Dr. Hermina Nedelescu on Clergy-Perpetrated Sexual Abuse

Author(s): Dr. Hermina Nedelescu and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Bishop Accountability

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/06/02

Dr. Hermina Nedelescu is a Romanian-born neuroscientist involved in state efforts to protect adults from clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse.

Dr. Hermina Nedelescu is a Romanian-born neuroscientist. Her research work is concerned with the neurobiological control of abnormal behaviors and brain functions relevant to human psychopathology. The majority of this work is directed at understanding brain mechanisms that underly substance use and abuse with emphasis on approach and avoidance of drug-paired environments. Another line of research is directed at investigating the neurobiological dysregulation caused by sexual assault-induced PTSD and suicide with hopes to inform therapeutic treatments.

For her theological work, she is training with the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where she leverages her expertise in neuroscience to develop a theological anthropology based on the Christian Orthodox tradition. This research is focused on the topic of desire vs. dysregulated desire leading to abuse. 

She is an instructor for Stepping Higher Inc., a faith-based organization funded by the County of San Diego Behavior Health Services Department to teach and support clergy, pastors, and behavioral health providers who minister to people suffering from substances use disorders, substance abuse, as well as, other psychological addictions or mental illnesses. 

She is actively involved in the state legislative efforts to protect adults from clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse. She is co-founder of Prosopon Healing, a resource site for Orthodox Christian victims/survivors of clergy abuse. 

In her free time, she enjoys microscope photography and drawing brain cells to share the beautiful structure and function of the brain with the general public through art exhibits.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, I wrote some articles based on other minor news reportage on abuse within the church communities. You sent an email to connect us. Thank you very much for doing so, the work you’re doing is valid, salient, and should inspire others across the Orthodox community to seek justice in cases of legitimate abuse. While taking the time to investigate some of the claims, the general finding across church abuse dynamics is mostly men with unquestionable, so unquestioned, religious authority abusing mostly laity, where most of the victims will be the women congregants. There have been some newer publications within the news about the abuse committed by nuns, in Canada for example. However, in general, there is progress, as justice is happening. It seems moot to make a hypothetical (false) moral quandary, as is common in colloquial or casual conversation: ‘It shouldn’t happen in the first place,’ or at all. I get the sentiment. However, it’s beside the point. Whether people proclaim the basest drives and instincts, or shout the highest formulations of popular ethical truisms, the reality: people have been abused. It’s a ‘nice thought,’ to think ‘this shouldn’t happen at all’ – naturally, or of course, but ethics only has meat on the bone if it reflects the empirical reality to some degree. I am more concerned with first-hand reports, claimants, cover-ups, theological justifications, community intimidation, legal censure, and such, of sexual abuse and harassment. The rarity is individuals who have been victimized to be both persistent and not letting minor crimes go away. The tendency is to gaslight individuals’ real sentiment towards abuse as if not real, and to downplay the moral reality of crimes committed by leaders, often male, claiming to represent a moral majority or superminority of some form. Which is all to say, I see you in the morally courageous minority. Now, with all of this said, I have to ask, “What makes you different in the context of the Greek Orthodox Church?”

Dr. Hermina Nedelescu: First, I was born into the Romanian Orthodox Church setting during the communist regime. I observed first-hand that the motive of some clergy (bishops, priests, deacons) was to maintain the status quo despite the toxicity and harm it inflicted on the people. This was my first learning experience with abusers in clerical positions of authority. Not all Orthodox clergy are abusers but a small yet significant percentage are. We need to take responsibility and hold wrongdoers accountable because this is our mutual responsibility that we have within the community.    

Second, I am a neuroscientist whose research focuses on maladaptive and abnormal behaviors. As I have testified during the hearing at the Senate Public Safety Committee in Sacramento, clergy abuse is a predatory behavior involving abuse of positional power and authority. My educational training enables me to more easily identify the dynamics of clergy abuse. Abuse follows specific patterns of behaviors, and once it is identified then we must stand up and do something about it. At its core, clergy abuse is violence against humanity. It harms the humanity of not only the victims but the perpetrators and entire congregations when we allow offenders to continue in ministry. https://d8747b82c256aa78b00aa576e6478558.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Third, something that is rarely spoken about publicly is the existence of errant clergy. In my observation, Orthodox Christian laypeople are not typically trained to be discerning when it comes to the counsel of clergy (including priests and bishops). They are expected to receive the words of any ordained person uncritically. This failure to speak of clergy fallibility is a terrible mistake resulting in clergy-perpetrated violence and abuse against innocent people. The errant clergy person should be decoupled from The Office of the Holy Priesthood, which has standards. There is a great denial when people hear that their “beloved priest” abused, assaulted and/or raped a victim. Abusers know how to hide their abusive behavior by putting up a façade in public for their congregation. Typically, congregations do not want to believe that having an abusive clergy in ministry could be possible in their church community, yet we have evidence from victims that this is the reality. 

