Prominent Anglican church has failed to investigate pastor’s sexual abuse

A prominent Anglican church in Virginia waited 16 years to investigate or inform its congregation about a former youth pastor’s alleged sexual abuse, an independent investigation has found.

According to the report by law firm Isler Dare, Jeffrey T. Taylor sexually abused three boys – two of whom were 13 years old – while Taylor was youth director at the historic The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) in Falls Church, Virginia from 1990 to 1999. Still, said Eddie Isler, the investigator The Roys Report (TRR) He was unaware of any pending criminal charges against Taylor.

One of Taylor’s victims contacted the church with allegations in 2007, and the parents of another victim came forward in 2021. However, it took until September 2023 after some parents complained to a bishop about the TFCA’s lack of response. A long investigation began. In October 2023, TFCA notified its community of the alleged abuse.

TFCA, attended by President George Washington and former Vice President Mike Pence, is a 300-year-old church for which the city is named.

In 2006 the congregation separated from the Episcopal Church. It is now part of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) – a denomination embroiled in an abuse scandal involving churches in Illinois and Washington DC

TFCA published the 86-page Isler Dare report on the TFCA website last month.

The report said Taylor engaged in “covert” abuse by mentoring at least a dozen students in Virginia and engaging in massage, “nut smacking” and wrestling. Taylor also “obviously” sexually abused the three boys, which included specific sexual touching, the report said.

When a victim disclosed Taylor’s abuse in 2007, TFCA pastor John Yates informed Taylor’s new employer of the allegation, a move the investigator praised. Yates also “made some efforts” to encourage anyone who experienced abuse to inform church leaders, without “specifically mentioning” that Taylor was accused, the report said.

In 2021, another victim died from alcohol addiction, which was reportedly a result of Taylor’s abuse. Shortly after the victim’s death, his parents reported Taylor’s abuse to Yates, who retired in 2019. Yates communicated the second allegation to the current leadership of the TFCA, but leadership did not respond.

In September 2023, the victim’s parents and the parents of another TFCA youth ministry student contacted Chris Warner, the new bishop of the Diocese of Mid-Atlantic (DOMA), who then commissioned the investigation.

As a result of the investigation, TFCA reported Taylor’s abuse to two law enforcement agencies, said investigator Eddie Isler TRR. Isler also said he has provided a copy of the report to federal and local law enforcement, but could not comment further on the status of any possible investigation.

According to the report, Taylor had access to hundreds of boys at four churches in three states over decades. In addition to the three boys Taylor abused at TFCA, the report also accuses Taylor of sexually abusing a fourth boy while working at a youth ministry Taylor founded in Atlanta.

The Roys Report (TRR) could not reach Taylor for comment. Isler Dare also did not interview him, citing a desire to cooperate with law enforcement.

Some, like Taylor’s estranged son – Porter Taylor, an Episcopal priest in Florida – criticize that the investigation doesn’t go far enough.

The younger Taylor said the report had only “scratched the surface” due to his father’s “unfettered” access to hundreds of boys.

Porter Taylor is calling for further investigations to be conducted at both the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta and the Kairos Church, which his father led. Taylor also launched a petition calling on the Church of the Apostles to commission Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) to investigate. As of this writing, more than 500 people had signed the petition.

Others criticize the findings and Isler Dare, the company that investigated the abuse.

An 85-member Reddit page called CornerstoneConnect has disputed some details of the investigation, particularly whether Taylor’s employers have done enough to respond to disclosures over the years.

Michael Waidmann, who grew up at TFCA in the 1990s, noted that the investigation mentioned two other men at TFCA – a former assistant principal and volunteer youth leader – who also abused people in their care. Waidmann, who declined to take part in the investigation, said the report did not do enough to examine the TFCA’s culture.

“I want our church and other churches to think about what makes a place like The Falls Church Anglican a magnet for predators?” Waidmann said.

Meanwhile, the TFCA is in a time of mourning with several question-and-answer meetings and healing services, said the Rev. Sam Ferguson, the current rector of the TFCA.

