What's at stake:
Advocates say Fresno and Clovis are confronting a widespread clergy sexual abuse crisis that extends beyond the Catholic Church to other denominations that mishandle reports.
Jane Doe walked into New Covenant Community Church in northeast Fresno each Sunday with the same expectation as hundreds of others: that it would be a place of safety, trust and belonging.
But according to a lawsuit filed in May, she alleges she endured years of sexual and emotional abuse by a trusted church leader, initially in what she thought was a consensual romantic relationship.
The lawsuit was filed under a pseudonym to protect her privacy, through her attorneys Allison Owens and Ryan Saba of Rosen Saba, LLP.
The lawsuit claims that Jane Doe, who worked in youth ministries as an administrative assistant, turned to her female supervisor for help. Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the supervisor locked her office door, interrogated her with invasive questions, threatened her employment, and said engaging in a sexual relationship outside marriage was sinful.
According to the lawsuit, this pattern continued with each leader she approached. Rather than reporting the abuse to authorities or connecting her with resources, as trained professionals would have done, the suit alleges they treated her as a liability.
“I went to people who I thought were trustworthy, would help me, and do the right thing,” said Jane Doe in an email statement to Fresnoland. “I ended up being manipulated, put through an interrogation process, and told to not go to the police. I had just left an abusive relationship and was very vulnerable. It was a nightmare.”
She said she hopes “to prevent this from happening to anyone else in the future” and to “try to protect others from becoming victims as well.”
Owens, the attorney, said the lawsuit “seeks to hold institutions accountable when they fail in their most basic duties.” The lawsuit claims that, rather than protecting its members, the church allowed abuse to occur and told Jane Doe not to report it. When she needed guidance and support, Owens said leaders silenced her to protect the institution.
Owens said the church was also aware that the accused abuser had a history of misconduct at a different church in northwest Fresno, where he had a leadership role. The church’s actions, Owens said, were as reprehensible as the alleged abuser who violated her personal boundaries.
In his July 14 response to Jane Doe’s complaint, the alleged abuser, through his lawyer, denies doing anything wrong and says the lawsuit has no legal basis. He claims the case is too old, that others caused any harm, and that the woman accusing him of abuse agreed to his actions, didn’t try to limit her damages, and waited too long to sue.
In its Sept. 11 response, the church says the alleged abuse was done by an employee acting alone, who was fired four days after the church learned about it. The church also says it did not approve of the actions, investigated the claims, and there is no proof the church supported or benefited from what he did.
This case is not the only one. In Fresno and Clovis, advocates say a sexual abuse crisis goes beyond the Catholic Church and the Diocese of Fresno. They point to Southern Baptists, recent local lawsuits with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and even smaller, home-based groups like the 2X2s as also mishandling abuse reports.
Mandatory reporting requirements alone aren’t enough, advocates say
Advocates stress the need for clear, consistent protocols to prevent secrecy and ensure accountability through mandatory reporting laws, which require certain authorities to notify authorities of suspected child abuse, a safeguard designed to prompt quick action and create clear paths to justice.
In California, clergy and church employees are mandated reporters alongside educators, healthcare professionals, daycare and childcare employees, and church volunteers that provide services to children. How churches implement these protocols to report abuse varies widely across denominations.
Advocates say that while mandatory reporting requirements exist in some states, they are often difficult to enforce and communicate, and a persistent culture of silence continues to shield abusers.
Advocates have long expressed frustration over the lack of progress across denominations in addressing the sexual abuse crisis.
They note Pope Leo’s recent statement emphasizing the need to protect both survivors’ rights and the due process rights of the accused while upholding the church’s broader mission. But groups like Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) criticize him for failing to prioritize survivors and spending millions to block their access to justice.
Karen Lowart, joined the SNAP in February 2024, months after her son Jason’s death, as a way to honor him by supporting other survivors. Jason had been molested by a priest from the Diocese of Fresno at age of 4 while staying at his grandparents’ home in northwest Fresno.
Since joining SNAP, Lowart has helped survivors access resources, legal and counseling support, and accompanied them to hearings or church meetings.
“If Jason had this kind of support, maybe things would have been different,” Lowart said. “I can’t change that for him, but I can be there for others.”
How local pastors are addressing abuse reports with clear protocols
Dustin Maddox, lead pastor at North Fresno Church, a Mennonite congregation, said his church developed an abuse prevention policy in response to the 2019 arrest of the Pacific District Conference’s district minister, who was caught in a Fresno Police and FBI undercover sting. The district minister was among 19 men caught soliciting sex acts at the massage parlor during the undercover operation in which authorities posed as workers.
The incident, Maddox said, raised questions and concerns about a lack of safeguards for leaders at the regional level, prompting his church to create a crisis plan to address abuse — just as it has plans for emergencies like fires or active shooters.
Years later, Christa Wiens, executive director of the Central Valley Justice Coalition, wrote a report on the incident because she felt a responsibility to address clergy misconduct locally.
Her organization began offering online curriculum and other training to churches, focusing on state-mandated reporting requirements and on understanding trauma to better guide care.
In an interview with Fresnoland, Wiens said her organization often receives calls after an abuse incident, “as much as we’re trying to get out in front of it.”
Still, Wiens said, the organization received fewer than 10 calls in the past three years, mostly from nondenomenational and Anabaptist congregations. She noted that many local churches resist training, with congregants insisting, “we all know each other.”
“Policies and procedures are important and all of our churches and boards should have them, yet they are only as effective as the understanding of the individuals tasked with implementing them,” Wiens wrote in her report in 2021.
Now in Maddox’s congregation, he said congregants can report concerns via a dedicated email, the report is immediately reported to law enforcement, and if a staff member is involved, they are placed on administrative leave while an independent third-party investigation is conducted.
