Schwebius: Conduct Unbecoming (plagiarism)

2008 Calvin Dame: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2009 Jennifer Justice: Conduct Unbecoming (ethical boundaries violation)

2011 Nathan Stone: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2013 Lauren J. Thomas: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2013 Eliza C. Galaher: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2014 Barbara Jamestone: Conduct Unbecoming (ethical boundaries violations)

2016 Stephen Sinclair: Conduct Unbecoming (ethical boundaries violation)

2019 Aaron McEmrys: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2019 Roger Mohr: Conduct Unbecoming (sexual misconduct)

2019 Daniel S. O’Connell: Conduct Unbecoming (bullying and abusive behavior in the workplace)

2019 Justin Osterman: Conduct Unbecoming (bullying and abusive behavior in the workplace)

For more information contact mfc@uua.org.