A Moral Failure
A sounding board for the ones needing to speak
A moral failure.
A pastor of a church with around 100,000 congregants recently admitted to a “moral failure.”1 As an author, words are my friends. So, let’s dissect the definition of a moral failure.
Put it together, and what do you get…
A moral failure is falling short of a right or wrong behavior.
An Open Letter to Robert Morris,
You did not fall short.
Your actions were intentional and ongoing for more than four years. Your actions are not an issue of ethics or morality. This is an issue of legality. You did not have a personal failure; you sexually abused a minor, and according to United States law, it is illegal in all of our states. You should be charged with child sexual assault and continuous sexual abuse of a minor, which are second and first-degree felonies. Instead of being in prison or put on the sex offender registry, you were eventually on Trump’s spiritual advisory committee and praised in leadership within the Christian spaces.
Today, June 18, 2024, it was announced your empire has crumbled. You resigned from your position (decades late by the way). Because of leaders like you, I fear for the state of the younger generation. I pray God rebuilds HIS CHURCH.
I’ve witnessed pedophiles like you firsthand groom their victims and spiritually manipulate them to get what they want. I dated a “ministry leader” in college who did that. After we broke up, victims confided in me. When I went to the highest level of state oversight that represented the denomination they were affiliated with, they brushed it under the rug. Did not return calls. And ignored my voice. So he went into ministry and pastored for over ten years until two of his new victims came forward. He ended up behind bars, on the sex offender registry, and can’t be in a certain radius of children. People catered to this man for years. His own family welcomed him into their church to lead the kid's ministry while he was under investigation. This man was in ministry so he could take advantage of people.
I pray, Robert Morris, that your situation further creates an urgency for us (the CHURCH) to do better. May we respond to the urgency from the Holy Spirit and hear the voices of those who are often hushed or ignored. You should not have been leading that church or been on any spiritual advisory committee.
Jenny Randle
Church, it starts with spiritual abuse and manipulation of power. We must speak up against sexual abuse. We must learn to listen to the victims and fight for their voice to be heard. May God rebuild the church with the lowly, humble and those quick to repent.
https://ministrywatch.com/pastor-robert-morris-admits-moral-failure-following-molestation-claims/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/failure