Even volunteers, Maddox said, especially those working with youth, are required to complete mandatory reporting training and submit fingerprints, which are checked through the Department of Justice, as part of the church’s safeguarding measures.
Maddox emphasized that the very trust that makes faith communities strong can also create opportunities for abuse when safeguards are lacking.
“And that’s one of the beautiful things about being part of a faith community, but if straightforward protocols aren’t in place, those are the very things that are the first to be exploited,” said Maddox.
Simon Biasell-Moshrefi, senior pastor of Big Red Church, said the church’s protocol covers background checks, fingerprinting, and mandatory reporting training.
“Jesus was clear that religious leaders who harm or exploit others are held to the highest standard,” said Biasell-Moshrefi. “Abuse cover-ups are both morally and theologically unacceptable.”
He described abuse prevention as central to pastoral care, framing it as both a legal duty and a moral obligation. Even if laws did not require reporting, he said he would still ensure abuse is reported to authorities.
Biasell-Moshrefi said congregants who need more intensive support are referred to licensed therapists to address trauma appropriately.
In an emailed statement, Fresno County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lindsay Kitchens, who works in the domestic violence unit, said it’s difficult to determine how many sexual abuse cases tied to religious institutions the unit has handled in the past two years.
That’s partly because reporting factors vary, Kitchens wrote, for instance, abuse may not have occurred at the institution itself, but the suspect was or is a member. The number of such cases, Kitchens continues, appears to be very low, possibly even in the single digits.
Under California law, Kitchens wrote that many faith leaders and staff who regularly work with children are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse, and failure to report can carry criminal penalties.
She added that the unit has encountered cases where institutions conduct an internal inquiry before notifying authorities, which can unintentionally delay reporting and complicate evidence collection. At the same time, many institutions do report promptly and cooperate fully.
“Awareness is generally good but inconsistent — especially regarding timelines for reporting and the importance of not conducting their own fact-finding interviews with children,” said Kitchens. “Continued training and clear guidance on immediate reporting — paired with easy, well-publicized reporting channels — would help.”
When institutions fail survivors, mandatory reporting training offers a path forward
Karen Huckaby, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Fresno with Reclaim Therapy Collective who specializes in religious trauma and spiritual abuse, says that sexual abuse is not always the central focus of therapy sessions — but its impact often shapes many other parts of survivors’ lives.
Over the years, Huckaby has worked with teenagers who reported being abused or sexually harassed by clergy across different denominations in the Central Valley.
Many of these faith communities, she said, are “high-control, high-demand” institutions with rigid hierarchies and little accountability—conditions that can enable abuse of power.
Huckaby said the harm of abuse reaches well beyond the initial incident, with psychological, physical, and spiritual effects that are deeply interconnected and compounded when institutions fail to validate survivors. She noted that many develop symptoms of complex PTSD, such as persistent shame or guilt, emotional instability, struggles with relationships, and a negative self-image.
“When survivors’ experiences are minimized, dismissed, or mishandled by those in authority, that adds another layer of harm,” Huckaby said. “They also then start to mistrust themselves and their memories, often leading to self-blame. Over time, this loss of self-trust and agency can cause survivors to delay reporting or seeking help, sometimes for years.”
Some survivors, Huckaby said, continue attending the same places of worship where the abuse occurred, either because of strong community ties or because it remains their spiritual home. Survivors may draw strength from faith, Huckaby said, but also risk internalizing guilt and believing they caused the abuse.
She said institutions often prioritize self-protection: Larger churches with substantial resources may weather lawsuits, while smaller congregations may struggle to survive financially if they are sued. Huckaby pointed to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno as already confronting this reality amid a rising total of 153 cases.
Yet most churches, Huckaby added, are not prepared to handle abuse or even smaller conflicts. Without clear protocols, Huckaby said, problems are often ignored, delayed, or mishandled—creating an environment where misconduct festers and congregations are left unprepared when crises arise.
“When you’re in it, and you truly believe you have the best motivations and highest intentions for everyone in your congregation, that’s still a recipe for failure,” said Huckaby. “You don’t think you’re ever going to fail, that there’s never going to be a moral failure on anyone’s part.”
Stephen White, executive director of The Catholic Project at the Catholic University of America, says understanding the failures that fueled the clergy sexual abuse crisis is essential to healing and prevention.
White noted that many churches’ handling of abuse allegations is shaped by both civil and canon law—two overlapping systems that don’t always align. Since 2002, it’s standard procedure for Catholic dioceses across the U.S. to report allegations of child abuse by priests or church employees be reported to civil authorities.
However, White said, there is no universal law for the global church on this, and confession has traditionally been considered a protected religious practice.
There have been challenges to the idea. In Washington, for example, a recent law sought to make clergy mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect, explicitly including information disclosed during confession, with no confidentiality exemption for sacred communications.
The law is currently blocked by a federal judge, who ruled it likely violates the First Amendment’s protections for religious freedom by eliminating clergy-penitent privilege.
“Within the sacrament of confession, what someone says to a priest is absolutely confidential, under pain of excommunication,” White said. “That’s why Washington state’s law, which doesn’t exempt confession, has caused such controversy.”
He questioned whether forcing priests to break the seal would truly help survivors or prosecutors, noting that survivors already have multiple avenues to report abuse. Because confession is confidential and cannot be verified, he argued, it is not reliable as evidence in court.
At the same time, White said, the controversy reflects a larger tension within the Church.
“For a long time, someone who did something awful received more attention from the Church than the person who was harmed,” White said. “The Church has been slow to realize that its responsibility to victims doesn’t end with telling them, ‘you’re fine.’”