To answer your question more directly, I am able to face the truth even when the truth is ugly. 

Jacobsen: How does this difference in temperament or not standing down make the work in advocacy relevant here?

Nedelescu: When it comes to clergy sexual abuse, the church (including congregations, leaders and administrations) tend to effectively silence most victims by blaming them. It is too much of a challenge for them to acknowledge the truth that their clergy, whom they employed, has committed sexual misconduct against a congregant.  

It is critically important to understand that denying the truth, attacking the victim, reversing the victim and offender roles are all silencing tactics. If these tactics are identified then it is easier to speak of them and reject them maximally in order to continue the advocacy and protect innocent people from being victimized. 

Advocacy is a type of charity work. From a theological viewpoint, standing up against abusive clergy who prey on the people of God for their own selfish gratifications is a prophetic ministry. It is much easier to speak of clergy abuse as something that may happen, but what we really need to do is go beyond and hold abusers and enablers accountable. For those who read the Bible, the idea that is presented in Matthew 25:35-36 is that, for Jesus, justice involves acts of compassion and concern towards those who are the neediest, most vulnerable and the most at risk of having no advocate. These issues are what constitute the moral values of Jesus.

I see some preachers and church leaders making just statements but they should see that their justice agenda must extend beyond issues of abortion or human sexuality. Of course, these matters are important; however, taking responsibility and holding wrongdoers accountable is a mutual responsibility that we have within a community. We can’t both write and speak of LGBTQ and women’s’ rights and not hold abusive clergy accountable by removing them from ministry. https://d8747b82c256aa78b00aa576e6478558.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.htmlDon’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free

Jacobsen: One of the reasons for doing the series on the Greek Orthodox Church was the ways in which the individuals in religious communities would use the focus on the abuse within the Roman Catholic Church as a deflection for crimes by their ecclesiastics. Have you noticed this within the Greek Orthodox Church?

Nedelescu: It is important to do a series on the Greek Orthodox Church because the largest Orthodox Christian jurisdiction in the United States is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America with about 540 Greek Orthodox parishes and about 800 priests (probably including retired priests).   

Our preliminary data, gathered from online media articles reporting clergy abuse cases, showed that the majority of articles involving clergy abuse were of abuse cases within the Greek Orthodox church. This could very well be because it is the largest jurisdiction. For a comparison, the Orthodox Church of American (OCA) has about 500 priests in active ministry (excluding retired priests).  

The majority of Orthodox Christians are not familiar with the literature on clergy sexual abuse of adult women and are not aware of its extent. They typically assume that most victims of clergy abuse involve children and that most clergy abusers are Roman Catholic. 

Research from Columbia Theological Seminary by Pamela Cooper-White, however, shows that about 90-95 percent of victims of clergy sexual misconduct are female congregants (Boobal Batchelor 2013, xv). (See Cooper-White, Pamela. 2013. ‘Clergy Sexual Abuse of Adults’ in Valli Boobal Batchelor ed. When Pastors Prey. Geneva. World Council of Churches Publishing. 58-81). Whether this high percentage of female victims of clergy sexual abuse has to do with women being more likely to report the abuse is beside the point concerning the real problem which is the presence of predators masquerading as clergy. 

Our research analysis demonstrates that the Orthodox church is not immune to clergy sexual misconduct and abuse. There is also misconception that if priests can marry, as is the case with Orthodox priests, that they don’t abuse. They do because clergy abuse is about power, domination and control, not celibacy. The reality is that Orthodox clergy who abuse, not only violate their priestly vows when abusing their victims but they also violate their marital vows. 

Jacobsen: When you are gathering data for preliminary analysis, is one of the difficulties in bringing these types forward due to the lack of investigative reportage on these denominations?

