Nearly 200 United Methodist ministers crowded into a sanctuary Monday for a day-long training session in clergy ethics — one that was long-planned but that took on new urgency in the era of #MeToo and its ecclesiastical counterpart, #ChurchToo.

Through a series of speakers, live videos and small-group discussions, the clergy members quickly and emphatically reaffirmed a zero tolerance for sexual assault and harassment.

But the session, sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, also delved into the more subtle ethical dilemmas that pastors need to navigate. 

Is it OK, for example, to be friends with a parishioner — and can you do that without playing favorites or alienating others in the congregation?

Is it OK to accept a gift? Garden vegetables might be literally small potatoes, but how about a car? Especially if the donor then wants a leadership position at church despite lacking the needed qualifications.

What do you do about the parishioner who keeps showing up at the parsonage uninvited, with small gifts and perhaps romantic intentions?

How does a single pastor respond to parishioners’ matchmaking efforts?

Where does a lonely rural pastor find friends, and romance, if he or she spends most waking hours on church business? 

“In some ways, it would be easier if there were rules, if it was black and white,” said the Rev. Mark Hecht, one of the trainers at the session, held at Dutilh United Methodist Church in Cranberry . “But we as clergy have a responsibility to think about these things before they happen, rather than after the fact.”

Because these small dilemmas can start a pattern of behavior leading to a major offense.

The #MeToo movement erupted in October with revelations of pervasive sexual harassment and intimidation of victims by film mogul Harvey Weinstein. What followed was an avalanche of similar revelations involving other media and public figures.

Clergy and lay women then began using the #ChurchToo hashtag to reveal harassment and abuse in ecclesiastical settings.

Religious figures have been called out in recent months for reported sexual offenses, including the pastor of a Memphis megachurch and Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign adviser for faith-based outreach.

A 2017 survey of more than 4,000 United Methodists, conducted by the denomination before the Weinstein revelations, found that two-thirds of clergy and seminarians and one-third of lay people had experienced sexual harassment or other misconduct in church-related settings. Five percent of such cases involved assault.

In those cases, women were significantly more likely to report being targeted by such misconduct. Roughly half the perpetrators were church members and the other half clergy or other authority figures. 

The numbers, while striking, were actually lower than reported in a similar but smaller survey in 2005. 

The United Methodists, one of the largest Protestant bodies in Western Pennsylvania and the nation, have long required that clergy undergo ethics training every four years.

Late in January, their Council of Bishops and Commission on the Status and Role of Women issued a statement saying they “strongly encourage and support the reporting of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment allegations within the church.”

That statement followed small-group discussions among bishops late last year, one in which Pittsburgh Area Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi said she was able to share her own #MeToo stories. She has made the series of ethics training sessions a priority for clergy throughout the conference’s 23 Western Pennsylvania counties.

The Rev. Brittany Wooten, pastor of Roxbury St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Johnstown, said the training was especially helpful because of highly publicized cases of sexual abuse in other denominations in her region.

“In order to serve my community I have to be aware of the violations that have already happened and be sensitive to that,” she said.

After sessions on preventing, reporting and responding to misconduct, she’s confident that if such situations arise in the future, “I won’t have to be dealing with them alone.”

“It’s especially timely with the #MeToo movement and the opportunity for the church not to be behind the culture but to try to take a step ahead,” added the Rev. Scott Shaffer, lead pastor at Faith United Methodist Church in Fox Chapel. He said it helps to highlight “not just the major controversial issues of the scandals that break, but the more subtle ways we can advocate for people not in power.”

The issue of power, and its abuse, was a major theme in the training. Often, pastors feel powerless, especially at small congregations, when they’re earning less than many of their parishioners, driving a clunker and serving as an employee of the church boards.

But as a spiritual leader and sometimes as a counselor, the roles are often reversed.

“All clergy inherently have power, ... whether we want to acknowledge it or not,” said the Rev. Sara Wrona, one of the trainers. “It’s up to us how we choose how we use that power and authority.”

She added: “We’re there for weddings and baptisms and graduations and confirmations and illnesses and loss and death. We are there when people are at their most vulnerable.”

The trainers used videos and materials from the Seattle-based FaithTrust Institute, which for decades has worked with religious organizations on preventing and responding to clergy misconduct such as sexual abuse or financial embezzlement. The videos feature interviews from various Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist spiritual leaders on how they’ve dealth with cases of misconduct.

Program manager Sarah Butler said in an interview that there are two main categories of clergy sexual offenders. 

There are “predators” who seek out other clergy or members for harassment or worse, and congregations need to be vigilant about preventing abuse and responding swiftly.

Then there’s the category of “wanderers,” who “could be anyone, people who are depressed or missing something in their life, so they get very sloppy in how they use their power.” That could include a pastor who feels overworked, underpaid and unappreciated.

For such people, it can be helpful in preventing such abuse in the first place by reminding them of the professional boundaries they need to maintain. The training also focused on “self-care,” maintaining a balance between their ministry and their personal lives, with reminders to maintain a healthy diet, exercise regimen and interests or hobbies outside of work.

“There are thousands and thousands of clergy people throughout the country,” she said. “Most of them are trying to do their best do do their good work.”

Clergy misconduct is “not specific to any one religion or faith or group,” she added. “Our hope is that in this moment, people are starting to recognize it is a problem.”

Peter Smith: petersmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416; Twitter @PG_PeterSmith.

First Published: February 4, 2018, 5:05 a.m.