Spotlight on abuse: Episcopal priest Robert L. Ducker

Episcopal priest Robert L. Ducker was ordained in 1956. He was a member of a large number of conservative Anglo-Catholic organizations, listing in the Episcopal Clerical Directory the Catholic Clerical Union, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, the Congregation of the Companions of the Holy Saviour (a celibate fraternity), the Guild of All Souls, the Associates of the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity, and the council of the Order of St. Vincent for Acolytes. Ducker was arrested in 1994 on charges he molested two 13 year old parishioners at the Episcopal Church of Christ the King, Palmdale, California, in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He was charged with eight counts of committing various sex acts with minors, but pleaded guilty instead to three counts of lewd conduct with children. He also received a reduced sentence for agreeing to assist authorities in their investigation of other clerical sex abusers. He was a priest at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Ukiah, California, St. Martin in the Fields in Lumberton, New Jersey, Christ Church and St. Augustine, Elizabeth, New Jersey, and  Christ Episcopal Church, Harlan, Kentucky. The Diocese of Los Angeles assigned a mental health professional to assist Ducker’s former parishioners, and offered counseling to his victims.