Temporary changes are being made in Gateway Church leadership following the resignation of its senior pastor and founder, Robert Morris, accused of sexually abusing a then-12-year-old girl in the 1980s.
After the allegations made headlines in late June, Gateway Church hired law firm Haynes and Boone to look into the matter. The firm recommended that any Gateway Church elder with a potential conflict of interest take a temporary leave of absence from the board, including any elder with a relational conflict or who served on the board between 2005 and 2007.
Three church elders — Kevin Grove, Steve Dulin and Gayland Lawshe — are to take a temporary leave of absence, per the firm’s recommendation. Robert Morris’ son and church elder James Morris will step down from the board temporarily. However, James Morris and the other elders can continue to serve as staff members at the church, according to the board’s June 28 statement.
The firm is just beginning their work into conducting an “independent and comprehensive inquiry related to recent events,” the statement reads. The inquiry has faced criticism from Cindy Clemishire, who accused Morris of sexually abusing her when she was 12 years old.
The unfolding saga at Gateway has prompted national conversations about how faith leaders should be held accountable — both legally and institutionally — for abuse within the church.
One way a church can hold accountability is by bringing in an independent organization trained in abuse dynamics to conduct an investigation, said Pete Singer, executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment. However, the first step prior to that should be to go to legal authorities.
“You must report to law enforcement. You must report to child protection,” Singer said. “Even if there isn’t a legal mandate, there’s often a moral or an ethical mandate that says you have to report.”
Who is a mandated reporter in Texas?
By law, everyone in Texas is required to report knowledge of suspected child abuse or neglect.
Individuals in roles where abuse may be disclosed, including mental health professionals, social workers and clergy, are not exempt from reporting it to authorities, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Reports of abuse should go to two agencies: the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and local or state law enforcement. Child Protective Services, a division of the state’s family and protective services department, is responsible for conducting civil investigations into alleged abuse. Law enforcement is responsible for criminal investigations.
Clemishire, now a 54-year-old Oklahoman woman, accused Morris of sexually abusing her for over four years in Texas and Oklahoma, starting in 1982 when she was 12 years old.
Clemishire said in a statement released by her attorney that she had confronted Morris and the church in 2005 via email and then by letter in 2007, when she went through an attorney to seek reimbursement for counseling.
Anyone who knowingly fails to make a report could receive a Class A misdemeanor, according to Texas law. The offense can become a state jail felony for anyone intending to conceal the abuse.
People have to believe in the phrase and culture of “see something, say something” for mandatory reporting to work, said Stefan Turkheimer, vice president for public policy for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
It can also be challenging for minors to disclose their abuse when the alleged offender is in a position of power over them or a community, Turkheimer said.
The complete statement by Cindy Clemishire in response to today’s announcement by @GatewayPeople. pic.twitter.com/NRcQNffgqB
— BozLaw P.A. (@bozlawpa) June 19, 2024
“It’s hard to disclose in a situation where it affects not just you and the pastor, but the entire community and your family. So that’s another reason why people don’t come forward when they’re children,” Turkheimer said. “But it’s also the point about why mandatory reporting is important, because sometimes, sometimes the kid can’t do it on their own.”
Criminal, civil legal implications
Frequently, children will report abuse years down the line because it can take time to process what happened, said Liz Boyce, general counsel and policy director for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault.
Some state laws give a window of time for a state to charge the alleged abuser. The rules that determine this time frame are called criminal statutes of limitations and can vary by state.
Currently in Texas, there are no statue of limitations for criminal charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, defined as someone under the age of 17, according to state law. A previous iteration of the law, which required that someone report within a 10-year window from the victim’s 18th birthday, was removed in 2007. For a civil case, the window is 30 years from when the victim turned 18 years old.
However, the law is not retroactive, meaning a person who was protected by a previous statute of limitations cannot be prosecuted because the law changed to increase the time of exposure.
It can be challenging to determine if there is a legal case, Turkheimer said, because lawyers have to determine how many years have passed, where the alleged abuse occurred and what state laws — and its previous iterations — say about it.
“The reality is that getting justice for a survivor shouldn’t be a math problem, but it often is,” Turkheimer said.
It would be challenging for Clemishire to file a lawsuit, Boyce said. However, it’s not the only path Clemishire could take.
“That’s not to say she can’t use her voice in other ways, right, to come forward to support different policies that could help others,” Boyce said.
Education, resources
Educational resources that encourage conversations about how to identify abuse and grooming can help prevent feelings of shame around the topic, said Katharine Collier Esser, assistant director of research and training services for The Women’s Center.
“It is so important to talk about because this is a crime that hides in secrets, and grooming thrives with secrecy,” Esser said. “But grooming is not just about grooming the victim or potential victim. It’s also grooming the community, so that (even) if that child is brave enough and says something, they will be met with doubt.”
Esser is a licensed professional counselor and supervisor who oversees Play it Safe!, a sexual abuse prevention and training program for children between ages 4 and 18.
The program, offered through The Women’s Center, teaches kids to recognize potentially abusive behavior, respond to threatening situations and report abuse. Since 1983, more than 2 million children in North Texas have learned about personal safety from the program.
Esser has been invited to provide the program in schools and churches. If abuse isn’t discussed in sacred places, like churches, it can lead to other forms of trauma, she said.
“What ends up happening is then people start experiencing spiritual trauma in addition to the sexual abuse trauma,” she said.
Forgiveness, repentance
Robert Morris said in an internal June 14 statement sent by church elders to Gateway staff, and later posted to X, that Morris confessed and repented in March 1987 and asked for forgiveness from Clemishire’s family.
“This sin was dealt with correctly by confession and repentance, which I did in 1987 and 1989,” Morris said.
Gateway’s board of elders later released a statement on June 18 that they “did not have all the facts of the inappropriate relationship between Morris and the victim, including her age at the time and the length of her abuse.”
Repentance is a detailed process rather than a quick act of forgiveness, Singer said.
“It’s also important to know that if a person has truly repented, the best thing that we can do is not to be soft on that person,” Singer said. “The best thing that we can do is to walk alongside them as they go through the consequences that they earned.”
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, it’s not your fault. You are not alone. Help is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit the Online Hotline, y en español en rainn.org/es.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org or @marissaygreene. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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