Nedelescu: Absolutely. In our first phase of analysis we used ChatGPT to aid us in generating key search terms in order to facilitate finding online media news stories concerning clergy sexual abuse in the Orthodox Church. Our preliminary search resulted in a total of 50 clergy abuse cases from news articles between 2002 – 2023 with the Greek Orthodox Church of America showing up in 18 cases from news stories followed by the Russian Orthodox Church in 11 articles, the OCA, Antiochian, Romanian, etc. These preliminary data revealed a total of nearly 300 victims of clergy sexual abuse across different jurisdictions worldwide; however, this number is greatly underestimated since our data analysis is limited to only media stories found online. https://d8747b82c256aa78b00aa576e6478558.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.htmlDon’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free

The challenge in collecting data is that most victims do not report clergy sexual abuse publicly. If victims report internally to their parish or church administration, these reports are not typically disclosed while simultaneously tactics are used to silence the victims.   

Jacobsen: What have been, not only the tactics but, the more common means by which victims coming forward are silenced?

Nedelescu: It should be mention that it is important to report clergy sexual abuse first to the police. Most police departments have some staff trained in sex crimes and know how to deal with these issues. Reporting to church administrations typically results in a second assault against victims and/or against those who report. The tactics may include in any order:

• Maintaining the status quo – this tactic takes engages a traditional approach avoiding “scandals” within faith communities through sentimental requesting of forgiveness. It uses spiritualized language without realizing that the real scandal is enabling predatory behavior. 
• Interruptive tactic – seeks to interfere the process  
• Obscurification – is a tactic that seeks to make the situation murky regarding perceptions of clergy abuse and even crimes by conflating these with lesser concepts such as “consensual affairs”, “sin”, “clergy have weakness too”, “temptation” – anything but the actual reality of this being clergy abuse. This tactic has worked well up until now. 
• Deception – this tactic involves promising the matter will be taken care of. It promises action but never delivers. 
• Remunerative – this tactic is used when survivors become imperfect victims who have not succumbed to the other tactics. In many cases, they are silenced at this point with NDAs.
• Coercive – this is an intimidation tactic to stop the full revelation of the abuse that took place. The victims are made to be the “enemy”. 

Jacobsen: You are a highly qualified, professional scientist too. How does this scientific training help in more soberly analyzing these cases in the news?

Nedelescu: When I analyze these cases in the news articles I do so through the lens of a behavioral neuroscientist focusing on the response of both the victims and church administrations. I ‘ve observed that many victims thought that by reporting the clergy abuse to their church administrations appropriate action would be taken. They were misled (perhaps cultured) to believe that their church hierarchs (bishops) were going to assist. 

The other aspect I bring to the analysis of these articles is my training focus in maladaptive behaviors and can see the severe trauma-induced dysregulation clergy abuse cases cause the victims. Clergy abuse is a public health concern and the issue needs to be raised to this level of visibility. 

Jacobsen: As the late Dr. Carl Sagan reminded people in public discourse, science is more than ‘a body of knowledge,’ because ‘it’s a way of thinking’ – a means by which to systematically couple hypothesis and empirical observation to make evidenced-based hypotheses, theories, about the natural world. How does this way of thinking and this community of scientists give a different orientation on thinking about the theology around and the institutional setup in formal Greek Orthodox religious life leading to a pattern of successive crimes of a sexual nature, harassment and/or abuse?

Nedelescu: I am trained to think critically as a scientist and to quickly change my view when new evidence becomes available. 

You are right that it is a way of thinking. However, it is also the definition of being a humble human being. A sign of humility is to be able to say that my hypothesis or my theory or the way of my thinking before was wrong, now that I have this new evidence/knowledge before me. 

I want to point out that many “Mothers” and “Fathers” of the Orthodox church throughout the centuries were towering intellects whose ways of thinking were to use critical thinking skills. The phenomena I am observing today in the Orthodox church where people are encouraged to take the counsel of clergy uncritically is a terrible mistake. It seems to be culturally embedded into the fabric of the Orthodox church which has given rise to clergy, some of whom are duplicitous who crave attention, power and glorification from others. Taken together, this sets up a breeding ground for clergy-perpetrated abuse. 

