Letters to the Editor
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A Tough Question
I was briefly at a congregation where a convicted sex offender worshipped. This man's wife was at that time the elected head of the congregation. Some folks knew about it. They supported this man while in prison, writing letters and such, and had a "he's paid his debt to society" attitude. It was a large congregation and there was no mechanism for letting new people know. Shortly before I left my husband overheard a socially awkward 5th grader point to this man and say to another child, "That's the guy who tells the funny jokes." In other words, he was chatting up kids. Some of the staff just didn't get it. The youth pastor was worried because this man was involved in a theater group with a very attractive 17-year-old. I explained that based on what I knew of the man, she was way too old for his perversions. It all skeeved me out but I didn't know what to do about it. Now (7 years later) my denomination has a program called "Safe Churches" that requires churches to put policies in place that keep vulnerable people safe in order to keep insurance coverage with the denomination. These policies generally take the position that unrelated adults shouldn't be alone with children. The members of the church at Carlsbad are concerned that the sex offender might use church as a way to scope out potential victims and learn their names and contact info from the church directory. As a parent, I would feel the same way.
There are plenty of churches where there are no children, only old people. They would find the presence of a "nice young man" who might give them rides and buy their groceries for them quite healing. Maybe God is calling these sex offenders to integrate into such communities.