St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and School in Houston has been sued by a former employee for alleged sexual abuse by her supervisor, and for purported retaliation. The suit claims the church did not investigate when the employee complained, and that the plaintiff endured months of sexual assault behind closed doors involving threats to her employment and being held at knifepoint.
The plaintiff, a single mother, worked in the accounting department for two years.
The lawsuit asserts that the victim complained to the church after two months of assault. But instead of investigating the alleged assault, the suit claims, the church initiated an accounting audit in an effort to question the victim’s qualification. The perpetrator’s employment was not terminated until several weeks later.
The special victims unit of the Houston Police Department is investigating the matter.
This alleged pattern, of victim-blaming, retaliation, and least-possible-response, is typical in the Episcopal Church, despite the denomination’s claims to offer a safe church environment.
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