“To those who were hurt by Taylor’s actions, and to those who were hurt because the church failed to see you and help you in the years that followed, I am deeply sorry,” Ferguson wrote. “This church has failed you, and I have failed you. I ask your forgiveness.”

From Illinois to Virginia to Georgia

In the 1980s, Taylor worked as a youth pastor at Winnetka Bible Church in suburban Chicago, the report said. The report did not list any allegations there and the church did not respond when TRR stretched out.

In 1989, TFCA principal John Yates urged Taylor to apply for the position of youth director at TFCA. According to the report, Taylor became Yates’ protégé with “very little oversight or resistance.”

Taylor grew the Cornerstone youth program at TFCA to 500 children, often training students in one-on-one “coke dates.” Taylor also frequently took boys on overnight trips, which was a violation of church rules at the time. Twice on these trips he shared a bed with boys whom he sexually abused, the report said. According to the report, Taylor raised more than a dozen others under the guise of discipling boys through struggles with lust.

In 1999, Taylor moved into TFCA’s adult ministry. In 2002, he left TFCA to work as a youth pastor at the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta.

In 2004, the Church of the Apostles learned of Taylor’s “inappropriate behavior” and asked Taylor to leave, the report said.

Church of the Apostles attorney Randy Evans said TRR that Taylor’s “inappropriate” behavior had nothing to do with allegations of child sexual abuse. Rather, he said Taylor was unwilling to follow the church’s strict zero-tolerance policy for employees.

A witness told the investigator he heard that Taylor threatened to sue the Church of the Apostles, after which the church entered into a non-disparagement agreement with him.

Evans said employees were instructed to respond, “It is not our policy to discuss former employees” when someone requests a reference for Taylor.

However, this is not what Christ Church of Atlanta was told when it checked Taylor’s credentials, the report said. Christ Church then hired Taylor as youth pastor, but now feels he was “misled.”

Evans said as a result of the TFCA investigation, the Church of the Apostles contacted families whose children attended Taylor’s youth program to see if any had been abused. So far, no one has reported abuse, Evans said.

Disclosure of Abuse

TFCA leaders were unaware of the abuse when it occurred in the 1990s, the investigator found. And the Church of the Apostles “carefully guarded” the news of the inappropriate behavior it discovered in 2004, the report said. In late 2004 or 2005, someone from the Church of the Apostles “urged Yates not to preach at Taylor’s ordination.”

However, in 2007, a former TFCA student in his 20s told Yates that Taylor had abused him when he was a minor.

Yates did not investigate the matter or report the matter to law enforcement because he believed the victim did not want him to. Virginia requires reporting suspected child abuse only if the victims are minors.

Yates helped the victim seek counseling, informed the church’s executive committee, confronted Taylor and made a vague appeal in a sermon for anyone who had been abused to come forward. According to the report, Yates also contacted several other members of the youth group.

Yates also informed Christ Church of Atlanta of the allegation. In response, the church banned Taylor from seeing children and transferred him to another ministry. Two years later, Christ Church fired Taylor for violating child labor bans, the report said.

In 2021, Yates, now retired, received a letter from parents whose son had told them he was suffering from alcohol addiction because Taylor had abused him. Their son died of addiction before the parents could finish the letter.

Yates informed current TFCA Principal Sam Ferguson and the TFCA Executive Committee of the alleged abuse. But those responsible couldn’t decide whether to investigate or inform other parents, the report said.

In 2023, the frustrated parents contacted the new DOMA bishop, who then commissioned the investigation into Isler Dare. TFCA gave Isler Dare “unrestricted” access to witnesses and documents, Isler wrote in the report.

Isler Dare represents companies in employment law matters such as discrimination and harassment claims and advises on human resources matters. But Isler, the prosecutor’s investigator, said so TRR that church leaders were not allowed to edit the report and called on him to reveal the truth.

Isler wrote in his report that a key finding was that Taylor’s success in youth ministry had “blurred” the vision of church leaders.

“The recommendation here is simple,” the report says. “Even the most successful leaders of the Church must be asked difficult questions for the sake of the leader’s own sanctification and for the benefit and protection of those they seek to serve.”

Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.