Sources close to the matter tell Anglican Watch that Liam Goligher has repeatedly lied to members of Tenth Presbyterian and others, telling them that his encounter with Susan Elzey was non-sexual in nature.
We are told that Tenth has obtained notes from the encounter, and the incident allegedly was sexual in nature.
Of course, the biggest issue in all of this is not Goligher’s alleged sexual misconduct. Nor is it the GRACE report. Or the multiple allegations of abuse and cover-up. Or the lies session has told the congregation, which resulted in an admonition from the presbytery in early 2017. Or even the outrageous and appalling lies and perjury the church directed at Phil Snyder. (Isn’t Satan the father of lies?)
The real issue in all of this is the complete breakdown of governance within session, which worries almost exclusively about protecting their reputation and their turf.
As a result, it’s now been a month, and session is dragging its feet in calling a congregational meeting. This is outrageous and appalling and smacks of the antics we see in the Episcopal Church when misconduct occurs.
Folks, it’s time to put on the big girl and boy pants and demand that George McFarland and the rest of the spectacularly corrupt session resign. Not only is there a complete breakdown in governance, but session’s appalling handling of abuse in the church and the reputational fallout from the church’s misconduct in the Snyder case are placing the very survival of the church at risk.
Meanwhile, with goo like Goligher, Elzey, and McFarland rising to the top of the cesspool, bad behavior has become normative in the church.
And don’t think for a moment that the rest of the world doesn’t realize just how toxic Tenth has become.
Folks, clean up your act, before it’s too late.
Maybe they drove miles away to a park at night to enjoy an uninterrupted game of Scrabble in the back seat of the car??
I don’t know what’s more pathetic and evil… the explanation given or the church choosing to do nothing about it.
I’ve been long gone from Tenth, but my daughter told me he told the congregation, “Don’t believe everything you read in the press…We were charged for littering.”
Susan Elzey allegedly told her Bible study that they were in the back seat of her SUV “consoling” each other after one of her sons had legal problems. Another version is that they were having a “picnic.”
But Session, in an adept little bit of spiritual abuse, has told the congregation that it obtained notes from the incident and it was sexual in nature.
That positions Session as the arbiter of truth, creates an us-versus-them mentality that isolates the congregation, and allows Session to seemingly distance itself from Goligher’s corruption–even though it stuck with him through thick and thin, and is still trying to find ways to manipulate the situation to its advantage.
Given Session’s abject failure to protect the congregation from sexual abuse, and its use of church funds for illegal purposes in the form of the perjurious suit against Phil Snyder, it is incumbent on George McFarland and the rest of that den of vipers to resign immediately.
From what I understand, earlier this month, there was a congregational meeting re: Goligher’s removal. As follow-up, there are smaller parish meetings happening in each area to help people understand the issues / facts, before a congregational vote is taken to officially remove him.