Jacobsen: How can community and individual support, of survivors bolster resolve to work in systematically gathering the relevant data for cases as well as 

Nedelescu: The first reason for constructing Prosopon Healing was to provide resources for survivors of clergy abuse. Ultimately, there is an urgent need to adequately assist victims of clergy abuse. A second reason is to bring victims/survivors together because victims of clergy abuse heal quicker by transitioning to a survivor mentality in a community that validates and acknowledges their abuse. Once survivors unite, others are more likely to speak up which will aid in understanding the breadth and depth of clergy abuse in the Orthodox world. 

The wider community can also be of assistance because clergy-perpetrated abuse is a public health concern with a serious societal burden on the public mental health system. Because churches are so reactionary when clergy abuse is reported, it is challenging to identify other cases of abuse. We know that research from Baylor University showed that 3.1% of adult women who attended a place of worship at least once a month said they were victims of clergy sexual misconduct as adults. Contextualized, this research demonstrates that in a congregation of 400 faithful, there may be on average 7 victims of clergy abuse, once the abuser is identified. Yet, it is challenging to find these other silenced cases. 

Jacobsen: Why do you think church communities and administrations are so reactionary to acknowledging clergy sexual abuse? 

Nedelescu: It is very simple. When a church community approves the words and some tears from the abuser over the victims who speak up, they have done added damage to the victims, risked the safety of others and left the abuser with a malignant disease. As a consequence these communities are toxic systems. They are not worshiping God. They are worshiping their ministries and closing their eyes to the truth to maintain the status quo rather than facing the truth and doing the hard work to heal. It is idolatry. 

Jacobsen: What is the current effort towards California Governor Gavin Newsom and the work to bring down protection for abuses who happen to be religious leaders, as with much of the #ChurchToo movement?

Nedelescu: Allow me to give some background in order to better answer this question. Clergy who exhibit predatory behavior need to be held accountable. Church hierarchies are responsible for preventative actions. But, when churches fail to exact discipline, then we need the state to hold abusive clergy accountable for the safety of people. This is the purpose of Senate Bill (SB) 894.  

SB 894 was heard at the Senate Public Safety Committee hearing on April 16th 2024. One would have thought that in California such a bill, to protect adult congregants for abuses by clergy who are in positions of power, would have passed without any issue. Instead, we experienced some inconsistencies including a conspicuous exclusion of more than twenty-three private individual support letters from the bill analysis. This legislation is critically important because it would bring California in line with 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which already have similar laws in place. 

According to the bill analysis, the opposition was comprised of only two constituents: (1) the ACLU California Action and (2) the California Public Defenders Association. They took issue with the wording around the term “consent”. They contended that sexual conduct between two “consenting” adults should not be penalized. However, it is important to understand that because of the unequal power differential between a clergy and a congregant, there can be no true consent. Consent is, therefore, dissolved when a clergy uses their position of power to gain sexual satisfaction with a congregant. True consent can only take place between two adults of equal power. Clergy provide counsel to their congregants, and should never involve sex with them. Professional therapy never includes sexual behavior, for example due to a similar unequal power between counselor/therapist and patient.  

Now, we have been advised by Senator Dave Min to reach out to Leadership and Governor Newsom for assistance. We have already spoken to the Legislative Director from the Office of Senator Ashby who has provided invaluable information and am very thank full for his time. Next, we are waiting to schedule a meeting with the Office of Senator Mike McGuire who oversees the Senate Public Safety Committee. We have written to Governor Newsom for assistance. We have to allow the Governor and his Office the time to examine the situation, but he has had to intervene in the past when California Democrats blocked a child trafficking bill. Similarly, the fentanyl bills were getting being stalled in the Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees, evidently. There appears to be a strong reaction when bills are proposed that would result in a new law in the state of California, even though, everyone knows the ravages of child trafficking, the opioid crisis, and clergy abuse of adults. 

Jacobsen: Katherine Archer and you have been working together, as the early independent investigators and data-collectors on this work within, not only the Greek Orthodox Church but, the Eastern Orthodox Church in general. How can people get involved, financially support, or volunteer expertise or skills with you, to start building a larger movement?

Nedelescu: At the moment, we are beginning to look for funding because we will need financial support to help expedite this important work. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of a much larger problem. 

In the immediate future, we welcome advocates and survivors of clergy-perpetrated abuse to join our research efforts. For Orthodox Christians we put a website together called – Prosopon Healing – where we provide resources for the community. 

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Hermina.

Nedelescu: It was a pleasure talking to you.

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