After reading the Washington Post’s article on former Rev. Jeff Taylor and his alleged sexual abuse of boys across several churches in the US, I am haunted by the cruelty of unrepentant priests. Taylor was a youth pastor at my church, The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) in Falls Church, Virginia. Our church is familiar with the allegations; TFCA commissioned an investigative report, released last year, which I discussed here. However, Post writer Ian Shapira detailed for the first time Taylor’s response.
I must be naïve because I’d hoped that Taylor, once outed, would turn himself in. I’d hoped that this former priest had a shred of decency left, enough to compel an appropriate turnabout: renouncing his sins, acknowledging his crimes, and falling on his face in genuine Christian repentance.
Yet instead of renouncing his sins, Taylor renounced those he allegedly wounded, disparaging their cries for justice as “fictionalized claims,” once more violating them, including someone whose death he arguably brought about, a young man who died of alcohol poisoning trying to ” ‘numb the pain’ caused by Jeff Taylor.” With his protestations of innocence, Taylor mocked this young man, Taylor spat on the grave he dug for him. Too cowardly to do the deed himself, Taylor prevailed upon an intermediary, Christopher McDowell of the law firm Strauss Troy, to do it for him. McDowell obliged with fanciful statements about “hearsay” and “woke terminology” while casting his client, the perpetrator, as the victim. (Strauss Troy apparently has no issue hiring itself out to an alleged sodomizer of children.)
Also disconcerting was the refusal of Rev. Michael Youssef, founding rector of Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, to talk to the Post about the recommendation church officials there allegedly gave Taylor even after investigating him for misconduct. Here’s a priest who can affably spread the good news of Jesus Christ on TV. Yet when it comes to talking about alleged child abuse and his church’s possible role in allowing it to continue – mum’s the word.
Moreover, when confronted years ago by two parents concerned about Taylor’s behavior around boys, Youssef allegedly said, “I wash my hands of this.” Wow. Pontius Pilate infamously expressed the same as he handed Jesus over to be crucified (Mat. 27:24).
Youssef’s unrepentance does cruelty to Jesus, Jesus’ message, and most significantly, to boys down the line that his church inadvertently harmed. For them and their loved ones, it’s a perverse double blow, a one-two punch: alleged negligence possibly causing catastrophic injury, followed by the deafening silence of not sorry.
The vestry of Church of the Apostles in Atlanta must publicly hold Youssef accountable. No reputable secular organization would tolerate such a low standard of conduct. Why should God’s church?
Please consider visiting jefftaylorjustice.org, a website created by former members of Taylor’s youth groups. The site supports abuse survivors and provides additional background, reports, and a survivor impact statement.